As women, the process of trying to attain body confidence can feel like running on a treadmill: For some of us, despite how many miles we clock, we never actually get anywhere. Now, researchers believe they’ve put a finger on a specific source of insecurity for heterosexual women — namely, what men want. Or at least, what women think men want.
Whether it’s through television, magazines or the Internet, women are constantly bombarded with messages about How Bodies Should Look. We know this contributes to body dissatisfaction. But a study recently published in the journal Social Psychological & Personality Science pinpoints one very particular way in which men serve as passive moderators of these messages. The findings suggest that women may only feel unhappy about their bodies if they believe men prefer women who are very thin.
To come to this conclusion, researchers from Southern Methodist University and Florida State University gathered three different groups of heterosexual women for multiple versions of the same study. First, they had 74 women look at media images of models who were a size 8 or 10 — in other words, well outside the narrow range of body types typically seen in fashion and advertising. Half the women were told that “men chose these images selected from advertisements to depict what they find attractive.” The other half were simply told that “these images were selected from advertisements.” After that, each participant filled out a questionnaire about body image.
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Obviously, this isn’t to say that there aren’t various social privileges associated with being thin — in particular, women in the workforce who don’t conform to a certain body type can experience a serious economic disadvantage. But in the context of sexual attraction and romantic relationships, there is likely room for a much broader range of body types than what we tend to see represented in popular culture.
“Bottom line,” said Diller, “is that the most appealing women are not women who fit a narrow standard of beauty, but women who like themselves.”
