Body Shape and Gender: Desirability Differences Diagram
I’ve noticed a lot of people being brought to this site courtesy of search terms such as ‘body shape and gender diagrams’ so decided to put these up in the hope they will help. Click on the image for the full scale image. These are courtesy (and in relation to results) from a journal paper written by Zellner, Harner and Adler (1989) and published in the ‘Journal of Abnormal Psychology’ under the title ‘Effects of Eating Abnormalities and Gender on Perceptions of Desirable Body Shape’.
Body Shape & Gender: Differences in Desirability
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to analyse the differences between male and female current body shapes and their ideal body shape, as well as examine the overestimations of each sex in regards to what they believe to be the most attractive figure. As a side hypothesis the difference between thinnest and heaviest acceptable figures was studied. One hundred participants completed the self report survey containing twelve questions in relation to body shape desires and preferences, with significant supportive results found for a number of our hypotheses though some others were not supported. The main conclusions drawn from this research are that females tend to desire a thinner body shape and are more dissatisfied with their current body shape than men, with both parties overestimating the extent to which the opposite sex finds a certain figure attractive. More research needs to be conducted to examine the source of these beliefs.