An evolutionary perspective on male preferences for female body shape

The Body Beautiful: Evolutionary and Sociocultural Perspectives

Volumn , Issue , 2007, Pages 65-87

  Scott, Isabel ^a   Bentley, Gillian R ^b   Tovée, Martin J ^c   Ahamed, Farid Uddin ^d   Magid, Kesson ^e  

^a UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL   (United Kingdom)

^b DURHAM UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

^c NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

^d UNIVERSITY OF CHITTAGONG   (Bangladesh)

^e UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 85008167365     PISSN: None     EISSN: None     Source Type: Book    
DOI: 10.1057/9780230596887     Document Type: Chapter

References (71)

1. Anderson, J. L., Crawford, C. B., Nadeau, J., & Lindberg, T. (1992). Was the Duchess of Windsor right? A cross-cultural review of the socioecology of ideals of female body shape. Ethology and Sociobiology, 13, 197-227.
2. Baker, J. L., Michaelsen, K. F., Rasmussen, K. M., & Sorensen, T. I. (2004). Maternal prepregnant body mass index, duration of breastfeeding, and timing of complementary food introduction are associated with infant weight gain. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 80, 1579-1588.
3. Barber, N. (1995). The evolutionary psychology of physical attractiveness: Sexual selection and human morphology. Ethology and Sociobiology, 16, 395-424.
4. Benyshek, D. C., & Watson, J. T. (2006). Exploring the thrifty genotype's food shortage assumptions: A cross-cultural comparison of ethnographic accounts of food security among foraging and agricultural societies. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 131, 120-126.
5. Bhargava, A. (2000). Modelling the effects of maternal nutritional status and socioeconomic variables on the anthropometric and psychological indicators of Kenyan infants from age 0-6 months. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 111, 89-104.
6. Björntorp, P. (1988). The associations between obesity, adipose tissue distribution and disease. Acta Medica Scandinavica, 723 (Suppl.), 121-134.
7. Brewis, A. A., & McGarvey, S. T. (2000). Body image, body size, and Samoan ecological and individual modernization. Ecology of Food and Nutrition, 39, 105-120.
8. Buckingham, G., DeBruine, L. M., Little, A. C., Welling, L. L. M., Conway, C. A., Tiddeman, B. P., et al. (2006). Visual adaptation to masculine and feminine faces influences generalized preferences and perceptions of trustworthiness. Evolution and Human Behavior, 27, 381-389.
9. Buss, D. M. (1989). Sex differences in human mate preferences: Evolutionary hypotheses testing in 37 cultures. Behavioural and Brain Sciences, 12, 1-49.
10. Cashdan, E. (2003). Hormones and competitive aggression in women. Aggressive Behavior, 29, 107-115.
11. Cordain, L., Miller, J., & Mann, M. (1999). Scant evidence of periodic starvation among hunter-gatherers. Diabetologia, 42, 383-384.
12. Department of Health. (1999). The health survey for England 1999. Online publication at: http://www.dh.gov.uk/PublicationsAndStatistics/Published Survey.
13. DeRidder, C. M., Bruning, P. F., Zonderland, M. L., Thijssen, J. H. H., Bonfrer, J. M. G., Blankenstein, M. A., et al. (1990). Body fat mass, body fat distribution and plasma hormones in early puberty in females. Journal of Clinical and Endocrinological Metabolism, 70, 888-893.
14. Eade, J. A., & Momen, R. (1996). Bangladeshis in Britain: A national database. London: Centre for Bangladeshi Studies.
15. Ellison, P. T., Lipson, S. F., Orourke, M. T., Bentley, G. R., Harrigan, A. M., Panterbrick, C., et al. (1993a). Population Variation in Ovarian-Function. Lancet, 342, 433-434.
16. Ellison, P. T., Panterbrick, C., Lipson, S. F., & Orourke, M. T. (1993b). The ecological context of human ovarian-function. Human Reproduction, 8, 2248-2258.
17. Furnham, A., & Alibhai, N. (1983). Cross-cultural differences in the perception of female body shapes. Psychological Medicine, 13, 829-837.
18. Furnham, A., McClelland, A., & Omer, L. (2003). A cross-cultural comparison of ratings of perceived fecundity and sexual attractiveness as a function of body weight and waist-to-hip ratio. Psychology, Health & Medicine, 8, 219-230.
19. Furnham, A., Tan, T., McManus, C. (1997). Waist-to-hip ratio and preferences for body shape: A replication and extension. Personality and Individual Differences, 22, 539-549.
20. Garfinkel, P. E., & Garner, D. M. (1982). Anorexia nervosa: A multidimensional perspective. New York: Bruner and Mazel.
21. Gitter, A., Lomranz, J., Saxe, L., & Bar-Tal, D. (1983). Perception of female physique characteristics by American and Israeli students. Journal of Social Psychology, 121, 7-13.
22. Gluckman, P., & Hanson, M. (2005). The fetal matrix: Evolution, development and disease. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
23. Hartz, A. J., Rupley, D. C., & Rimm, A. A. (1984). The association of girth measurement with disease in 32,856 women. American Journal of Epidemiology, 119, 71-80.
24. Henss, R. (1995). Waist-to-hip ratio and attractiveness: A replication and extension. Personality and Individual Differences, 19, 479-488.
25. Hosegood, V., & Campbell, O. M. (2003). Body mass index, height, weight, arm circumference, and mortality in rural Bangladeshi women: A 19-y longitudinal study. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 77, 341-347.
26. Islam, M. Z., Akhtaruzzaman, M., & Lamberg-Allardt, C. (2004). Nutritional status of women in Bangladesh: Comparison of energy intake and nutritional status of a low income rural group with a high income urban group. Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 13, 61-68.
27. Jasienska, G., Ziomkiewicz, A., Ellison, P. T., Lipson, S. F., & Thune, I. (2004). Large breasts and narrow waists indicate high reproductive potential in women. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B, 271, 1213-1217.
28. King, J. C. (2003). The risk of maternal nutritional depletion and poor outcomes increases in early or closely spaced pregnancies. Journal of Nutrition, 135(Suppl. 2), 1732-1736.
29. Kramer, M. S., Coates, A. L., Michoud, M. C., Dagenais, S., Hamilton, E. F., & Papageorgiou, A. (1995). Maternal Anthropometry and Idiopathic Preterm Labor. Obstetrics and Gynecology, 86, 744-748.
30. Kuh, D., & Schlomo, Y. B. (Eds.) (2004). A life course approach to chronic disease epidemiology (2nd ed.). London: Oxford University Press.
31. Lahti-Koski, M., Pietinen, P., Männistö, S., & Vartiainen, E. (2000). Trends in waist-to-hip ratio and its determinants in adults in Finland from 1987 to 1997. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 72, 1436-1444.
32. Lanska, D. J., Lanska, M. J., Hartz, A. J., & Rimm, A. A. (1985). Factors influencing anatomical location of fat tissue in 52,953 women. International journal of Obesity, 9, 29-38.
33. Ley, C. J., Lees, B., & Stevenson, J. C. (1992). Sex- and menopause-associated change in body fat distribution. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 55, 950-954.
34. Manson, J. E., Willet, W. C., Stampfer, M. J., Colditz, G. A., Hunter, D. J., Hankinson, S. E., et al. (1995). Body weight and mortality among women. New England Journal of Medicine, 333, 677-685.
35. Marlowe, F., & Wetsman, A. (2001). Preferred waist-to-hip ratio and ecology. Personality and Individual Differences, 30, 481-489.
36. Marlowe, F., Apicella, C., & Reed, D. (2005). Men's preferences for women's profile waist-to-hip ratio in two societies. Evolution and Human Behavior, 26, 458-468.
37. McGarvey, S. (1991). Obesity in Samoans and a perspective in its aetiology in Polynesians. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 53, 86-94.
38. Misra, A., & Vikram, N. K. (2004). Insulin resistance syndrome (metabolic syndrome) and obesity in Asian Indians: Evidence and implications. Nutrition, 20, 482-491.
39. Mohanty, C., Prasad, R., Reddy, A. S., Ghosh, J. K., Singh, T. B., & Das, B. K. (2006). Maternal anthropometry as predictors of low birth weight. Journal of Tropical Pediatrics, 52, 24-29.
40. Núñez-de la Mora, A., Chatterton, R. T., Choudhury, O., Napolitano, D., & Bentley, G. R. (in press - a). Childhood conditions determine adult progesterone levels. PLOS Medicine.
41. Núñez-de la Mora, A., Chatterton, R. T., Choudhury, O., Napolitano, D., & Bentley, G. R. (in press - b). The impact of developmental conditions on adult salivary estradiol levels: Why this differs from progesterone? American Journal of Human Biology.
42. Pawłowski, B., & Grabarczyk, M. (2003). Center of body mass and the evolution of female body shape. American Journal of Biology, 15, 144-150.
43. Pettijohn, T. F., & Jungeberg, B. J. (2004). Playboy Playmate curves: Changes in facial and body feature preferences across social and economic conditions. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30, 1186-1197.
44. Powers, P. S. (1980). Obesity: The regulation of weight. Williams & Wilkins: Baltimore.
45. Prentice, A. M. (2005). Early influences on human energy regulation: Thrifty genotypes and thrifty phenotypes. Physiology and Behavior, 86, 640-645.
46. Rhodes, G., Jeffery, L., Watson, T. L., Clifford, C. W. G., & Nakayama, K. (2003). Fitting the mind to the world: Face adaptation and attractiveness aftereffects. Psychological Science, 14, 558-566.
47. Shell-Duncan, B., & Yung, S. A. (2004). The maternal depletion transition in northern Kenya: The effects of settlement, development and disparity. Social Science and Medicine, 58, 2485-2498.
48. Simmons, R. (2005). Developmental origins of adult metabolic disease: Concepts and controversies. Trends in Endocrinological Metabolism, 16, 390-394.
49. Singh, D. (1993). Adaptive significance of female physical attractiveness: Role of waist-to-hip ratio. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 293-307.
50. Singh, D. (1994). Body fat distribution and perception of desirable female body shape by young black men and women. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 16, 289-294.
51. Singh, D., & Luis, S. (1995). Ethnic and gender consensus for the role of waistto-hip ratio on judgment of women's attractiveness. Human Nature, 6, 51-65.
52. Smith, K. L., Cornelissen, P. L., & Tovée, M. J. (2007). Color 3D bodies and judgements of human female attractiveness. Evolution and Human Behavior, 28, 48-54.
53. Sobal, J., & Stunkard, A. J. (1989). Socioeconomic status and obesity: A review of the literature. Psychological Bulletin, 105, 260-275.
54. Steer, P. (2005). The epidemiology of preterm labor - a global perspective. Journal of Perinatal Medicine, 33, 273-276.
55. Sugiyama, L. S. (2004). Is beauty in the context-sensitive adaptations of the beholder? Shiwiar use of waist-to-hip ratio in assessments of female mate value. Evolution and Human Behavior, 25, 51-62.
56. Swami, V., & Tovée, M. J. (2005). Female physical attractiveness in Britain and Malaysia: A cross-cultural study. Body Image, 2, 115-128.
57. Swami, V., & Tovée, M. J. (2006). Do judgements of food influence preferences for female body weight? British Journal of Psychology, 97, 353-363.
58. Symons, D. (1979). The evolution of human sexuality. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
59. Tovée, M. J., & Cornelissen, P. L. (2001). Female and male perceptions of female physical attractiveness in front-view and profile. British Journal of Psychology, 92, 391-402.
60. Tovée, M. J., Maisey, D. S., Emery, J. L., & Cornelissen, P. L. (1999). Visual cues to female physical attractiveness. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B, 266, 211-218.
61. Tovée, M. J., Swami, V., Furnham, A., & Mangalparsad, R. (2006). Changing perceptions of attractiveness as observers are exposed to a different culture. Evolution and Human Behavior, 27, 443-456.
62. Tovée, M. J., Hancock, P., Mahmoodi, S., Singleton, B. R. R., & Cornelissen, P. L. (2002). Human female attractiveness: Waveform analysis of body shape. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B, 269, 2205-2213.
63. Tracer, D. P. (2002). Somatic versus reproductive energy allocation in Papua New Guinea: Life history theory and public health policy. American Journal of Human Biology, 14, 621-626.
64. Vikram, N. K., Misra, A., Pandey, R. M., Dudeja, V., Sinha, S., Ramadevi, J., et al. (2003). Anthropometry and body composition in northern Asian Indian patients with type 2 diabetes: Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve analysis of body mass index with percentage body fat as standard. Diabetes, Nutrition and Metabolism, 16, 32-40.
65. Vitzthum, V. J., Spielvogel, H., & Thornburg, J. (2004). Interpopulational differences in progesterone levels during conception and implantation in humans. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 101, 1443-1448.
66. Vitzthum, V. J., Bentley, G. R., Spielvogel, H., Caceres, E., Thornburg, J., Jones, L., et al. (2002). Salivary progesterone levels and rate of ovulation are significantly lower in poorer than in better-off urban-dwelling Bolivian women. Human Reproduction, 17, 1906-1913.
67. Wass, P., Waldenstrom, U., Rossner, S., & Hellberg, D. (1997). An android body fat distribution in females impairs the pregnancy rate of in-vitro fertilisationembryo transfer. Human Reproduction, 12, 2057-2060.
68. Wetsman, A., & Marlowe, F. (1999). How universal are preferences for female waist-to-hip ratios? Evidence from the Hadza of Tanzania. Evolution and Human Behaviour, 20, 219-228.
69. World Bank Key Development Data and Statistics. (2005). Online publication at: http://siteresources.worldbank.org/DATASTATISTICS/Resources/GNIPC.pdf.
70. Yu, D. W., & Shepard, G. H. (1998). Is beauty in the eye of the beholder? Nature, 396, 321-322.
71. Zaadstra, B. M., Seidell, J. C., van Noord, P. A. H., te Velde, E. R., Habbema, J. D. F., Vrieswijk, B., et al. (1993). Fat and female fecundity: Prospective study of effect of body fat distribution on conception rates. British Medical Journal, 306, 484-487.