Bioethics, healthcare policy, and related issues.
More on the weird research front:
A study of 61 male university students found those who were hungry were attracted to heavier women than those who were satiated.
As what - a potential food source?
As usual, there’s an evolutionary-psychology Just So Story to go along with it:
In some societies where food is a limited resource, such as the South Pacific, higher body weights are revered. In others where food is abundant, such as the West, lower female body weights are preferred.
Evolutionary psychologists believe this is a survival preference. What you are looking for in a mate is the best chance of healthy offspring and in an environment where food is scarce, a heavier woman is deemed a safer bet for this.
They do mention, however, that there are biological factors involved, and a variety of social conditioning factors that influence not only how people feel about body size, but how they perceive it. So, in short, nobody knows why this effect occurs.
Interesting, though.
Hat tip: zuzu at Feministe.
One Response to “I Have Even Less Idea What This Is About”
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August 4th, 2006 at 3:04 pm
From a historical, non-scientific perspective, the trend toward preferring slimmer women (and especially waiflike women) is remarkable recent. By modern standards, women like Marilyn Monroe and Rita Hayworth would be considered “too big.” Which is a shame, as far as I’m concerned.
There’s also archaeological evidence that ancient cultures revered heavier women as being more fertile, and therefore more desirable. Primitive “Earth goddess” statues were virtually always rotund.
I’ve got nothing even remotely scientific to back it up, but it wouldn’t surprise me at all to learn that we are genetically predisposed to liking larger women, but that our culture has overridden this biological urge. Nature v. nurture, and all that.