Examining the Interaction of Weight and Ethnicity

The current study examines the effect of the race and weight of individuals within a couple on the perceived compatibility of that couple. Participants (N = 442) viewed 16 couples consisting of overweight or average-weight and Black or White individuals. Participants then rated the compatibility of the couples based on three questions about the likelihood of attraction between the individuals. Same race couples were found to be more compatible than interracial couples which was expected. Similarly, couples which consisted of same weight individuals were more compatible than those consisting of opposing weight individuals. In interracial couples, the Black male was found to be more compatible with an overweight female than was the White male. These findings indicate a prejudice against dissimilar individuals in relationships as well as a possible double standard for the weight of White vs. Black women. Weight, Ethnicity, & Compatibility, 3 Examining the Interaction of Weight and Ethnicity on Perceived Compatibility of Couples The results of several studies indicate that the media (magazines, television, newspapers, etc) strongly depicts a thin ideal for beauty towards White1 women. Not only do these standards of beauty exist, they also influence how women see themselves, both in and out of relationships, and how both sexes view compatible of individuals as a whole. In a meta-analysis by Groesz, Levine, and Murnen (2001), data from 25 studies was combined to reveal that, “body image was significantly more negative after viewing thin media images than after viewing images of either: average size models, plus size models, or inanimate objects” (p.1). Their results suggest that the media’s portrayal of thin women does affect how women perceive their bodies. Many popular television shows, such as King of Queens, The Drew Carey Show, and The Simpsons, depict overweight White men with thin, attractive White women. Thus, television and magazines not only set unrealistic standards for the weight of White women, they also declare to White men that being overweight will not hinder their ability to find an attractive mate (Fister & Smith, 2004; Henderson-King & Henderson-King, 1997). Additionally, in Bar-Tal and Saxe’s (1976) study of the perception of similarly and dissimilarly attractive couples, they found that stereotypes resulting from physical attractiveness benefit men more than women. For example, the idea that when unattractive people have attractive mates the unattractive man is seen as powerful, smart, and rich whereas the unattractive woman is not attributed such qualities. Moreover, overweight women are more disadvantaged than overweight men in the dating market as shown by Sheets and Ajemere (2004) which found that among college 1 For the purposes of this study, White refers to Caucasian Americans of European descent and Black refers to African Americans. Weight, Ethnicity, & Compatibility, 4 students, heavier women were much more likely to be non-dating than average or underweight women. Therefore, being overweight has a greater impact on attractiveness ratings for women than for men. Schweinhart, Fauver, and Coggin (2005) examined how the double standard for weight had an effect on people’s perceptions of overweight men and women in relationships. According to the positive assortative matching theory (Kalick & Hamilton, 1986), people choose partners similar to their own level of physical attractiveness. Thus, same-weight couples should be judged to be more compatible than different-weight couples. However, a double standard for weight predicts that different-weight couples in which the woman is overweight will be seen as less compatible than different-weight couples in which the man is overweight. The researchers paired photos of White overweight and average-weight men and women into heterosexual couples and participants rated how compatible they perceived the couples to be. While couples consisting of two average-weight individuals, two overweight individuals, and an overweight man and average-weight woman were seen as equally compatible, the overweight woman average-weight man couple was rated as significantly less compatible. These findings lend direct support to a double standard for weight such that being overweight negatively affects women, but not men. In opposition to the media’s thin ideal for White women, both television and popular music represent standards of Black female beauty as being voluptuous and Black culture is more accepting of heavier female figures. Jackson & McGill, 1996, found that Black men preferred larger body types, especially when it came to certain parts of the female body, than did White men. Popular music and television refers to the Weight, Ethnicity, & Compatibility, 5 tendency of Black men to desire larger body types, especially certain parts of the female body2. Clearly, then, there exists, in American culture, a difference between White and Black standards of female beauty, at least as they are portrayed by the media. Although this difference does exist, the thin standard of beauty for women affects what kind of body type both Black and White women think they should have in order for men to find them attractive. Demarest and Allen (2000) used figure drawings to determine the ideal figures that White and Black men and women thought the opposite sex would find most attractive and what they themselves found most attractive. While all participants misjudged what the opposite sex listed as most attractive, young, White women were the most inaccurate in their perceptions. Both White and Black women thought that men would prefer a thinner body shape than men actually reported preferring; however, Black women were significantly more accurate in their perceptions of man’s body type preference than White women. On the other hand, men overestimated the body size that women preferred. In this case, though, there were no significant differences between the body shapes that Black and White men perceived women would find attractive; both were equally larger. Moreover, men were significantly more satisfied with their current shape than women. (Demarest & Allen, 2000). This study suggests that while standards of beauty seem to have more of an affect on women’s perceptions of their bodies than men’s, Black women have a more accurate perception of what men think is attractive than White women. Also, while both sexes misjudged what figures the opposite sex found most attractive, women thought men wanted a thinner shape and men thought women 2 One of the most popular Hip-Hop songs from the 1990s, Baby Got Back by Sir Mix-A-lot, literally states that, as a Black man, he “likes big butts and [he] cannot lie” (Mix-a-lot, 1992). Weight, Ethnicity, & Compatibility, 6 wanted a larger shape. These findings also seem to support the idea that women view thinness as a determinant of attractiveness. Although the study supports that men prefer a larger body type than women think they prefer, the study does not report a difference in body size preference for a mate between Black men and White men. However, if Black women were more accurate in their perceptions of what men wanted and all men, regardless of race, preferred heavier figures than women thought that they would, either Black men must be more accepting of heavier body types, or Black women have heavier standards for themselves. Jackson and McGill (1996) found similar results to Demarest and Allen (2000) in that, regardless of race, women preferred a thinner male shape than what men believed they would prefer and thought that men would prefer a thinner female shape than they actually did. However, Black men preferred an average female body type over a slightly thin female body type and believed that other Black men would feel the same. White men, however, were equally divided in their preferences for average and thin female body types and believed that other White men would prefer thinner body types. Furthermore, Black men rated the ideal weight for women as 133 pounds whereas White men rated the ideal weight for women as 125 pounds, but both ethnicities rated 5’7” as the ideal height for women3. Additionally, Jackson and McGill (1996) presented a list of personal adjectives and asked their participants to what degree they felt these adjectives represented obese same-race other-gender individuals. The list included descriptive words such as: “lazy, happy, powerful, sexy, disgusting, attractive, and sloppy” (Jackson & McGill, 1996, p. 8). According to their results, Black males “were 3 The average weight for American women at the time was 136 pounds. (Hodge, Jackson, & Sullivan, 1993 as cited in Jackson & McGill, 1996) Weight, Ethnicity, & Compatibility, 7 less likely to associate negative characteristics and more likely to associate positive characteristics with same-race obese females” than White males (Jackson & McGill, 1996, p. 8). Additionally, Black women associated the trait of sexiness with same-race obese men more often than White women (Jackson & McGill, 1996). Perhaps most relevant: “being unsexy was strongly associated with obesity by [White] respondents of either gender, but not by [Black] respondents” (Jackson & McGill, 1996, p. 8). Thus, Jackson and McGill (1996) found that overall, White participants had a much more negative view of obese same-race opposite-gender individuals than Black participants. Thus, Jackson and McGill (1996) found that Black men were more likely to prefer a larger body type than White men. More importantly, Black individuals of both sexes were more accepting of and associated more positive traits with obesity than White individuals. Not only did Jackson and McGill (1996) examine the personal characteristics that Black and White men and women associated with obese individuals, but they also included the importance of specific body characteristics to attractiveness. The list of physical characteristics consisted of traits like: “large breasts, large penis, shapely legs, round buttocks, slim figure, and nice smile” (Jackson & McGill, 1996, p. 6). The only significant difference between sexes or ethnicities was that Black men listed both shapely legs and round buttocks as important indicators of attractiveness whereas White men did not (Jackson & McGill, 1996). Though these findings do not necessarily indicate that Black men prefer a heavier weight for females, they do suggest that Black men do not prefer thinness to larger body types. . Although Jackson and McGill’s (1996) study seems to indicate that Blacks prefer and are more accepting of larger body types, Singh (1994) questions whether this is Weight, Ethnicity, & Compatibility, 8 due to body fat percentage overall or the differences in waist-to-hip ratios of women. In his 1994 study, Singh found that among an all Black population, both male and female participants ranked normal weight female figures as more attractive and more “desirable for a long term relationship” than heavier figures (Singh, 1994). The moderator of this finding was that figures with a smaller waist-to-hip ratio,4 i.e. figures with small waists and large hips, were rated as more attractive. Thus, Singh credits the stereotype that Black individuals find larger body types more attractive than Whites more to the distribution of body fat in the waist to hip ratio rather than overall percentage of body fat (Singh, 1994). This conclusion would concur with the Jackson and McGill (1996) finding that Black men show a stronger preference than White men for shapely legs and a round buttocks. Either way, Black individuals prefer a larger body type for women, the discrepancy lies simply in what part of the body is larger. However, Singh studied Black young people exclusively of White participants and thus no comparison can be made between races. Due to the fact that findings on body type for Black women are unclear as to whether it is higher overall body fat or simply the waist-to-hip ratio that changes attractiveness level, the current study deals only with faces of individuals. Thus, facial characteristics such as cheek and chin size will be the only determinants of overall body size. By using only faces, the results will be clearer as to whether overweight Black individuals are seen as more compatible in relationships because faces reveal only overall body size and not the waist to hip ratio of body fat distribution. Previous research has led the current researchers to hypothesize that overall, overweight Black women will be seen as more compatible in relationships across the board than 4 The most preferable waist-to-hip ratios were 0.7 and 0.8 out of 0.7, 0.8, 0.9, and 1.0 (Singh, 1993). Weight, Ethnicity, & Compatibility, 9 overweight White women due to differences in standards of beauty for the two ethnicities. Previous research also indicates that Black men, while perhaps not preferring overweight women, are at least more accepting of them and associate fewer unfavorable characteristics with them (Jackson & McGill, 1996). Thus, a secondary hypothesis is that, in couples where the man is Black, overweight women regardless of ethnicity will be seen as more compatible than if the man is White. Oppositely, if the man is White, couples with overweight women will be rated as less compatible. Due to the prevalence in the popular entertainment media of couples that include an overweight White man with an average-weight White woman and the findings of Schweinhart, Fauver, and Coggin (2005), couples with overweight White men should be rated as compatible regardless of the weight of the White woman. Finally, because prejudice against interracial couples still exists (Lewandowski & Jackson, 2001) we expect interracial couples to be rated as less compatible than intraracial couples. The current study acts as an expansion of the Schweinhart, Fauver, and Coggin (2005) study in that the basic methodology will be the same. However, that study used pictures of only White individuals, whereas the current study seeks to examine how the differences in body type standards for Black and White women will affect the previous results. Thus, the current study uses pictures of Black and White, overweight and average-sized men and women. The use of couples rather than individual figures will allow the current research to directly show how the double standard of weight is worse for women than for men because both overweight men and women will be paired with average-weight individuals. Therefore, the comparison will allow for more objective Weight, Ethnicity, & Compatibility, 10 observations than if the overweight individuals were viewed alone. Additionally, the third person perspective of rating the compatibility of a couple rather than rating one’s own attraction level to a presented individual will more directly reflect people’s views of societal standards rather than personal preferences. The study was performed via the Internet through a link placed on John Krantz’s website for Psychological Research on the Net (Krantz, 2008).