African and Caucasian body ideals in South Africa and the United States

Abstract

African women are often thought to be protected from developing eating disorder pathology because they experience less cultural pressure to be thin. Yet, to our knowledge, no previous study has quantified the African body ideals portrayed by the media. We determined the African and Caucasian body ideals portrayed by the media in the United States (US) and South Africa (RSA), by calculating the average body mass index of male and female fashion models in the respective countries. The African female body ideal was significantly heavier than the Caucasian body ideal in the US, but significantly thinner than the Caucasian body ideal in RSA. The African male body ideal was significantly thinner than the Caucasian body ideal in both countries. Findings indicate that the body ideals portrayed by the media parallel the previously reported eating disorder pathology for both sexes, and in both countries.