Drive for thinness and pursuit of muscularity: the role of gender ideologies

Alejandro Magallares

doi:10.11144/javeriana.upsy15-2.dtpm

Abstract

The female sociocultural beauty ideal is ultra-thin, while the male beauty ideal is related with a muscular body. In this paper it is argued that these differences may be explained by the gender ideology that men and women have. Data obtained from 615 female students (with a Body Mass Index between 18 and 30) revealed that participants high in a gender ideology scale reported greater drive for thinness and less pursuit of muscularity. In addition, women with low scores in a gender ideology scale showed the opposite pattern: high scores on pursuit of muscularity and low in drive for thinness. Finally, it is discussed why men and women adopt different strategies to deal with these beauty ideals.

Highlights

In Western cultures there is a great emphasis on physical appearance as a determinant of people’s personal value (Thompson, Heinberg, Altabe, & Tantleff-Dunn, 1999)
It has been found that female individuals high in a traditional gender role scale score more in a drive for thinness scale (Bekker & Boselie, 2002) and less in a pursuit of muscularity scale (Steinfeldt et al, 2011) than those participants who score low in a female ideology scale
This result shows that women who endorse a traditional gender ideology are more worried about their thinness but not to develop a muscular body

Summary

Introduction

In Western cultures there is a great emphasis on physical appearance as a determinant of people’s personal value (Thompson, Heinberg, Altabe, & Tantleff-Dunn, 1999). Pritchard (2008) has found that feminine women are more vulnerable to disordered eating behaviors than masculine and androgynous women and adds that gender ideologies are related with disordered eating in both men and women For this reason, it is expected that participants high in a traditional gender ideology scale will report more drive for thinness than those with lower scores. It has been found that men who have a high score in a masculinity scale reported higher drive for muscularity and less eating concerns than individuals with lower scores (Magallares, 2013) This last result suggests that a strong male ideology may be related with the apparition of muscle dysmorphia. Female individuals high in a traditional gender role scale will score, less in a drive muscularity scale than those who score low in female gender ideology scale (Steinfeldt et al, 2011)

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Results

Discussion