Gender differences in responses to thin, athletic, and hyper-muscular idealized bodies

Abstract

Recent evidence suggests that the ideal female body has shifted from an ultra-thin image toward one that is both thin and toned, or muscular. Furthermore, the ideal male body may be more athletic, characterized by moderate muscularity combined with leanness, than bodybuilder-muscular. Thus, we experimentally examined women’s (n = 92) and men’s (n = 106) cognitive processing style in response to idealized body types, i.e., thin images, athletic images (thin and muscular), or hyper-muscular images (moderately thin and extremely muscular). Results revealed that women in the athletic condition were the most likely to generate negative social comparisons. Women in the thin condition were more likely to generate counter-arguments compared to women in the other two conditions. Men in the hyper-muscular condition were more likely to generate counter-arguments than men in the other two conditions. Further, among women in the thin condition, negative social comparisons were inversely related to body appreciation but positively related to internalization of appearance ideals. Findings confirm that the athletic ideal likely poses problems for women’s body image. Both women and men seemed to be able to “talk back” when exposed to their gendered body ideal.