Abstract
Western media globalization is implicated in the spread of the thin body ideal to traditional societies. Qatar—a small conservative Middle-Eastern country—has recently witnessed rapid Westernization, but the influence of Western media icons on women’s body image dissatisfaction has rarely been studied here. A 2 (celebrity or model) × 3 (thin, average, or heavy) plus a control condition between-subject experiment tested the primary hypothesis that exposure to images of thin Western models or celebrities promotes a thinner body ideal compared to neutral images. A sample of young women (n = 1145) was randomly assigned to experimental images as part of an online survey. After exposure to images, participants rated their current and desired body size and shape, reported celebrity liking, and evaluated their favorite celebrity’s body. We found little support for the desire of thinness. Viewing thin- and average-sized celebrities was significantly associated with desiring a heavier and a thinner look (respectively) among those favoring thin celebrities. Images of thin models induced the desire for a curvaceous body figure with hips especially among those favoring celebrities with hips. The findings highlight important nuances in the influence of Western media icons on body image among women in a non-Western culture.
Highlights
Body image dissatisfaction (BID) is the discrepancy between one’s current and ideal body image
We examined the acute effects of exposure to thin, average-sized, and heavy-sized images of Western celebrities and models compared to neutral images on the desire for change in body size and shape in a large probability sample of predominantly young Arab women living in Qatar
We found no existing measures in the literature that have been validated for this population and because of the lack of specificity of existing measures with respect to target celebrities, we adapted a measure from previous research conducted in Western setting (Harrison 1997), so that it uniquely assesses recognition and degree of liking of celebrities used in this study
Summary
Body image dissatisfaction (BID) is the discrepancy between one’s current and ideal body image. The globalization of Western media has been implicated in a shift towards the thin body ideal and BID in non-Western societies (McCabe et al 2012; Omori et al 2016; Swami et al 2010). It is unclear how cultural ideals and sociocultural factors may counteract the internalization of the thin-body ideal, hereafter called the desire for thinness. Little is known about how body shape preferences, not just desire for thinness in size, may be affected by media icons among women in Western and non-Western societies
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