Nathalie Pena-Trujillo

Cross-Cultural Perceptions

Body image, stereotypical attractiveness and thoughts of obesity vary according to each culture. Some cultures have placed a high values on big bodies while others have placed a high value on thin, small bodies. Important studies have shown that what people think about obesity is relative to each culture. As a result, the idea of fatness as unattractive is far from a universal idea.

Perceptions of Body Size in the Pacific Islanders.

This study gives information on the accuracy of body size judgments in Samoans in two countries. The key here is that they want to probe if the influence of media in people’s lives can also influence people’s idea of body sizing as well. When talking about the media some people will say that the media, which is controlled by wealthy and healthy people, creates false consciousness in those from lower classes. But in this study, Samoan women and men in media and non-media exposed environments evaluated the same body size. This is really important because the Samoan culture has some of the largest average body sizes yet recorded. This can be the result of body values. The Samoan do not think of their bodies as a source for economic success as the Americans do. In contrast, according to the study, Samoan women expect to get married in spite of their body size because marriage is based on family advantages more than appearance.

Social Epidemiology of Overweight.

In some countries the “risks” of obesity are not being taken into consideration. Studies have shown that the concept of obesity as a problem is culturally relative. And the high class people are the ones that are being affected the most because among Anglos there is a relation between obesity and low class. This was a comparative study between women and men from Mexico and Anglos. Between Anglo women being slim is related to control, elegance, and high class. But this is not the case for the population of some cities in Mexico. In this culture the overweight level for men and women are quite similar. Women are fatter than men but obesity is not seen as ugly and as low class. On the other hand, Anglos view of obesity is related to class positions. There is no significant difference for men but for women the difference is notorious. With increasing social class, Anglo women in this study decreased overweight. This result is connected to gender and how society expects women to look and act in certain way.

Cross-Cultural Differences in the Evaluation of Male and Female Body Shapes.

In this study the concept of obesity was evaluated by two groups. The first group was all British and the second was all Ugandati. There were a total of 24 students evaluating drawings of figures ranging from extremely obese to extremely anorexic. The idea of obesity as ugly is not the same idea for everyone. Important studies have demonstrated that other countries such as India, Puerto Rico and the Philippines showed that obesity is not considered ugly. In fact they admire obesity and considered it as secondary sexual characteristics. In this study the British found thinner figures more attractive than the Ugandans who tended to rate the more heavy obese figures as much more attractive and healthy. Perceptions of healthiness vary among countries. Especially between people from develop and developing countries. This is because body image and stereotypical attractiveness vary according to each culture.

A Perspective on Obesity.

In our society there has been a propagation of the concept that “thin is in”. This concept has strongly influenced the African-American population and as a result, according to this article, the frequency of bulimia and anorexia has increased. For African-American women the food that made them feel good when their husbands and children were taken away from them is now viewed completely different. This article is not about diets so that African-American can be “in”. It’s about evaluating the situation from the African-American historical perspectives of food.

Perception of self-physique and eating behavior of high school students in Japan

Japan is now concerned about obesity and lifestyles. The idea behind this study was to investigate body image perceptions and eating behavior in northern Japan between male and female high school students. The results showed how girls in Japan are now concerned about being thin and as a consequence they are also dissatisfied with their bodies much more than boys. This result is similar to results found in other countries like Saudi Arabia and UK. These girls think of obesity as ugly and unhealthy and a way to avoid being obese is changing their eating behavior.