BODY-FAT DISTRIBUTION AND PERCEPTION OF DESIRABLE FEMALE BODY SHAPE BY YOUNG BLACK-MEN AND WOMEN

The relation between body fat distribution as measured by waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) and perception of desirable female body shape was investigated in college-age black men and women. Subjects judged attractiveness, various personal qualities, and desirability for long-term relationships of 12 line drawings of female figures that represented three body weight categories (normal, underweight, and overweight) and four levels of WHRs (0.7, 0.8, 0.9, and 1.0). Judgments of attractiveness and desirability for long-term relationships were affected by body weight and the size of the WHR. Both male and female subjects ranked normal weight figures with 0.7 and 0.8 WHR as more attractive and desirable for long-term relationships; neither underweight nor overweight figures, irrespective of WHR size, were assigned high ranking for these variables. These findings do not support the notion that black young men and women find overweight female figures as desirable and attractive. (C) 1994 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.