The relationship of female physical attractiveness to body fatness

Abstract

Aspects of the female body may be attractive because they signal evolutionary fitness. Greater body fatness might reflect greater potential to survive famines, but individuals carrying larger fat stores may have poor health and lower fertility in non-famine conditions. A mathematical statistical model using epidemiological data linking fatness to fitness traits, predicted a peaked relationship between fatness and attractiveness (maximum at body mass index (BMI) = 22.8 to 24.8 depending on ethnicity and assumptions). Participants from three Caucasian populations (Austria, Lithuania and the UK), three Asian populations (China, Iran and Mauritius) and four African populations (Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria and Senegal) rated attractiveness of a series of female images varying in fatness (BMI) and waist to hip ratio (WHR). There was an inverse linear relationship between physical attractiveness and body fatness or BMI in all populations. Lower body fat was more attractive, down to at least BMI = 19. There was no peak in the relationship over the range we studied in any population. WHR was a significant independent but less important factor, which was more important (greater r2) in African populations. Predictions based on the fitness model were not supported. Raters appeared to use body fat percentage (BF%) and BMI as markers of age. The covariance of BF% and BMI with age indicates that the role of body fatness alone, as a marker of attractiveness, has been overestimated.

On the origin of obesity: identifying the biological, environmental and cultural drivers of genetic risk among human populations

“…Some reports of elevated rates of miscarriage and caesarean sections among anorexic women exist, as do reports of similar negative reproductive outcomes among obese women . Although tentative, Wang and colleagues estimate optimal BMI among Caucasian women to be approximately 23, combining the effects of BMI on all‐cause mortality and future potential fertility based on BMI at age 20. This estimate further supports epidemiological data, demonstrating that BMI extremes negatively impact fitness and fertility.…”

Sex matters: The effects of biological sex on adipose tissue biology and energy metabolism

“…Surprisingly, in a recent epidemiological study of ten populations from diverse African, Asian and Caucasian backgrounds, an inverse correlation between body fatness or BMI and subjective perception of physical attractiveness was uncovered [39]. As adipose tissue is mostly perceived as unattractive and harmful, and even indicative of an intemperate and unhealthy lifestyle, it has received little scientific attention until some decades ago, when it was identified as a vital organ in vertebrate physiology [31], [32], [40].…”

The relationship between female adiposity and physical attractiveness amongst adults in rural Ranaka village, Botswana

“…The sample size was based on the protocol of an international study, which included participants from urban areas in 10 countries with sample sizes ranging from 53 to 260 per country. 10 From this international study, the results showed consistent relationships between study countries, irrespective of sample size, indicating that the sample size per country was large enough for the research question. The sample selection was stratified by gender and village ward.…”

“…Following the protocol of the main study, the rankings were then converted to scores in the range 1-9 using the following equation: Score = 1 + (ranking −1) *0.4, with rankings ranging from 1 to 21. 10 The known level of %BF of each image (X-axis) was plotted against the median attractiveness ranking (Y-axis) for the total group and the subgroups separately. Regression lines were fitted and the R 2 of the regression equation was presented.…”

“…The female body images used had been developed previously by an international team and were used to study the role of adiposity in the perception of physical attractiveness in United States college students 11 and were also used in a study of European, Asian and African populations. 10 The questionnaire comprised two sections. Section A had questions that elicited information on the sociodemographic characteristics of the participants, and their weights and heights were measured and recorded in this section.…”