Gender differences in body image and preferences for an ideal silhouette among Brazilian undergraduates

The aim of this study was to investigate gender differences in the accuracy of body size estimation and body dissatisfaction among Brazilian undergraduates and their relationships with perceptions of the ideal body silhouettes that would be selected by same-gender and opposite-gender peers. A total of 159 undergraduates (79 males) from a public University in Ribeirao Preto, Sao Paulo, Brazil, participated in the study. They completed a Figure Rating Scale and indicated the figure that best describes the size of their own body (actual), their desired body, the body they judged would be ideal to same-gender peers, and the body they judged would be ideal to opposite-gender peers. The results showed that women were less precise in estimating their actual size and more dissatisfied. The mean Body Mass Index (BMI) that was selected as “current” by women was significantly higher than their desired and ideal BMIs, whereas the mean BMIs that were selected by men were practically the same. Men and women selected ideal silhouettes for their own gender that were the same as those that were selected as ideal by the opposite gender. The mean BMIs that were actually chosen by men and women as desired and ideal were closer to the upper end of normal weight and lower end of overweight, respectively. Such results contradict what has been assumed to be a normative characteristic of men and women in several countries, raising some doubts regarding the role of beliefs about judgments of the opposite gender in the development of body image disturbances.