Griet Vandermassen

The Attractive Female Body Weight and Female Body Dissatisfaction in 26 Countries Across 10 World Regions: Results of the International Body Project I

This study reports results from the first International Body Project (IBP-I), which surveyed 7,434 individuals in 10 major world regions about body weight ideals and body dissatisfaction. Participants completed the female Contour Drawing Figure Rating Scale (CDFRS) and self-reported their exposure to Western and local media. Results indicated there were significant cross-regional differences in the ideal female figure and body dissatisfaction, but effect sizes were small across high-socioeconomic-status (SES) sites. Within cultures, heavier bodies were preferred in low-SES sites compared to high-SES sites in Malaysia and South Africa (ds = 1.94-2.49) but not in Austria. Participant age, body mass index (BMI), and Western media exposure predicted body weight ideals. BMI and Western media exposure predicted body dissatisfaction among women. Our results show that body dissatisfaction and desire for thinness is commonplace in high-SES settings across world regions, highlighting the need for international attention to this problem.

Sexual Selection A Tale of Male Bias and Feminist Denial

Today the modern Darwinian theory of evolution is the unifying theory within the biological sciences. A consideration of its implications for feminism is, however, impossible without a critical evaluation of its history of male bias. The aim of this article is therefore threefold. First, to explain what sexual selection entails. Second, to discuss male bias in and feminist reactions to Darwinian theory in general and sexual selection theory in particular. Third, to demonstrate that it would be a loss for feminism to keep rejecting an evolutionary framework if we want to understand the roots of gender difference. This article is informed by a Darwinian feminist perspective.

Grappling with Evolutionary Theory. Femininities and Masculinities in the Work of Virginie Loveling (1836–1923)

In this article, the authors discuss evolutionary thought as it manifests itself in the literary works of the (Flemish) Belgian writer Virginie Loveling (1836–1923). By introducing certain aspects of the evolutionary ideologies popular in Europe in the last decades of the nineteenth century, Loveling fulfilled a mediating role in the production and dispersion of knowledge. In her novels she integrates the mechanisms of natural and sexual selection, follows traditional Darwinian courtship plots, but also subtly deviates from conventional gender constructions. She repeatedly portrays men as caring and sensitive, and refuses to portray women exclusively in their traditional caring roles of wives, daughters or nurses. Loveling does not provide neat and straightforward answers, but questions the existence of uniform or stable gender roles.