100 Body Dissatisfaction
(Ben-Tovim and Walker, 1991a), the Body Esteem Scale (Franzoi and
Shields, 1984), and the Body Dissatisfaction subscale of the Eating Disorders
Inventory (Garner, Olmsted, and Polivy, 1981). These questionnaires ask
questions such as “Do you worry about parts of your body being too big?”
“Do you worry about your thighs spreading out when you sit down?” and
“Does being with thin women make you feel conscious of your weight?”
Research has also explored dissatisfaction and criticism of body parts using
scales such as the Body Cathexis Scale (Secord and Jourard, 1953) and the
Body Satisfaction Scale (Slade et al., 1990). This research has shown that
although those individuals with eating disorders show greater body dis-
satisfaction than those without, dieters show greater body dissatisfaction than
nondieters and women in general show greater body dissatisfaction than men.
In summary, body dissatisfaction can be conceptualized either as a
discrepancy between the individual’s perception of their body size and their
real body size, as a discrepancy between their perception of their actual
size as compared to their ideal size, or simply as feelings of discontent
with the body’s size and shape. Whichever conceptualization is used and
whichever measurement tool is chosen to operationalize body dissatisfac-
tion, it seems clear that it is a common phenomenon and certainly not one
which is limited to those few individuals with clinically defined eating
disorders. So who shows dissatisfaction with their body?
Who Is Dissatisfied With Their Body?
The occurrence of body dissatisfaction will be explored in terms of gender,
age, sexuality, social class, and ethnicity.
Wo m e nConcerns about weight and shape are conventionally associated with
women. Fallon and Rozin (1985) asked 227 female students in the US to
rate their current figure and ideal figure using body silhouettes, and showed
that in general women wanted to be thinner than they thought they were.
Similarly, Tiggemann and Pennington (1990) asked 52 students in Australia
to repeat this study and found that they also showed body dissatisfaction.
Using the same silhouettes, normal-weight women in Britain have also been
shown to rate their preferred size as thinner than their perceived actual size
(Wardle et al., 1993). Overall, research indicates that many women show