Sex differences in the preferences for specific female body shapes

Sex Roles ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 22-22 (11-12) ◽  
pp. 743-754 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian Furnham ◽  
Catherine Hester ◽  
Catherine Weir
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Female Body ◽  
Body Shapes

Bat wings, bunions, and turkey wattles: body transgressions and older women's strategic clothing choices

2009 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 709-726 ◽  
Author(s):  
LAURA HURD CLARKE ◽  
MERIDITH GRIFFIN ◽  
KATHERINE MALIHA
Keyword(s):  
Older Women ◽  
Female Body ◽  
Later Life ◽  
The Body ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Body Shapes ◽  
Clothing Choices ◽  
Depth Interviews

ABSTRACTThis paper examines older women's experiences and perceptions of clothing prescriptions for adults in later life. Using data from in-depth interviews with 36 women aged 71 to 93 years, we investigate the stringent, taken-for-granted social norms that older women identified with respect to appropriate fashion for the ageing female body. Specifically, the participants argued that older women should refrain from wearing bright colours and revealing or overly suggestive styles. Expressing a preference for classic or traditional styles, the women also reported that they used clothing strategically to mask or compensate for bodily transgressions that had occurred over time as a result of the physical realities of ageing, including weight gain, altered body shapes, wrinkles and sagging or ‘flabby’ arms and necks, referred to respectively as ‘bat wings’ and ‘turkey wattles’. In addition, the women contended that they consciously chose their clothing styles to compensate for age-related health issues and/or to present a competent, healthy self to others. Finally, the women talked about the ways in which their clothing choices were influenced by their changing lifestyles and constrained by a lack of desirable and affordable clothing options for the older female body. The findings are discussed in the light of Erving Goffman's concept of stigma and contemporary theorising about ageing, ageism, beauty work and the body.

scholarly journals Construction of Women's Body in Julia Perez's Advertisements

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fetnani Cecilia
Keyword(s):  
Female Body ◽  
Qualitative Approach ◽  
Ideal Image ◽  
Patriarchal Ideology ◽  
Smooth Skin ◽  
Straight Hair ◽  
Body Shapes ◽  
The Ideal ◽  
Semiotic Theory ◽  
Descriptive Qualitative

This study aims to find the construction of female body shapes in Julia Perez advertisements including Ya Ya Susu Coffee ’and ar Fresh Sari Susu Soda’. Data was collected using a descriptive qualitative approach which was then analyzed using Roland Barthes's semiotic theory. The results obtained revealed that the adverts of Julia Perez's dan Kopi Susu Ya! ’And ar Segar Sari Susu Soda’ contained elements of patriarchal ideology that appeared through scenes and visualization of images. Through this work it was revealed that the ideal image of women in advertising was built on the perspective of men. Therefore, ideal women are women who have smooth skin, thin stomach, large breasts, large buttocks, and long, straight hair. This means that women who do not meet these criteria are considered women who are not ideal or not attractive to men.

Cross-cultural differences in the perception of female body shapes

1983 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 829-837 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian Furnham ◽  
Naznin Alibhai
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Differences ◽  
Female Body ◽  
Inverse Relationship ◽  
Dominant Role ◽  
Small Body ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Cross Cultural Differences ◽  
High Social Class ◽  
Body Shapes ◽  
Social And Cultural Factors

SynopsisWhereas in Western societies there is an inverse relationship between high social class and low body weight, the inverse is true of less developed, non-Western societies. It has also been shown that the longer immigrants have been in Western societies, the less obese they tend to be. This study examined how Kenyan Asian, British and Kenyan British females from similar backgrounds perceived female body shapes. As predicted, the Kenyans rated larger figures more favourably and smaller figures less favourably than the British. Also, as predicted, it was found that the Kenyan Asian British were more similar to the British group in their perceptions. The results support the view that social and cultural factors play dominant role in the perception of one's own and others' body shapes. In addition, the results reveal that in Britain preferences for small body shapes to the point of being anorexic are not uncommon.

Intelligent fashion styling using genetic search and neural classification

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 283-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arzu Vuruskan ◽  
Turker Ince ◽  
Ender Bulgun ◽  
Cuneyt Guzelis
Keyword(s):  
Intelligent Systems ◽  
Female Body ◽  
Intelligent System ◽  
Solution Space ◽  
The Body ◽  
Design Parameters ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Genetic Search ◽  
Body Shapes ◽  
Error Weight

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop an intelligent system for fashion style selection for non-standard female body shapes. Design/methodology/approach – With the goal of creating natural aesthetic relationship between the body shape and the shape of clothing, garments designed for the upper and lower body are combined to fit different female body shapes, which are classified as V, A, H and O-shapes. The proposed intelligent system combines genetic algorithm (GA) with a neural network classifier, which is trained using the particle swarm optimization (PSO). The former, called genetic search, is used to find the optimal design parameters corresponding to a best fit for the desired target, while the task of the latter, called neural classification, is to evaluate fitness (goodness) of each evolved new fashion style. Findings – The experimental results are fashion styling recommendations for the four female body shapes, drawn from 260 possible combinations, based on variations from 15 attributes. These results are considered to be a strong indication of the potential benefits of the application of intelligent systems to fashion styling. Originality/value – The proposed intelligent system combines the effective searching capabilities of two approaches. The first approach uses the GA for identifying best fits to the target shape of the body in the solution space. The second is the PSO for finding optimal (with respect to training mean-squared error) weight and threshold parameters of the neural classifier, which is able to evaluate the fitness of successively evolved fashion styles.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document