Abstract
This study compared different forms of body talk, including “fat talk,” among 231 university men and women in central England (UK; n = 93) and the southeastern United States (US; n = 138). A 2 (gender) by 2 (country) repeated measures ANOVA across types of body talk (negative, self-accepting, positive) and additional Chi-square analyses revealed that there were differences across gender and between the UK and US cultures. Specifically, UK and US women were more likely to report frequently hearing or perceiving pressure to engage in fat talk than men. US women and men were also more likely to report pressure to join in self-accepting body talk than UK women and men.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ahern, A. L., Bennett, K. M., & Hetherington, M. M. (2008). Internalization of the ultra-thin ideal: Positive implicit associations with underweight fashion models are associated with drive for thinness in young women. Eating Disorders, 16, 294–307.
Britton, L. E., Martz, D. M., Bazzini, D. G., Curtin, L. A., & LeaShomb, A. (2006). Fat talk and self-presentation of body image: Is there a social norm for women to self- degrade? Body Image, 3, 247–254.
Brumberg, J. J. (1997). The body project: An intimate history of American girls. New York: Random House.
Carli, L. L. (1982). Are women more social and men more task oriented? A meta-analytic review of sex differences in group interaction, reward allocation, coalition formation, and cooperation in the Prisoner’s Dilemma game. Unpublished manuscript, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Cash, T. F. (2002). A “negative body image”: Evaluating epidemiological evidence. In T. F. Cash & T. Pruzinsky (Eds.), Body image: A handbook of theory, research, and clinical practice (pp. 269–276). New York: Guilford.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2010). Healthy weight—it’s not a diet, it’s a lifestyle. Atlanta, GA: Author. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/adult_bmi/index.html.
Crocker, J., Luhtanen, R. K., Cooper, M. L., & Bouvrette, A. (2003). Contingencies of self-worth in college students: Theory and measurement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 894–908.
Daniel, S., & Bridges, S. K. (2010). The drive for muscularity in men: Media influences and objectification theory. Body Image, 7, 32–38.
Dindia, K., & Allen, M. (1992). Sex differences in self-disclosure: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 112, 106–124.
Eagly, A. H. (1987). Sex differences in social behavior: A social-role interpretation. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Feingold, A., & Mazzella, R. (1998). Gender differences in body image are increasing. Psychological Science, 9, 190–195.
Grogan, S. (2008). Body image: Understanding body dissatisfaction in men, women, and children. New York: Routledge.
Halliwell, E., & Harvey, M. (2006). Examination of a sociocultural model of disordered eating among male and female adolescents. British Journal of Health Psychology, 11, 235–248.
Janoff-Bulman, R., & Wade, M. B. (1996). The dilemma of self-advocacy for women: Another case of blaming the victim? Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 15, 143–152.
Jones, D. C., & Crawford, J. K. (2006). The peer appearance culture during adolescence: Gender and body mass variations. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 2, 257–269.
Jost, J. T., & Kay, A. C. (2005). Exposure to benevolent sexism and complementary gender stereotypes: Consequences for specific and diffuse forms of system justification. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88, 498–509.
MacDonald Clarke, P., Murnen, S. K., & Smolak, L. (2010). Development and psychometric evaluation of a quantitative measure of “fat talk”. Body Image, 7, 1–7.
Markus, H. R., & Kitayama, S. (1991). Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological Review, 98, 224–253.
Martz, D. M., Petroff, A. B., Curtin, L. A., & Bazzini, D. G. (2009). Gender differences in fat talk among American adults: Results from the psychology of size survey. Sex Roles, 61, 34–41.
Mautner, R. D., Owen, S. V., & Furnham, A. (2000). Cross-cultural explanations of body image disturbance in western cultural samples. The International Journal of Eating Disorders, 28, 165–172.
McCreary, D. R., & Sasse, D. K. (2000). An exploration of the drive for muscularity in adolescent boys and girls. Journal of American College Health, 48, 297–304.
McElhone, S., Kearney, J. M., Giachetti, I., Zunft, H. J., & Martinez, J. A. (1999). Body image perception in relation to recent weight changes and strategies for weight loss in a nationally representative sample in the European Union. Public Health Nutrition, 2, 143–151.
McKinley, N. M. (2002). Feminist perspectives and objectified body consciousness. In T. F. Cash & T. Pruzinsky (Eds.), Body image: A handbook of theory, research, and clinical practice (pp. 55–62). New York: Guilford Press.
Nichter, M. (2000). Fat talk: What girls and their parents say about dieting. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Nichter, M., & Vuckovic, N. (1994). Fat talk. In N. Sault (Ed.), Many mirrors: Body image and social relations (pp. 109–131). New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.
Olivardia, R., Pope, H. G., Jr., Borowiecki, J. J., & Cohane, G. H. (2004). Biceps and body image: The relationships between muscularity and self-esteem, depression, and eating disorder symptoms. Psychology of Men and Muscularity, 5, 112–120.
Ousley, L., Cordero, E. D., & White, S. (2008). Fat talk among college students: how undergraduates communicate regarding food and body weight, shape, & appearance. Eating Disorders, 16, 73–84.
Pruzinsky, T., & Cash, T. F. (2002). Understanding body images: Historical and contemporary perspectives. In T. F. Cash & T. Pruzinsky (Eds.), Body image: A handbook of theory, research, and clinical practice (pp. 3–12). New York: Guilford Press.
Smolak, L., & Murnen, S. K. (2008). Drive for leanness: Assessment and relationship to gender, gender role and objectification. Body Image, 5, 251–260.
Smolak, L., Murnen, S. K., & Thompson, J. K. (2005). Sociocultural influences and muscle building in adolescent boys. Psychology of Men and Masculinity, 6, 227–239.
Stice, E., Maxfield, J., & Wells, T. (2003). Adverse effects of social pressure to be thin on young women: An experimental investigation of the effects of “fat talk”. The International Journal of Eating Disorders, 34, 108–117.
Strahan, E. J., Lafrance, A., Wilson, A. E., Ethier, N., Spencer, S. J., & Zanna, M. P. (2008). Victoria’s dirty secret: How sociocultural norms influence adolescent girls and women. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34, 288–301.
Swami, V., Frederick, D. A., Aavik, T., Alcalay, L., Allik, J., Anderson, D., et al. (2010). The attractive female body weight and female body dissatisfaction in 26 countries across 10 world regions: Results of the international body project I. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 36, 309–325.
Tannen, D. (1990). You just don’t understand: Women and men in conversation. New York: Ballentine Books.
Tompkins, K. B., Martz, D. M., Rocheleau, C. A., & Bazzini, D. G. (2009). Social likeability, conformity, and body talk: Does fat talk have a normative rival in female body image conversations? Body Image, 6, 292–298.
Tucker, K. L., Martz, D. M., Curtin, L. A., & Bazzini, D. G. (2007). Examining “fat talk” experimentally in a female dyad: How are women influenced by another woman’s body presentation style? Body Image, 4, 157–164.
Wardle, J., Haase, A. M., & Steptoe, A. (2006). Body image and weight control in young adults: International comparisons in university students from 22 countries. International Journal of Obesity, 30, 644–651.
Wardle, J., & Johnson, F. (2002). Weight and dieting: Examining levels of weight concern in British adults. International Journal of Obesity and Related Metabolic Disorders, 26, 1144–1149.
Wertheim, E. H., Paxton, S. J., & Blaney, S. (2008). Body image in girls. In L. Smolak & J. K. Thompson (Eds.), Body image, eating disorders, and obesity in youth (2nd ed., pp. 47–76). Washington DC: American Psychological Association.
Wood-Barcalow, N. L., Tylka, T. L., & Augustus-Horvath, C. L. (2010). “But I like my body”: Positive body image characteristics and a holistic model for young-adult women. Body Image, 7, 106–116.
Acknowledgements
The first author received funding support from an International Student Research Grant within the Office of Student Research, the Graduate Student Association Senate, and the Wiley Smith Family, all administered through Appalachian State University. We thank these groups for their longstanding and generous support of student research. Aside from funding support, these groups had no involvement in any part of this publication.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Appendix
Appendix
Fat Talk Scenario | ||||
Imagine you are in a group of friends/coworkers who were saying negative things about their bodies (For example, “My butt is fat”). | ||||
How likely would this scenario occur in your life? | ||||
Never | Sometimes | Usually | Frequently | Very Frequently |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
How much pressure would you feel to say negative things about your body in this group? | ||||
None | Maybe Some | Some | A Lot | Extreme |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Self-accepting Scenario | ||||
Imagine you are in a group of friends/coworkers who were saying self-accepting things about their bodies (For example, “I feel okay about my body”). | ||||
How likely would this scenario occur in your life? | ||||
Never | Sometimes | Usually | Frequently | Very Frequently |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
How much pressure would you feel to say self-accepting things about your body in this group? | ||||
None | Maybe Some | Some | A Lot | Extreme |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Positive Scenario | ||||
Imagine you are in a group of friends/coworkers who were saying positive things about their bodies (For example, “I really like my body”). | ||||
How likely would this scenario occur in your life? | ||||
Never | Sometimes | Usually | Frequently | Very Frequently |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
How much pressure would you feel to say positive things about your body in this group? | ||||
None | Maybe Some | Some | A Lot | Extreme |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Payne, L.O., Martz, D.M., Tompkins, K.B. et al. Gender Comparisons of Fat Talk in the United Kingdom and the United States. Sex Roles 65, 557–565 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-010-9881-4
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-010-9881-4