Body sizes in print media: Are there ethnic differences? A brief report.

There is evidence that black women are more satisfied with their body size despite higher rates of overweight. One possible mechanism is differential exposure to ultrathin images. We hypothesized that models in magazines aimed at black women are not as thin as models in materials aimed at the general population. Pictures of women from magazines aimed at black women and magazines aimed at the general population were compared (N=51). Female raters (21 white, 21 black) matched pictures to one of four drawings depicting very thin to normal-weight women. The mean body size of pictures from black magazines was significantly higher than for general magazines (p<0.001, d=0.89); 85% of pictures from general magazines were in the two thinnest size categories compared with 46% of pictures from black magazines. Media aimed at black women are less likely to use extremely slim models, which could contribute to or reflect a greater range of acceptable body sizes.