Preference for women's body mass and waist-to-hip ratio in Tsimane' men of the Bolivian Amazon: biological and cultural determinants

Piotr Sorokowski; Krzysztof Kościński; Agnieszka Sorokowska; Tomas Huanca

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0105468

Preference for women's body mass and waist-to-hip ratio in Tsimane' men of the Bolivian Amazon: biological and cultural determinants

PLoS One. 2014 Aug 22;9(8):e105468. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0105468. eCollection 2014.

Authors

Piotr Sorokowski¹, Krzysztof Kościński², Agnieszka Sorokowska³, Tomas Huanca⁴

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Psychology, University of Wroclaw, Wroclaw, Poland.
² Institute of Anthropology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland.
³ Institute of Psychology, University of Wroclaw, Wroclaw, Poland; Smell and Taste Center, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
⁴ Centro Boliviano de Investigación y de Desarrollo Socio Integral, San Borja, Bolivia.

Abstract

The issue of cultural universality of waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) attractiveness in women is currently under debate. We tested men's preferences for female WHR in traditional society of Tsimane'(Native Amazonians) of the Bolivian rainforest (N = 66). Previous studies showed preferences for high WHR in traditional populations, but they did not control for the women's body mass.We used a method of stimulus creation that enabled us to overcome this problem. We found that WHR lower than the average WHR in the population is preferred independent of cultural conditions. Our participants preferred the silhouettes of low WHR, but high body mass index (BMI), which might suggest that previous results could be an artifact related to employed stimuli. We found also that preferences for female BMI are changeable and depend on environmental conditions and probably acculturation (distance from the city). Interestingly, the Tsimane' men did not associate female WHR with age, health, physical strength or fertility. This suggests that men do not have to be aware of the benefits associated with certain body proportions - an issue that requires further investigation.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Beauty*
Body Mass Index*
Body Weights and Measures
Bolivia
Culture*
Female
Fertility
Humans
Judgment
Male
Rainforest
Waist-Hip Ratio*
Young Adult

Grants and funding

The research was supported by funds of Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education for science (research grant #IP 2011 051571 to P.S.; years 2012-2014)and Foundation for Polish Science START scholarship and National Science Centre ETIUDA (#2013/08/T/HS6/00408) scholarship to A.S. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.