Body Image and Ethnicity: Japanese Women

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Historical background of Japanese Body Image

• Body-image research relatively new

• Studied in relation to eating disorders after 1980s, but mostly prevalence analyses

• Many epidemiological studies in 1990s

• More attention to body image as a causal factor and covariate after 2000

Westernization

1. Direct importation of Caucasian female images

• blamed for flourishing of eating disorders but conceptualized differently

• After WWII, significant amount of White women flooded in Japanese media (e.g. Twiggy)

• White female images became ideal but unobtainable for most Japanese → social comparison and body dissatisfaction

Westernization

2. Idealization of thinness

• Thinness = attractive and desirable, leading to success and happiness, as distributed by media

• Thin women better liked and protected by men

Westernization

3. Dietary habit and increased obesity

• Westernized foods → increased fat intake

• Increase of “metabolic syndrome” and governmental requirement to reduce waistline, which punctuates deviation from ideal stigmatization of obesity

• Obesity rates have increased after WWII (80s) and become a social issue

• Consistently told not to get bigger, even by government

  • Companies had to track health of employees including weight (based on waistline)

    • If employees have a greater waistline than standard, they are diagnosed with “metabolic syndrome”

Westernization

4. Industrialization and change in women’s social status

• Japanese women in higher education and work force expected to be good wives/mothers AND successful in career → confusion and diffusion of social identity → accepting dictated ideals

• Attempting to delay maturation and responsibilities by attaining child-like body

Westernization

• Smith & Joiner (2008)

METHOD:

• Sociocultural factors may uniquely contribute to eating disorders

• Japanese ideal more damaging than Western Ideal

  • wholesome/sexy, playful/submissive, skinny, wide-eyed innocence, cute, young

• 45 Japanese adult women

1. Current body shape (accepted measure of body dissatisfaction)

2. ideal body shape (t-test DV)

3. sociocultural ideal in Japan (measured by Stunkard)

4. sociocultural ideal in the US (measured by Stunkard)

5. Ideal body shape for Japanese women according to Japanese men (measured by Stunkard)

RESULTS:

• Ideal according to Japanese men and women = thinnest

• Sociocultural ideal in the US = larger than above

• “Westernization” may be misleading

  • “Thus, it may be misleading to explain the rising rate of eating disorders in Japan simply as a result of “Westernization”” (Smith & Joiner, 2008).

Westernization

• Japanese young females endorse much thinner ideal than Western young females

• “Kawaii” culture in Japan

• Maybe Westernization AND Japanese cultural factors influence Japanese women

Westernization

• Madanat et al. (2011)

METHOD:

• 865 college Japanese women and 432 college American women

• ANOVA used to compare means (categorical distributions of BMI, desired change, disordered eating attitudes, and behaviors by country) across countries

  • The Motivation for Eating Scale (MFES)

  • Restraint Scale (RS)

  • Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26)

  • Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Scale (SATAQ-3) - focused on media influence

  • Body Esteem Scale (BES)

  • Body Silhouettes

  • Body Mass Index (BMI)

RESULTS:

• American: Media as important resource of beauty and ideal; endorse media images as ideal

• Japanese: Overestimation of body size; drive for thinness; eating based on environmental influences

• It may not be idealization and internalization of Westernized media images per se but other cultural factors may contribute