Researchers have unearthed a difference in the way men and women react when they are exposed to “ideal” body images. In a study by University of Illinois, Urbana–Champaign, researchers observed a difference in eating behavior based on gender in a social setting. They found that young men and women ate different amounts of food after being shown images of ideal-bodied people of their own gender. The participants were of average weight but perceived their bodies as being less than “ideal.”
Kristen Harrison, lead researcher, found that “in the presence of same-gender peers, certain women eat less and certain men eat more following exposure to ideal body images—“certain” in this case referring to women and men who have discrepancies between their actual body and the kind of body they think their peers idealize.”
“In a nutshell,” Harrison said, “we found that following exposure to ideal-body images, men who are insecure about their bodies eat more in front of other men, while women who are insecure about their bodies eat less in front of other women.”
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