Body image differences and gender, race, age, etc

Here's a very good video about the "Black Folks Don't Have Eating Disorders" myth:

http://youtu.be/O-F2q_SLun0

I did a paper on this in college and thought it was really interesting.

Being half-asian, I think can maybe offer some personal insight from my own observations and my own research while I was trying to find an eating plan that would work for myself...

Asians appear thin (particularly the older generations) partly due to the traditional diet - small portions of chicken/fish/pork, larger portions of vegtables, and of course rice and rice-based starchy foods. The traditional diet was based around what foods were available. This was pretty much true throughout most of the world before industrialization came along in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Prior to western influence, subsitence agriculture was a way of life for most global societies. Hence the large amount of plant based foods and starches - sweet potatoes, rice, etc. as well as other garden-grown vegetables. Most peasant-class families could only afford to keep a few chickens - usually one or two roosters and a few laying hens, and when hatchlings were allowed to mature they became food that was then preserved and rationed since feed for livestock came out of crop yields and meant that there was that much less to sell at market or be consumed by the family. In some societies, like Asia and Polynesia, being at what we nowadays consider a healthy weight (or even being overweight or obese) was eqated to being prosperous - it meant that a particular family or group were usually land owners of some social rank or status (like nobility class, or ruling class - lord, chieftain, etc.), therefore more livestock was able to be kept and fed, either for family consumption or sale at market, more land was owned for farming, etc... Just as a comparison, life in Hawaii and other parts of Polynesia were similar to life in Japan during the same time periods, with regard to food and concepts surrounding eating.

Nowadays, food choices have changed. Beef is more readily available, pork/chicken have become less expensive (relatively speaking, when compared to availability historically - since livestock is now ranched/cultured/grown as an industry) and lifestyles do not depend on agriculture and farming the way they used to - this is pretty much true throughout a lot of the world in general.

The Asian physiology of them looking thin is due in part to the historically traditional diet. However, through time, as the diet changed, the Asian physiology has adapted. Younger generations are eating differently - not so much of the traditional diets (mostly vegetables and starch with meat as a supplement) so they are physically getting taller and heavier.

Clothes made in asian countries are still sized to fit the traditional body size of asians, even though the physical size of the people has changed. This is a cultural thing - "the nail that sticks up gets pounded down," my asian grandma used to say. What she meant was, "Don't rock the boat." Change comes slowly with some things. And cultures are a big thing to change.

Sorry for the lengthy post, and I don't mean to sound preachy - just wanted to share some of my observations...

I'm a developmental psychologist and just reviewed several studies of this.

Body image problems go up with income - one of the reasons they're associaetd with ethnicity. That is true in all countries. As people become wealthier and more Westernized, they value thinness more and also are more subject to eating disorders.

In the United States, Latinos and African-Americans prefer curvier figures than Whites. Asian-Americans prefer the slimmest body types. That tends to be true in Asian countries as well, although most of that research has been done in South Korea and Japan.

In general, guys tend to be less concerned with their weight, although men and women (and boys and girls) have similar weight problems. Men (and boys!) have become increasingly concerned with their bodies - but want a more athletic body, not a thin one. Men with eating disorders tend to be much more psychologically vulnerable (read, more ill) than women.

Income and ethnicity are major predictors of obesity in kids in the US. And this is going to hurt all of our kids, as each generation of kids has become more overweight for the last several decades. That will hurt them over the long haul, as it sets them up for a life of health problems. And as people with less income tend to be heavier, and kids born to heavier moms tend to be born heavy and get heavier, that is particularly problematic. It means the people with the most health problems will have least access to medical care.

Just a warning against generalizing for race, class or ethnicity.

Most ethnic groups are not authoring these studies themselves - self-determination is often a big factor in how these things are understood.

Again, I recommend the series "Black Folks Don't _____" for one example of how the answers vary when the questions are different, or are asked from a different perspective.

Here's a good article with a link to the video:

http://www.clutchmagonline.com/2012/07/black-folks-dont-have-eating-disorders-one-web-series-challenges-this-myth/

This is an excellent point. I think there are cultural differences in how these problems are viewed, and when treatment might be sought, etc.