The Time Trend of Beauties: Detection of Cross-Cultural Invariance in Playboy Centerfolds

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1 DOI /s The Time Trend of Beauties: Detection of Cross-Cultural Invariance in Playboy Centerfolds Andreas Hergovich & Sophie Süssenbach # Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014 Abstract This research is the first to investigate the time trend of ideal female bodies across different nations. In order to identify how female standards of beauty have changed in recent decades, we examined height, weight, bust, waist and hip sizes of 360 German and 375 American Playboy centerfolds from 1980 to 2011, as well as the following: waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), waist-to-bust ratio (WBR), bust-to-hip ratio (BHR) and the body mass index. A factor analysis detected three principal components: slimness, androgyny and bust factor. A reversed moderated regression revealed that there are significant different time trends in androgyny and bust factor between the two nations, although these trends are going in the same direction. These findings are not fully consistent with the general assumption of a cross-cultural ideal of beauty, and only partially support our assumption of a growing influence of US media exposure on German body ideals. Keywords Playboy centerfold. WHR. BMI. Body measurement. Cross-cultural differences. Body shape Introduction Evolutionary theories suggest that mate selection is based on the need for reproduction, and assert that the only way to judge the reproductive value of a woman is indirectly through her physical traits (Buss 1989; Gallup and Frederick 2010). Singh (1993) argued that the waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) can be considered as such an indicator, because it is a reliable cue to endocrinological status and health, which in turn are indicators for fertility. The WHR reflects the distribution of fat between the upper and A. Hergovich Faculty of Psychology, Department of Economic Psychology, Educational Psychology and Evaluation, University of Vienna, Universitätsstraße 7, 1010 Vienna, Austria andreas.hergovich@univie.ac.at S. Süssenbach (*) Vienna University of Economics and Business, Welthandelsplatz 1, 1020 Vienna, Austria sophie.suessenbach@wu.ac.at

2 lower body, and is calculated by dividing waist size by hip size. Several studies have demonstrated that a WHR of 0.70 indeed corresponds with desirable attributes such as youth, health and fecundity, and is rated most attractive by men (Singh 1993; Streeter and McBurney 2003; Tovée et al. 1997; Singh and Singh 2011). A second important factor in evaluating sexual attractiveness is the body mass index (BMI). This is a measure of nutritional status and is calculated by dividing weight (kg) by height squared (m) [weight/ (height 2 )]. A BMI of around 19.0 is associated with health, fertility, and low mortality (Manson et al. 1995; Tovée et al. 1999). Several studies have demonstrated the significant influence of BMI and WHR on attractiveness ratings (Singh 1993; Streeter and McBurney 2003; Swami and Tovée 2007; Tovée et al. 1998). As the preferences for these two measures are considered to be stable, according to some evolutionary psychologists (Singh 1993) they should not undergo any significant alterations over time. Following Garner et al. (1980), many studies have already examined the above assumption by analyzing possible changes over time in several body measurements and their respective body relations (Freese and Meland 2002; Sypeck et al. 2006; Voracek and Fisher 2002). These studies analyzed centerfold models of the American Playboy, who are supposed to represent women with ideal bodies (Standard Periodical Directory ). Most of these researchers found that the WHR has significantly increased, while the BMI has significantly decreased over time. Hence, the ideal body shape of women has become more tubular (androgynous) over time, as their bust size and hip size has decreased while their waist size has increased. Nearly all of the abovementioned investigations used an American sample for their examinations. To date, no comparative studies have been conducted to determine possible differences in the development of the ideal female body between Europe and the USA. Szabo s (1996) study has been the only one not to use the American edition of Playboy; instead, Szabo analyzed the South African edition of the magazine. However, he collected data only for 1 year and did not make any comparisons to other national editions. Surprisingly, our study is the first to examine the way idealized women in Europe have changed over time compared to those in the USA. Due to the growing influence of US television, fashion, commercials, and other media on individuals (c.f. Becker et al. 2002; Jin 2007; Nolan 1994; 2005), the question arises as to whether current females body ideals are similar to past ideals, and whether Europe has the same beauty ideal as the USA. According to Singh s(1993) theory of cultural invariance, there should not be any differences in beauty standards between countries or over time (c.f. Singh et al. 2010). However, this assumption was already questioned by Voracek and Fisher (2002) who found notable temporal trends in body shapes of American Playboy centerfold models. The current research had the aim to further and more comprehensively examine the assumption of cross-cultural and time invariance. With regard to changes and preferences for a German sample of Playboy centerfold models, we expect our findings to be similar to those in the USA, as identified in the literature. The USA and Germany are two countries which are different enough to warrant a cultural comparison between them (Nolan 1994, 2005), and both countries meet the requirement that the magazine Playboy has been available for a long time. As already stated, we also assume that during the period in question the cultural influence of America on Germany continually increased (Nolan 2005), allowing us to investigate whether it has also had an influence on beauty ideals as depicted in the Playboy magazine.

3 Most previous investigations have detected a significant increase in body height while weight has remained stable, resulting in a significant decrease of BMI. Waist size, WHR and waist-to-bust ratio (WBR) have significantly increased, while bust size, hip size and bust-to-hip ratio (BHR) have decreased. These changes indicate that the body shape of Playboy centerfold models has become less curvaceous (more androgynous) and slimmer over time. In order to examine whether the same time trends can be found in the USA and Germany, we analyzed the German edition of Playboy and compared it to its US counterpart. Method In order to examine if time trends in the ideal female body exist, we obtained the body measurements for models depicted on the Playboy magazines centerfolds. These centerfolds are foldable pictures over 3 pages of nude women in the middle of the magazine and include a fact sheet containing age, weight, height, bust size, waist size and hip size mentioned by the Playmates themselves. As already mentioned, this was not the first study to choose the depiction of Playboy centerfolds as cultural ideals (see Voracek and Fisher 2002; Sypecketal.2006). We chose Playboy as an index of men s preferences, as it is a magazine designed for men with the purpose of exposing them to ideal female images, and as it enjoys the highest circulation rate of all men s magazines with over three million readers (Standard Periodical Directory ). In 2011 the Magazine already had over 11 Million American readers (Statista 2014) of the print version and in 2014 about 5.1 million of unique visitors on their homepage (Playboy Media Kit 2014). While the majority of all readers are still males between the age of 25 and 49 (50 %, Median age=38), almost 21 % are indeed female (Playboy Media Kit 2014, retrieved from MediaKit.pdf). The German version of Hugh Hefners Playboy was first printed in August 1972 and has been published every month since then. Due to a huge lack of data from 1973 to the early eighties in the German Playboy issues, we analyzed publications since January 1980 only. Specifically, by reviewing the holdings of the national library in Leipzig, body measurements of German centerfold models could be obtained for a time period ranging from January 1980 to April In total, 360 German centerfolds were inserted into the final dataset. Body measurements of the American centerfold models can be obtained from the internet website and date back to We collected the data of 375 American centerfolds from the same time period as that of the German sample. Data Preparation As all American measurements were given in inches, we converted them into centimeters to enable international comparisons. Next, in order to determine if any trends in body shape exist and to analyze whether women s body shape significantly changed over time, we calculated the waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), bust-to-hip ratio (BHR) and waist-to-bust ratio (WBR). We additionally

4 calculated the BMI of all centerfold models by dividing their weight (kg) by their squared height (meter), which in the end enabled us to examine any trends towards a possible change of slimness. Preliminary data analysis revealed a high multicollinearity between our variables of interest (WHR, BHR, WBR, bust, height, etc.). Hence, we first had to run a factor analysis to extract the principal factors of our nine variables, and significantly reduce the high degree of collinearity. In order to determine the exact number of factors extracted, we performed a parallel analysis for principal components and raw data permutation (O Connor 2000) creating 3,000 data sets using a 95 % confidence interval. In consideration of the eigenvalues, we could extract three principal factors which in combination explained % of the total variance. The items that cluster on the same component suggest that factor 1 represents the slimness of a body (factor loadings: height=0.701, weight=0.885, hip size=0.844, and BMI=0.503; eigenvalue= 3.272, α=0.723). Factor 2 describes the androgyny of the models (factor loadings: waist size=0.842, WHR=0.971, WBR=0.820; eigenvalue=2.329, α=0.905) and factor 3 bust influenced components (factor loadings: bust size=0.785, BHR=0.949, eigenvalue=1.772; α=0.742). The respective factor scores were saved and used for further calculations. Data Analysis Finally, to test for any changes in the perception of body ideals and differences between the two nations, we conducted a reversed moderated regression. By doing so we aimed to predict the date of publication through the magnitude of the various body measurement factors. This procedure enabled us to simultaneously check for the influence of main effects as well as interactions while only having one outcome variable. To this end we ran the regression stepwise. First, we inserted only the three principal factors slimness, androgyny, and bust factor as predictors into the regression equation, while using the publication date as outcome variable (Step 1, see Table 1). In a second step, to test for the influence of country on ideal body perceptions, we additionally inserted the dichotomous country variable as predictor into the regression model (Step 2). Moreover, we multiplied the three factors (slimness, androgyny, and bust factor) by country (dummy coded) and, in a third step, put these interaction terms into the equation in order to reveal any interaction effects (Step 3). If one of the inserted independent variables turns out to be significant, it would be a good predictor of the publication date and hence, significantly changed over time. A positive value of the beta coefficient would indicate an increase over time in the respective body measurement, while a negative value would be an indicator for a decrease. Sample Description In total we collected data on centerfolds. The first sample included 360 German Playboy centerfolds aged between 17 and 32 (n=350, M=21.93, SD= 1 Note that some models did not provide all information.

5 2.72) and the second group included 375 US Playboy centerfolds aged between 17 and 35 (n=373, M=22.49, SD=2.82) from exactly the same time period, January 1980 to April Results The initial step of the regression analysis revealed a significant effect of androgyny and bust factor on the date of publication, meaning they significantly changed over time. The second step of the regression assessed whether these changes are different in the two investigated nations. As the country in which the Playboy issue was published indeed turned out to be a significant predictor for time (see Table 1), we assume this to be an indicator for significant differences in the development of body types over time between Germany and the US. Hence, in a third step the respective interaction terms were examined. By doing so, only the interaction between androgyny and country of publication, the interaction between the bust factor and country of publication, and the main effect of country remained significant predictors of time. This result suggests that there are indeed different developments of ideal body shapes over time between Germany and the USA. To further examine how these differences manifest, we calculated correlations between the three principal factors and the date of publication, as well as for the individual body measurements and the date of publication (see Table 2). The stronger the correlations, the stronger the change over time was. Table 1 Reversed moderated regression for principal factors and interactions between factors and country Step 1 (F 3,622 ) Step 2 (F 4,621 ) Step 3 (F 7,618 ) r β sr β sr β sr Slimness Androgyny 0.315*** *** *** Bust factor 0.351*** *** *** Country 0.247*** *** *** Slimness x Country Androgyny x Country 0.160** *** Bust factor x Country 0.154** *** R ΔR F *** *** *** ΔF *** 5.385*** max. VIF β standardized regression coefficient, sr semipartial correlation, r zero-order (Pearson) correlation, ΔR 2 and ΔF change in R 2 and F statistics, max. VIF largest variance inflation factor. *p <0.05 **p<0.01 ***p<0.001

6 Table 2 Correlations of all body measurements and principle factors with date of publication Principle Factors Germany USA Single body Germany USA r r measurements r r Slimness Height Weight * Hip 0.168** BMI ** Androgyny 0.190** 0.396** Waist 0.216** 0.305** WHR ** WBR 0.257** 0.517** Bust factor 0.231** 0.393** Bust 0.239** 0.426** BHR 0.114* 0.356** *p<0.05 **p<0.01 Generally, the developments of body measurements go in the same direction. While nearly no changes in slimness could be found, androgyny and bust size in both countries significantly changed over time. However, as already indicated by the significant interaction between country and androgyny, there seems to be a different development in terms of androgyny between the two nations. While it increased significantly in both nations, it did so to a greater extent in the US sample compared to the German sample (see Fig. 1 for illustration). According to the correlations of the single body measurements, this is partially caused by the fact that the hip size and the waist size of German models simultaneously increased, while in the American sample only waist size increased over time, resulting in a more androgynous body shape. Fig. 1 Trend of androgyny (left) and the bust-factor (right) among German and American Playboy centerfold models.

7 Further differences were indicated in the regression through the significant interaction between country and the bust factor. Although, the bust factor seems to have developed in the same direction for both, as it significantly decreased among the US Playmates as well as the Germans, again it did so to a higher degree in the USA (see Fig. 1). This might be the result of a significant increase in bust size and no changes in hip size among the American models while both measurements increased in the German sample. Previous research has found that the preferred bust size in US Playboy centerfold models, as well as in Miss America contestants, has significantly decreased, while waist size and WHR have significantly increased, resulting in an increasingly tubular body shape (e.g., Voracek and Fisher 2002). The results of our investigation are in accordance with these findings. We found that the US Playmates waist sizes, and hence their WHR, are continuing to increase (see Table 2), as are the waist sizes of the German Playmates (but to a less steep extent). However, our results were not in line with earlier findings that there has been a significant increase in height and decrease or stableness in weight, and hence a significant decrease in BMI, indicating a trend towards slimmer female body ideals. Neither the height nor weight of the German models, nor the height of the US models, were shown to significantly increase over time. On the contrary, we found that the weight of the US centerfold models significantly increased, resulting in a significant increase in BMI (Table 2). Discussion Taken together, the results of this research are in correspondence with the assumption that the US media influences the depiction of beauty ideals alsoingermany.but the data only slightly support our assumption that due to exposure to media, the ideals for female bodies are becoming more similar in the US and Europe. The highly significant main effect of country in the reversed moderated regression clearly indicates that there are differences in the development of beauty standards between both nations. Thus, our study shows that the development of Playmates body shape is going in the same direction in both nations, only to a different extent. Taking for granted a continuation of these time trends, the differences in German and US beauty ideals may increase in the future. American centerfolds show a sharper ascending slope in androgyny as well as a sharper descending slope in bust size than German centerfolds. Because the German centerfolds started with higher androgyny and lower bust size in the 1980s, body shapes converge until the 1990s, and afterwards drift apart. One may speculate that this shows an Americanization of German society first and then after the reunion of Western and Eastern Germany in 1989, a rising Anti-Americanization, which was rather popular in Eastern Germany (Nolan 2005). In line with our findings, other investigations have already shown that there are differences in preferences for body shapes across various nations (Furnham et al. 2002; Swami et al. 2006b), across Western nations (Swami et al. 2006a, 2007), and even within the same nation (Swami et al. 2008; Swami and Furnham 2009). Considering all of these results, it is hard to adhere to the assumption of cross-cultural invariance, though it must be conceded that our data do not give a decisive answer to the question

8 of crosscultural invariance of preferred body measurements. Though differences between the changes in body measurements between the countries were significant, these rather small differences are, at least for the first decades, also the result of different starting values in body measurements. Preferences seem to vary not only over time, but also across nations; and are subject to a multitude of political and cultural influences. The lack of extensive data from early German Playboy issues, and the high multicollinearity between the independent variables were two methodical problems faced within this study. In order to retain the information for each individual year, we did not calculate analyses of variance, for which we would have had to group all measurements into decades. Therefore, we decided to focus on the development itself and ran the reversed multiple regression analysis, while bearing in mind that we are unable to draw any conclusions about current or past actual body measurements. When running the regression analysis we tried to detect a linear time trend, even though we are aware that there are ups and downs over time. However, our intention was to discover an overall, general trend and, hence, we perceived a linear regression as applicable. Criticisms may even arise when questioning whether women depicted in Playboy magazine represent beauty standards only for males or for females as well. Sypeck et al. (2006) argued that even if women are not directly and regularly exposed to images directed towards men, they may still be affected by them. This is because the images indirectly influence the way women perceive themselves, as they try to comply with this ideal in order to gain positive appraisal from men. One may argue that our results have only limited validity because the various body measurements were given by the women themselves, and could be biased. We refer to Freese and Meland (2002) and Sypeck et al. (2006) when we argue that even if these models answered according to social desirability, their answers reflect what was seen as beautiful and desirable during the specific decade in question, and therefore meets our objectives. Acknowledgments This research was supported by a travel grant for short scientific research in foreign countries by the University of Vienna, Unit for Research Service und International Relations (DLE Forschungsservice und Internationale Beziehungen). Thank you to Martin Voracek for valuable advices for writing the paper. References Becker, A. E., Burwell, R. A., Gilmann, S. E., Herzog, D. H., & Hamburg, P. (2002). Eating behaviours and attitudes following prolonged exposure to television among ethnic adolescent girls. British Journal of Psychiatry, 180, Buss, D. M. (1989). Sex differences in human mate preferences: evolutionary hypotheses tested in 37 cultures. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 12, Freese, J., & Meland, S. (2002). Seven tenths incorrect: heterogeneity and change in the waist-to-hip ratios. Journal of Sex Research, 39, Furnham, A., Moutafi, J., & Baguma, P. (2002). A cross-cultural study on the role of weight and waist-to-hip ratio on female attractiveness. Personality and Individual Differences, 32, Gallup, G., & Frederick, D. A. (2010). The science of sex-appeal: an evolutionary perspective. Review of General Psychology, 14,

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