Drive for thinness and pursuit of muscularity: the role of gender ideologies

The female sociocultural beauty ideal is ultra-thin, while the male beauty ideal is related with a muscular body. In this paper it is argued that these differences may be explained by the gender ideology that men and women have. Data obtained from 615 female students (with a Body Mass Index between 18 and 30) revealed that participants high in a gender ideology scale reported greater drive for thinness and less pursuit of muscularity. In addition, women with low scores in a gender ideology scale showed the opposite pattern: high scores on pursuit of muscularity and low in drive for thinness. Finally, it is discussed why men and women adopt different strategies to deal with these beauty ideals.