The good body: When big is better

Abstract

An important cultural question is, “What is a ‘good'—desirable, beautiful, impressive—body?” The answers are legion; here I examine why bigger bodies represent survival skill, and how this power symbolism is embodied by behaviors that guide larger persons toward the top of the social hierarchy. Bigness is a complex concept comprising tallness, boniness, muscularity and fattiness. Data show that most people worldwide want to be big—both tall and fat. Those who achieve the ideal are disproportionately among the society's most socially powerful. In the food‐secure West, fascination with power and the body has not waned, but has been redefined such that thinness is desired. This apparent anomaly is resolved by realizing that thinness in the midst of abundance—as long as one is also tall and muscular—still projects the traditional message of power, and brings such social boons as upward mobility.