In previous reports, females tended to aspire to a slender
body shape [25–27], which is consistent with our present
findings. It is interesting that young Japanese females still
tend to aspire to a lean body even though they are not obese
as compared with females in Europe or the US [3, 27]. The
reason why non-obese Japanese females aspire to a lean
body and the reason why underlying the gender difference
in ideal body shape are not yet clear. Females might prefer
a lean body shape irrespective of their height or current
body shape. In males, McCreary and Sasse