Weighing discomfort in college age American females: Incidence and causes

We report that undergraduate females, unlike males, indicate a high degree of discomfort at the prospect of being weighed in the presence of male or female acquaintances. This discomfort is surprising, in that the other people present already have a good sense of the weight of the female by virtue of being able to see her. An analysis of this discomfort and sex-difference, in the form of response to variations of this situation, presented in mini-scenarios in a questionnaire, suggests that it is neither due to generally greater embarrassment sensitivity in the females, nor greater sensitivity in females to public display of personal information. Furthermore, the weighing discomfort is not about the process of being weighed, but rather the revealing of the weight. Part of the discomfort comes from the participants’ sense that they are overweight, and part of it comes simply from calling attention to the fact that weight itself is an unflattering personal attribute, independent of the actual value of the weight.