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Sex Roles, Vol. 46, Nos. 11/12, June 2002 ( C© 2002)

Television Situation Comedies: Male Weight, NegativeReferences, and Audience Reactions

Gregory Fouts1,2 and Kimberley Vaughan1

In a content analysis of 27 different prime-time television situation comedies, we examined thebody weights of 75 central male characters (97% White, 3% Black), the negative referencesthese male characters received about their body shape/weight from female characters, thenegative references male characters made about themselves, and the audience reactions (e.g.,laughter) to the negative references. It was found that (a) above-average weight males wereunderrepresented in the programs compared to the general population; (b) the heavier themale character, the more negative references he made about his own body shape/weight; and(c) his negative comments about himself were significantly associated with audience reactions.No relationship was found between the body weight of male characters and negative referencesfrom female characters. These findings are contrasted with previous research that examinedthese variables associated with female characters.

KEY WORDS: television; male body images; stereotypes; double standard.

Researchers have recently focused their atten-tion on men’s body image. For example, society has ex-pectations for ideal male body shapes (e.g., muscular,toned; Murray, Touyz, & Beumont, 1996; Petrie et al.,1996; Pope et al., 2000); males compare their bodiesto idealized media and cultural images (e.g., Baron,Byrne, & Watson, 1998; Davis & Katzman, 1997;Heinberg, Thompson, & Stormer, 1995; McCreary &Sasse, 2000; Pope, Olivardia, Gruber, & Borowiecki,1999); and males may experience body dissatisfac-tion and eating issues as a result of exposure tocultural messages (e.g., Lamb, Jackson, Cassiday, &Priest, 1993; Pedersen, Markee, & Salusso, 1994;Pope, Gruber, Choi, Olivardia, & Phillips, 1997; Pope,Katz, & Hudson, 1993; Thompson & Tantleff, 1992).The most examined medium of cultural transmissionhas been magazines (e.g., Kervin, 1990; Leit, Pope, &Gray, 2001; Petrie et al., 1996; White & Gillett,1994), although television is society’s most preferred

1University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.2To whom correspondence should be addressed at Department ofPsychology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N1N4; e-mail: gfouts@ucalgary.ca.

medium and the primary source of socialization (e.g.,Bryant & Zillman, 1986; Kubey & Csikszentmihalyi,1990; Liebert & Sprafkin, 1988; Statistics Canada,1999). The purpose of this study was to examine themessages entertainment television presents regardingthe weight of men’s bodies.

Previous researchers (Fouts & Burggraf, 1999,2000) have found that below- and above-averageweight female characters are over- and underrepre-sented, respectively, in situation comedies comparedto population norms. Average and above-averageweight female characters also receive negative com-ments about their body weights/shapes from malecharacters, with the comments usually being followedby audience reactions (typically laughter). Thus, tele-vision viewers not only observe the modeling of thethin ideal, but also observe and hear vicarious punish-ment for having average and heavier body shapes. Thecombination of modeling and vicarious reinforcementon television is considered to be one of the most pow-erful influences on viewers (Bandura, 1969, 1977) andmay, in part, account for the internalization of the thinideal by young women and put them at risk for bodydissatisfaction. It is unknown, however, whether the

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same kinds of modeling and vicarious punishmentsare being presented on television regarding males’bodies.

In this study, we assessed the modeling of thebody weights of male characters and the occurrenceof negative references made about male bodies by fe-male characters and by male characters about them-selves. Also of interest was whether these negative ref-erences are followed by audience reactions. Hearingan audience laugh at negative comments about men’sbodies may be conceptualized as “reinforcement ofreinforcement” (Fouts & Burggraf, 2000, p. 927), inwhich the audience reaction (a) implies social ap-proval of negative comments made about men’s bod-ies and (b) suggests and models for viewers that it isacceptable to punish (e.g., harass, laugh at) males whoare above-average in weight. This study was designedto parallel that of Fouts and Burggraf (2000); there-fore, comparisons can be made regarding similaritiesand differences in the modeling of body weights ofmale and female television characters and the vicar-ious punishments they might receive for having par-ticular body weights/shapes. Situation comedies weretargeted because they are the most popular programs(Fouts & Burggraf, 1999; Nielsen Ratings, 2001) and,thus, may influence more viewers (Liebert & Sprafkin,1988; Williams, 1986).

METHOD

Situation comedies are 1/2-hr television pro-grams aired during prime time (7–11 p.m.); theypresent comedic plots and/or characters and containaudience reactions (live or dubbed). Twenty-sevendifferent situation comedies were available in theCalgary area (February, 1999), and one episode ofeach was recorded. Within these programs, 75 malecharacters (97% White, 3% Black) were identified ascentral characters who appeared weekly; the actorsfor the characters were those consistently listed in themain credits of the program (e.g., for “Drew Carey,”Drew Carey, Ryan Stiles, and Diedrich Bader). Thefollowing variables were coded for each male char-acter: body weight, frequency of negative referencesreceived from female characters regarding his bodyweight/shape, frequency of negative self-referencesregarding his own body weight/shape, and frequencyof audience reactions to these negative references.Body weight was coded by visually comparing eachcharacter’s body and shape to the nine graded im-ages of body weight/shape used by Fallon and Rozin

(1985) and Fouts and Burggraf (2000); body weightwas coded from very below to very above averageweight. Negative references included (a) negative ver-bal comments (e.g., by other characters, e.g., “You’retoo fat to wear that in public,” “I’m surprised youcould find a belt that fits you”; by self, e. g., “I need togo on a diet,” “Geez, this is tight!”); and (b) negativebehavioral references (e.g., a female character givinga male character a disapproving up-and-down glance,grimacing while pointing a finger at a character’sstomach; a male character looking at himself in a mir-ror disapprovingly, shaking his head while poking hisstomach). Audience reactions were coded by examin-ing each negative reference and determining the pres-ence or absence of an auditory audience reaction im-mediately afterward (e.g., laughter, “ooh”) within 2 s.

Coders (n = 27; 23 females, 4 males) were welltrained by providing them with exemplars for eachvariable and practicing coding on videotaped episodesof programs not employed in this study. During train-ing, discrepancies were resolved and coding criteriarefined; after training, each coder coded one episodeof a situation comedy (often in slow motion and usingthe pause setting) without further discussion. The cod-ing of negative references and the audience reactionsto the references required that a coder replay eachprogram several times until the coder was confidentthat all instances were recorded. Interobserver agree-ment was ascertained by selecting a random sampleof the previously coded situation comedies and havingthem independently coded again by different coders.Thus, a total of 25 or 33% of all the male charac-ters were coded by a second coder in order to assessinterobserver agreement. Agreement in coding bodyweight was defined as coding the central male charac-ter identically on the 9-point scale or deviating only+/−1 from each other (this deviation was permittedbecause the adjacent images within the scale werevery similar in body shape); this was the method usedby Fouts and Burggraf (2000). Frequencies of negativereferences and audience reactions had to be identicalto constitute an agreement. Interobserver agreementfor each variable was calculated by the formula ofagreements/(agreements + disagreements). Interob-server agreement was above .90 for all variables.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The body weights of male characters were cate-gorized in the identical manner as for female charac-ters in the Fouts and Burggraf (2000) study, i.e., “below

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average weight” (1–3 on Fallon & Rozin’s scale, 1985),“average weight” (4–6), and “above average weight”(7–9). The scores within each category were assumedto reflect the normal variation of body shapes withinthe category. Thirty-three percent of the male char-acters were below average in weight; 54% and 13%were average and above-average weight, respectively.The 13% finding is in contrast to the actual prevalencerate of above-average weight men in North America(approximately 30%; National Center for Statistics,USA, 1994; National Institute of Health, 2000); thus,overweight males in television situation comedies areunderrepresented and thereby present an inaccuratepicture of men’s bodies in our society. On the otherhand, a comparison of these findings with those for fe-male characters in situation comedies (7% are above-average in weight as contrasted with a 25% prevalencerate; Fouts & Burggraf, 2000) suggests that it is moreacceptable for men than for women to be overweighton entertainment television.

Nine percent of central male characters receivednegative references from female characters regardingtheir bodies. There were no significant correlations(p > .10) between the frequency of negative refer-ences male characters received and (a) the weight oftheir bodies (using the 9-point scale; Fallon & Rozin,1985), nor (b) audience reactions to the negative ref-erences. These findings indicate that being a male witha heavier body is not associated with receiving pun-ishment by female characters; and when it does oc-cur, it is not reinforced by audience laughter. This isin sharp contrast with the findings for heavier femalecharacters (Fouts & Burggraf, 2000), who not onlyreceive more negative comments from male charac-ters than do thinner characters, but also have theirnegative comments reinforced by audience reactions.Thus, in entertainment television, the viewing audi-ence observe heavier females being punished for hav-ing average to above-average body shapes/weights;whereas heavier males receive little punishment or re-jection. As a consequence, although there is underrep-resentation of heavier male characters on entertain-ment television, the cultural expectation to meet anideal body shape is likely greater for women than formen, because the former experience overall more me-dia exposure (magazines and television; e.g., Fouts &Burggraf, 1999, 2000; Harrison, in press; Harrison &Cantor, 1997) than the latter. These findings and thosein our previous research (Fouts & Burggraf, 1999,2000) support the double standard that may influenceviewers’ attitudes about women’s and men’s bodies inour society.

Nine percent of the central male characters madenegative references regarding their own bodies. Therewere significant correlations between the frequencyof these self-references and their body weights, r =.36, p < .05, and audience reactions to them, r =.36, p < .05. These findings indicate that the heavierthe male character, the more negative self-referenceshe made and when he did so, the comments were fol-lowed by audience reactions. There are at least threeimplications of these findings. First, heavier male char-acters uttering negative comments and making neg-ative gestures about their weight/shape may possiblyindicate low self-esteem (e.g., Chandarana, Helmes, &Benson, 1988), Thus, they may be modeling that itis acceptable to be negative about one’s own body,and this message is strengthened by audience laugh-ter. This combination of modeling and humor mayresult in some male viewers being vicariously social-ized to make fun of their weight in the presence ofothers or an audience, thereby giving them a way todisguise or deny their feelings if they perceive pres-sure to fit a culturally defined ideal. Second, internal-ization of the modeling of negative comments (andvicariously reinforced by the audience) may result inresponding to other males in a similar manner, i.e.,that it is acceptable to “put down” humorously othermales who are overweight. Third, because a majorityof writers and directors of situation comedies are men(e.g., Lauzen & Dozier, 1999; Seger, 1996), the neg-ative self-comments written into the scripts and theuse of audience reactions (usually ”canned” laughterdubbed into the program) may reflect men’s social-ization experiences.

There are several questions left unanswered bythis research. First, muscularity is an important di-mension of the ideal male image found in magazines(e.g., Kervin, 1990; Leit et al., 2001). However, thefrequency and degree of muscularity presented on en-tertainment television is unknown. In this study, therewas no relationship between female characters’ neg-ative comments and men’s body weight; it is possiblethat such a relationship would occur if muscularitywere the body characteristic examined. Positive com-ments could be included in such an analysis so thatpossible complementary relationships could be exam-ined, i.e., positive comments associated with greatermuscularity and negative comments associated withless muscularity. Second, 54% of the male charactersin this study were coded as having average weight. Itis unknown whether this majority may serve as pos-itive (e.g., healthy) models for television viewers, orwhether the combination of the underrepresentation

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of heavier men and their self-deprecatory commentshas the greater effect on viewers. Third, content analy-ses of historical trends in the depiction of women haverevealed increasing thinness over the past severaldecades. (e.g., Morris, Cooper, & Cooper, 1989). Asimilar analysis could be done on the situation come-dies to which past/present generations have been/areexposed, that is, an examination of trends in thedepiction of male characters’ weight and muscular-ity as well as the comments they and others makeabout their bodies. Such an analysis is currently beingconducted using situation comedies from the 1950s(e.g., “I Love Lucy,” “Father Knows Best”) to thepresent.

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