These racist beliefs influenced our gender norms as well, including the definitions of what it means to “look male,” “look female,” and “look androgynous.” Because thinness was deemed “more evolved” (given its supposed association with masculinity and whiteness), men with lots of fat on their bodies began to be seen as both less masculine and less morally upstanding. And whereas fatness or curviness was seemingly associated with femininity, the idea that larger bodies were inferior eventually translated to the idea that even women shouldn’t be “too” fat or curvy.
