Why 'fatty' jibes hurt men less
...In the study, led by Dr Shigeto Yamawaki from the University of Hiroshima, Japan, 13 men and 13 women with an average age of 25, were confronted with sets of words including fatty, thick, stumpy, chubby, heavy, obesity, corpulence and buxom. They were asked to think about them while the activity in their brains was observed using MRI scanning. In men, the part of the brain most activated in response to the unpleasant words was the medial prefrontal cortex, associated with emotions and dealing with them. In women, activity was seen in the amygdala, associated with perceiving threat and fear. Dr Yamawaki says in the British Journal of Psychiatry: "Men may not process unpleasant words concerning body image as fearful information, whereas women seem to do so...more...
