Probably men care more about obesity in their mates than women do, high status men have more choice of mates, and a common way to gain status is by mating well (or, at the least, there is assortative mating for status), thus higher status women tend to be less obese, but not higher status men, ultimately because of the sexes' asymmetry in mate preferences.
Furthermore... while the preference against obesity is stronger among men, both sexes would prefer a less obese mate, all else equal. And while most people prefer mates of the same race, white women are the most universally desired and have the most market power, and thus the most leverage to enforce their preference for less obese men. Thus white men, who are mostly interested in/limited to attracting white women, have more incentive not to be obese, especially if they want to attract a high status white woman (e.g. because they themselves are high status), whereas non-white men (especially high status ones) are more free to let themselves go because the non-white women whom they would attract have relatively less market power/leverage to enforce their preferences.
Interesting that the decline in obesity rates for high income men is higher than that of high income women. Especially as GLP1 usage should be higher in the latter cohort. Is there data for 2024 and 2025 to see if this trend persists?
Probably men care more about obesity in their mates than women do, high status men have more choice of mates, and a common way to gain status is by mating well (or, at the least, there is assortative mating for status), thus higher status women tend to be less obese, but not higher status men, ultimately because of the sexes' asymmetry in mate preferences.
That's also the view I hold.
Furthermore... while the preference against obesity is stronger among men, both sexes would prefer a less obese mate, all else equal. And while most people prefer mates of the same race, white women are the most universally desired and have the most market power, and thus the most leverage to enforce their preference for less obese men. Thus white men, who are mostly interested in/limited to attracting white women, have more incentive not to be obese, especially if they want to attract a high status white woman (e.g. because they themselves are high status), whereas non-white men (especially high status ones) are more free to let themselves go because the non-white women whom they would attract have relatively less market power/leverage to enforce their preferences.
Interesting that the decline in obesity rates for high income men is higher than that of high income women. Especially as GLP1 usage should be higher in the latter cohort. Is there data for 2024 and 2025 to see if this trend persists?
There could be if Epic released it, but otherwise, no other major datasets are slated for updates soon.