Lynda Boothroyd

@drboothroyd

Cross-cultural and experimental psychologist / anthropologist. Working on: appearance ideals, body image, sexual selection, gender, social transmission. Working in: 🇬🇧 🇨🇴 🇭🇳 🇲🇽 🇵🇪 🇿🇼 🇰🇪 🇿🇦 🇨🇳 (A veces posteo en español.) Prof @ Durham

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Lynda Boothroyd@drboothroyd· 1d

And again I say...

Lynda Boothroyd@drboothroyd· 1d

Sunset over the English Channel. See you in the morning in Newcastle...

The tip of the prow of a ferry drives through a gentle dark grey sea with a dusky orange sunset along the horizon.

Lynda Boothroyd@drboothroyd· 2d

The other professor in the house is a solar physicist. So since we were on board a ferry with a West-ish facing cabin and no sun-filter lenses this evening, he turned the entire cabin into a pinhole camera to display the eclipse...

Small reflection of the sub half-wat obscured by the moon, another wall of a ferry cabin, created by a pinhole camera (sheet of cardboard with a small hole in, held with the curtains draped around it.)

Pinhole camera image of the increasingly eclipsed sun, shown in a sheet of paper

Pinhole camera image of the sun almost totally eclipsed (thin crescent of sun visible)

Child 'holding' the semi-eclipsed sun (the pinhole camera image of the sun) in their hand

Lynda Boothroyd@drboothroyd· 4d

They told me the Dutch are very direct. I hadn't anticipated this instance of it... 😬😆 Maybe its a seaside thing, like the rude postcards in the UK...

Two cubicle doors in the ladies loos at a cafe in Noordwijk, Netherlands.
Right one sayz: Welcome to the place where shit happens.
Left says: Shit happens (just dont forget to flush)
[The i in shit has a heart for a dot in both.]

Lynda Boothroyd@drboothroyd· 7d

Thanks to taking my kids to @ehbea2026.bsky.social in April, I discovered a lovely little holiday park. We came back to actually enjoy it properly with Dad too this summer. I have been blessed with sun, shade, time to read, and an evening being serenaded by a Dutch Sam Clafin. Well worth returning!

My legs, a good book, and a glass of prosecco in the sun.

Photographic evidence that the lead singer looks like a young, long haired, blind, Sam Clafin.
Imagine Finnick Odair lived in the 1970s...

Lynda Boothroyd@drboothroyd· 16d

New paper from the BIRES team! Ana Chamorro led this awesome work with Wayuu communities in Colombia, exploring how globalisation is changing appearance pressures & creating identity conflicts for Wayuu young people. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #BodyImage #SocialPsychology #Anthropology

Indigenous body image amid rapid social and economic change: A reflexive thematic analysis of Wayuu narratives

Body Image
Sept 2026

Abstract
The Wayuu, Colombia's largest Indigenous group, are experiencing rapid social, economic, and technological change, including expanding internet access, educational opportunities, and increasing exposure to globalised media. Though the harmful effects of appearance-idealised media imagery on body image are well documented, indigenous body image research remains unevenly distributed across global contexts, with Latin American Indigenous communities particularly underrepresented. This study explored how Wayuu people understand and experience appearance ideals and body image in the context of expanding digital media exposure and rapid sociocultural and economic change. Five focus groups of up to 9 participants were conducted with 29 Wayuu participants (18–68 years; 23 women, 6 men). Using reflexive thematic analysis, three overarching themes were identified: (1) Intersecting sources of appearance pressure: encompassing influences from social media, Wayuu family expectations, and discrimination from non-Indigenous peers; (2) Negotiating and resisting appearance ideals: from body dissatisfaction and restrictive eating to affirmation of cultural identity as protection; and (3) The changing role of appearance in today’s Wayuu culture: participants linked globalised appearance ideals to expanding educational opportunities, migration, digital connectivity, and broader socioeconomic transformations occurring within Wayuu territories. While exposure to global ideals fostered comparison and dissatisfaction, cultural pride and collective belonging appeared to buffer against internalised colonial values. Culturally grounded media literacy and education initiatives co-developed with Wayuu communities could foster critical reflection while strengthening heritage. These results highlight the need for decolonial, community-based approaches to body image research and intervention in Indigenous contexts.

Lynda Boothroyd@drboothroyd· 23d

The piece highlights the way these unis get marketed to ppl without entry qualifications. But we ask for these for a reason - to be sure the student can engage with and benefit from the course and won't fail early on. Govt money would be better spent supporting access to foundation courses. #UKHE

Chart showing a massive increase in UK undergrads with no, or only low level, pre uni qualifications.

Lynda Boothroyd@drboothroyd· Jul 13

He was gleefully magnificent as Charles II in Restoration.

Sam Neill in costume as Charles II, complete with big hat, massive long curly wig, moustache and flouncy clothes, standing with a silver-topped cane in a rose garden.

Lynda Boothroyd@drboothroyd· Jul 7

My beloved historians still injecting fun into the sports ball proceedings... (h/t my friend and Medieval History graduate Lindsey for spotting this)

Screencap of a social media post.
Felipetorresmedina
Excited about Norway facing England, mostly because Haalabd v Anthony Gordon is the closest we'll get to seeing a real life viking square off against some unprepared East Anglian king names something like Ceptheldred the Meek.

Lynda Boothroyd@drboothroyd· Jul 6

This screenshot popped up in my FB memories and I had to laugh because I managed something almost exactly like this with @babeheim.bsky.social at #ehbea few years later by simply wearing Starfleet earrings...

Screenshot of a Twitter thread from 2020
Lynda Boothroyd
@drboothroyd
New conference ice breaker idea: instead of name badges, everyone wears t-shirts with their preferred topics of conversation on the back. Picture it, taking a glass of wine and turning to the stranger to my left who asks "So, what are the odds that the Babylon5 remake will suck?"

Later an eminent professor l've never dared speak to peers behind my shoulder and says, "You know, I quite like using Henry VIll as an example of where sexual selection theories fall short." I share my love of detailing Cesare Borgia's tactics in my Social Intelligence lecture.

Before I leave, 1 am invited to meet up with someone at coffee tomorrow, to play around with GGPlot and get better at fancy figures.
Then me and [Bobby May] go get noodles.

Lynda Boothroyd@drboothroyd· Jul 6

Walked into my bedroom, wondered why the wall was even more red than normal. Turns out the sun had morphed into the Eye of Sauron, glaring malevolently across Durham from above Aykley Heads.

A bedroom wall that is painted red but then bathed extra red (even the white woodwork) by a square of woerd sunlight.

Sun photographed from my bedroom with the brightness turned down to capture more how it looked to the naked eye. Literal fiery red Eye of Sauron effect as it set behind the hills across the valley.

Lynda Boothroyd@drboothroyd· Jul 6

Lovely @durhampsych.bsky.social graduation ceremony today. It's the last of my PhD students graduating for a couple of years and the weather was perfect.

Me, Amy Pearson and Monique Botha in the cloister before we processed in to the Cathedral

Me, Zanna Clay and our newly graduated academic child, Dr Georgia Tuohy

Durham Cathedral viewed from the cloister.

Lynda Boothroyd@drboothroyd· Jul 3

Tienes interes en la imagen corporal en poblaciones hispanohablates? Quieres medir la internalizacion de ideal de curvas en mujeres? Tenemos un articulo para ti! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Validation and psychometric properties of the Spanish Curvy Ideal Internalization scale (CII-S) in Colombian women
by Andres et al
in Body Image

Highlights
We validated the Spanish version of the CII in Colombian women.
The CII-S demonstrated a 2-factor structure: ‘curvy’ and ‘breast size’.
CII-S showed excellent reliability, validity and test-retest reliability.
Measurement invariance was confirmed across socioeconomic status groups.

Abstract
The curvy appearance ideal has become increasingly promoted in recent years, particularly among women from Black and Latin American backgrounds. Having a reliable measure of how women endorse and internalise such appearance ideals is essential for supporting culturally appropriate research in Spanish-speaking Latin American countries. This study presents the translation and validation of the Spanish Curvy Ideal Internalization scale (CII; Walker et al., 2022). The scale was translated, culturally adapted, and validated in a sample of Colombian women (N = 505, Mage = 21.48, SD = 2.96). Factor structure was assessed using exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and exploratory structural equation modelling (ESEM). We further assessed composite reliability (McDonald’s ω) and validity (thin, athletic internalization and pressure from family, peers and the media, body esteem, and eating disorder symptoms), test-retest reliability (using intra-class correlation coefficient ICC) and measurement invariance across low, middle and high socioeconomic status (SES). EFA, CFA and ESEM showed good fit indices that supported a 2-factor structure with the two subscales curvy and breast size after the removal of two items, with highest fit indices for ESEM. The scale showed excellent composite reliability, validity and test-retest reliability, as well as invariance across SES groups. The 9-item Spanish Curvy Ideal Internalization scale is a psychometrically sound measure to be used in Colombian women.

Lynda Boothroyd@drboothroyd· Jul 2

Just perfection 👌

John Bull
Habsburg derby let's goooo
winner gets Naples.
...
Jon @sloopjonb1960.b.. Loser gets Belgium.
...
Vill George @willgeor...
I'm sure the loser will take it on the chin

Lynda Boothroyd@drboothroyd· Jun 29

I am particularly fond of this one. Wrote an essay about it at 6th form although sadly yet to visit in person.

The Camera Degli Sposi in Mantua. A room in the ducal palace covered in frescoes by Andrea Mantegna. They depict the marriage of the then Marchese of Mantua and are known for the early use of perspective and optical illusion to create a sense of 3D space.

Lynda Boothroyd@drboothroyd· Jun 12

Given it's what, 2 years since series 1 of The Capture came out, I'm surprised it took this long for someone to get the idea...

Lynda Boothroyd@drboothroyd· Jun 4

So ... the code just shows use of geom_point (size = 4) for that figure. Which should NOT produce differences in the size and shape of the points. This came out last year - did anyone query that at the time, do we know?

legend_title <- "Time"
ggplot(data = DATA30_Cohen, aes(x = Age, y = effsize, color = Time)) +
geom_smooth(method = "lm", se = TRUE) +
geom_point(size = 4) +
ylab("Cohen's D Language") +
xlab("Age when taking the test (month)") +
geom_hline(yintercept = 0, col = "black") +
theme_minimal() +
theme(axis.line.y = element_line(arrow = arrow(length = unit(2, "mm")))) +
coord_cartesian(ylim=c(-0.25, 0)) +
scale_color_manual(legend_title, values=c("#66CC00", "#006600","#003300"))

Lynda Boothroyd@drboothroyd· Jun 3

Real shot, chaser vibes here...

From 2004 to 2006 he sat as a Liberal Democrat on the City Council, then as Labour until 2019, when he was suspended after receiving a domestic violence court order.

Lynda Boothroyd@drboothroyd· May 27

(Different theme, but I still remember the moment of 'oh! of course!' when I first read the opening of Lords and Ladies as a teenager. 'No one ever said elves are nice...' )

“Elves are wonderful. They provoke wonder.
Elves are marvellous. They cause marvels.
Elves are fantastic. They create fantasies.
Elves are glamorous. They project glamour.
Elves are enchanting. They weave enchantment.
Elves are terrific. They beget terror.
The thing about words is that meanings can twist just like a snake, and if you want to find snakes look for them behind words that have changed their meaning.
No one ever said elves are nice.
Elves are bad.”

Lynda Boothroyd@drboothroyd· May 25

Durham on fine form once more today. 29 degrees, plus gentle breeze, definitely fills a Colombian-beaches-shaped hole in my soul. Adding vodka to ready made chocolate milkshake also highly recommended for bank holiday relaxation.

A hammock, a parasol, coke zero and Terry Pratchett, all on a hot summer's day in a green garden.

Pint of chocolate milkshake with added raspberries and vodka

Lynda Boothroyd@drboothroyd· May 25

Ah I knew there was a reason I felt compelled to go back to the Watch books today...

Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett, propped on my legs in a hammock.

Lynda Boothroyd@drboothroyd· May 24

Kepier woods in Durham just delightful today. Excellent reward for finishing a first draft of paper revisions this week. #RiverWear #Durham

A tree stands alone on a river bank, creating dappled shade beneath it.

A stream cuts steeply down a rocky bed. A clear pool of water is at the bottom. The sun shines mysteriously through the trees above. Could maybe be a gateway to a fairy kingdom.

White blossom in the foreground; leaves out of focus behind.

Lynda Boothroyd@drboothroyd· May 24

I guess it's the flip side of e.g. The Five Year Engagement filming a funeral scene that's meant to be in the UK using a very obviously American church...

Lynda Boothroyd@drboothroyd· May 17

Random find in my desk drawer - notes from me explaining the basics of testing group differences to a student at least 10 years ago. It's all about the distributions! #stats #PsychSciSky

Above:
Hand drawn plots showing how the same absolute difference in means can be informative re group differences or not depending on the spread of the data around the means. Notes beside give the key requirements for parametric analysis.
Below:
Ordinal or non normal data should be analysed with non parametric tests which are not dependant on a given distribution.

Lynda Boothroyd@drboothroyd· Apr 25

Literally the only thing I know about JC Penny is this line in Zoolander but that has always made me positively disposed to it.

In response to being called KMart: It's the Cheryl Ladd collection, and I got it at J C Penny.

Lynda Boothroyd@drboothroyd· Apr 24

I've been meaning to update the affiliation/attraction revision activity in my first year revision class for ages. Briefly tried to think about what I could do with current affairs/TV but eventually thought sod it, and went with my own media history. Three couples. How would y'all classify them? 😜

Pictures of JEssica DAy and Nick Miller from New Girl, Mr & Mrs Bennet from Pride and Prejudice (1993), and Gomez and Morticia Addams from the Addams Family (1990s films), above a schematic of the Sternberg Triarchic model of love

Lynda Boothroyd@drboothroyd· Apr 21

Super cool research news from Steve Lindsay in our neighbouring department - housing as public health intervention! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Schematic and photo of the experimental houses

The key features of a Star Home are as follows: (1) building orientated to provide optimal shading throughout the day to keep the house cooler at night (→ indoor climate); (2) lightweight and durable roof with partially closed eaves to reduce the entry of malaria vectors (→ malaria, indoor climate); (3) facade and openings screened to reduce insect entry while assuring airflow (→ malaria, indoor climate); (4) raised concrete ground floor that can be easily cleaned and increases hygiene and reduces the risk of enteric and soil-transmitted infections (→ diarrheal diseases); (5) a screened indoor cooking area with the means to remove smoke to reduce indoor pollution (→ respiratory infections); (6) a protected, lockable, ground floor storage area to reduce rodent infestations and provide a sense of security (→ safety); (7) sleeping areas with bednets raised to the first floor, improving airflow and comfort while reducing mosquito abundance (→ malaria, indoor climate); (8) a water harvesting system that allows the collection of rainwater from the roof, filtering and covered storage (→ diarrheal diseases); (9) an outdoor fly-proof latrine (→ diarrheal diseases); and (10) solar power providing electric light at night (→ safety).

Lynda Boothroyd@drboothroyd· Mar 28

The second best thing about coconut bread is that everything it touches smells of coconut for hours (or sometimes years) after... #Honduras #Garifuna & #Creole delicacies.

A simple round roll of bread that belies a moist interior and a soft smell and taste of coconut.

Lynda Boothroyd@drboothroyd· Mar 28

This is the one I use when teaching to make students think about how an adaptive explanation can be offered even for something that clearly has zero mechanistic plausibility. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Predictions for Sex of First Born Child Reflect Masculine and Feminine Characteristics in Male and Female Undergraduates

Abstract
Previous research has identified physical and behavioral differences between parents who produce sons and those who produce daughters. However, the possibility that men and women have predictions about the sexes of their offspring based on these differences, or any other interoceptive cues, has not been investigated. We compared the dominance, sociosexual orientation, estradiol, testosterone, and 2D:4D ratios of men and women who predicted they would conceive a boy as their first child with those who predicted a girl. Women who predicted they would have a boy were more dominant and less sociosexually restricted than those who predicted they would have a girl. Men who predicted they would have a girl had higher salivary estradiol and higher (more feminine) 2D:4D ratios than those who predicted they would have a boy. Possible implications of these results are discussed in the context of evolutionary theory.

Lynda Boothroyd@drboothroyd· Mar 23

The RAABI also fits in the tripartite model of body image alongside eating disorder symptoms as and outcome of body dissatisfaction and its risk factors.