Overweight women have more sex

I'm not surprised. In my heady youth (when I had the most sex!) I was on average a size 14, probably BMI 26 or so. I never had any trouble, let's put it that way, and the most promiscuous of my friends were all on the chubby side. If the blokes concerned thought they were "pulling a pig" then so be it, but I suspect that both parties were well up for it, and that the men involved were less bothered about what size their "dates" were and only really worried if their mates took the piss about it the next day.

I think there's definitely more to the whole 'what men are looking for in women' thing than we've been led to expect. case in point being that i get repeatedly and alarmingly ogled when out with my mum in marks and sparks, wearing completely unalluring scruffs and glasses. it's a bit unnerving. i find myself wanting to go up to them ask them what they're playing at ?. i mean, if i'd got dressed up, fair enough. and it bothers the hair-flicky women who are actually wanting to be looked at. perhaps i'm just unwittingly stinky in my worn old jeans and full of animal magnetism ?

My tired and hormonal self wants to respond to the suggestions that it can ONLY be because fat birds either lie about having sex or because of "pull-a-pig" night ?

(Actually, those comments have really upset me, but that IS just because I'm tired and hormonal. And fat, presumably ? Put it this way, after 3 years of marriage I've just about stopped asking my husband if he's with me for a bet and at the moment I want to go and wake him up just to tell him - again - that it's OK if he wants to say the joke's over now, he's pulled the fat bird, let's all laugh a the wobbly woman believing she might be attractive to someone hahahahahahahaha. Anyway, yes, tired and emotional, sorry.)

Anyway, with my sensible head on. I *thought* that it was always assumed that women under-report sex? Or is that just number of sexual partners? In the same way, is there a societal pressure on men not to admit to finding fat birds attractive - so in a study are they more likely to conform to the norms, I wonder? Not that it has much bearing on this. It would be interesting to see the results if they could screen out the women (at both ends of the scale) whose sexual behaviour might be skewed by psychological factors.

I think it certainly follows this pattern through some parts of history.

Ancient fertility symbols are in the majority very voluptuous women. There are so many documented "choosings of royal brides" with delicate reference to "appearing to be ready for bearing children". Many of the Mistresses en Titre in the court of France were voluptuous pre-Raphelite type beauties - Athenais de Montespan and Francoise Scarron with the Sun King spring to mind.

Maybe it is all an innate breeding desire!

I am another one who finds the "pull a pig " a bit nasty and shallow

i am a good size 16/18 at the mo and nearly always have been since the age of 16 sometimes going to a 24 and back down again and i have never ever gone short ? nearly all of the men wanted a relationships of some sorts even though i wasnt interested , when i have asked previous bf why they liked me they have said i was gorgeous which i have always found hard to beleive , i cant belive that there are so many shallow men out there to sway the survey but then surveys are normally a load of crap anyway.

saying that if they asked me now i would have to say rarely/never to sex as i have gone right off it ?

if i go on a night out now i am never short of atttention even if its attention i dont want it can be really annoying at times especially when i am out with gary as he gets very very jealous and its a PITA trying to explain why i am being chatted up on the way to the loo on the way back or at the bar or on the dance floor

then on the other hand we have one of my friends who has a stunning figure and always immaculate and is on her own aged 40 and never gets attention and is always complaining that its not fair why is she on her own and us larger girls have men falling over us

in my head i think it comes down to personality more than anything else and i think us "fat girls " do look like we are having more fun as we have more confidence in a "i'm fat so *** it "kinda way

does that make sense , prob not but its early and i know what i meant anyway

Looking at this the other way round, could it be that the women having less sex will tend to lose weight because they think it will make them more desirable to their spouse / a prospective partner ?

FWIW, BMI has always scored fairly low down my list of things I find attractive in the opposite sex.

Looking at the news story, it does say it's about women having sex with men - so perhaps there are lots of normal BMI women out there happily having sex with each other who wouldn't figure in this survey?

It seems somewhat odd to lump everyone sub 25 together. It might have been more telling if they'd split up 20-25 and sub-20.

I agree that having a separate category for women with a sub-healthy BMI would be helpful for this study but tbh it's pretty normal for medical papers to divide patients into healthy or below, overweight and obese categories.

From what little I've read, I think some of the controls in the study look a bit odd, such as, like minerva says, the sub25 category on its own. However, I for one will be having double cakes this morning if it's true. ? From personal experience, the only time I've ever really struggled with my weight was in my early 20s when I was on depo provera, and I had no sex drive AT ALL, I was puffy and felt heavy and ungainly and my self esteem was low. Havign said that, I was at uni, and so had the most sex I've ever had in my liufe despite these obstacles. Who knows?)

Glider, you really can be a crass thoughtless tadger.

Surely taking it on BMI alone is a tad removed, thanks to my height my BMI of 26 (so obese) lets me be a size 12/14 and I dont look over weight at all.

It also fails to take account of body shape, not all women who are overweight have gorgeous curves - I'm seeing more and more women in my shop (specialist clothing) who have very big around their waist but lacking in the bust and bum area, so overall they are round rather than busty / curvy

Well, I've been a size 14 or above since I was 16 - am now a 20. And I have lots of sex, so it's obviously true ? Like Zeb and Cariad have said, I've never been short of options.

However, I don't think that most blokes are actually that fussy about who they sleep with. Attraction is far more about confidence, friendliness and actually liking someone. I eat well, laugh a lot, shag a lot ? And I don't fuss or over analyse like some of my thin friends do.

However, I guess that's more about maintaining a relationship than anything else.

I do hope that this goes some way to busting some of the nastier stereotypes about big women though.

Glider, I am laughing at your post - do you seriously think that huge numbers of men deliberately go out to pull fat birds just for a laugh - esp given your first comment that your findings were that the study was true? I reckon that many an insecure man has pulled whomever he can, and used the 'pull a pig' thing as an excuse the day after if his mates ribbed him. (Women even sometimes do it too ?) It says more about the puller than the pullee IMHO.

You're not obese! A BMI of 26 kg/m2 is just and only just considered to be overweight - obese is a BMI of over 30 kg/m2.

Clairy. god help if me you and zeb went on a night out the other girls wouldnt stand a chance ?

i have to say as well most of the men i have dated / shagged / whatever have been nice looking too not local mingers looking for a shag at the end of the night , mind you there have been one or two of them too but that was my beer goggles not theirs.?

Soft! ? ?

hes not a minger at all , once u get used to him ?

You're not obese at all! A BMI of >30 is classed as obese.

That's an interesting point about body shape, all too often overweight and curvy are used synonymously but it's simply not true. Equally, slim doesn't necessarily mean a lack of curves.

One more thing, sorry I can't remember who said, it but underweight is <18.5 not <20. A small bugbear of mine!