Overweight and obese women have more sex than skinny types, according to a recent study.

Researchers in the US found that women who were overweight were more likely to report having sexual intercourse with a man, even when researchers controlled for age, race and type of residence.

The study was conducted by researchers at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Hawaii, and other research centres in the US; and is published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology.

This analysis was based on data from more than 7,000 women collected in the 2002 US National Survey of Family Growth, which interviewed a nationally representative cross section of women aged 15 to 44 years, regardless of reproductive health status.

The researchers looked at the links between body mass index, sexual orientation, age at first intercourse, ever having had sex with a male partner, number of partners and frequency of intercourse.

The participant’s sexual behaviour was categorized by body mass index (BMI) groups: Normal (under 25 kg/m²), overweight (25 to 30 kg/m²) and obese (over 30 kg/m²).

Lead author, Dr Bliss Kaneshiro, an assistant professor at the University of Hawaii first presented the results of this study at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) 56th Annual Clinical Meeting in May this year, where she won first prize for the paper.

The results of the analysis were that:

• 92 percent of overweight women reported ever having had sexual intercourse with a male partner compared with 87 percent of women of normal BMI.
• This figure was unaffected by adjustments for age and type of residence.
• Overweight and obese women were more likely to report ever having had sexual intercourse with a male partner (p <0.001).
• BMI was not significantly linked to sexual orientation, age at first intercourse, frequency of heterosexual intercourse, the number of lifetime or current male partners.

The authors conclude that:

With the exception of ever engaging in sexual intercourse with a man, sexual behavior differs little between women of different body mass indices.

Dr Kaneshiro said:

These results were unexpected and we don’t really know why this is the case.

The researchers suspect that an existing stereotype of overweight women not engaging in frequent sexual activity could mean that overweight women get different messages from their Doctors, regarding pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease prevention, and that this may account for the variance in sexual behaviour.

Evidence for the hypothesis comes from other studies, which have suggested that women of higher BMI are at greater risk of unwanted pregnancy than women of normal BMI, and that although factors like use and effectiveness of contraception may play a part, the results could be explained by sexual behaviour.

Dr Kaneshiro summed up:

This study indicates that all women deserve diligence in counseling on unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease prevention, regardless of body mass index.

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Posted by Jonathan in Anthropology, Sociology

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