Lesbians more likely to be obese

[Stevee 0]

i am an overweight lesbian. and i agree with what some have already said. lesbians tend to not go for looks as a heterosexual would. i have noticed in my lesbian friends that looks do not matter so much as personality. therefore we are much more content and its much easier to find a partner no matter how big or small we are. :target:

Lesbians Rule! lol

[Betsyjane 2]

I live on a ranch and I see animals engaged in mostly heterosexual behavior, but also very naturally in homosexual behavior. Seems like the drive to procreate will keep heterosexuality dominant, but not exclusive. Sex and relationships among all us animals has to do with a lot more than procreation. And when it does, it should be honored.

[Wheetsin 714]

I know a lot of what I believe is "out there" for a lot of you, and most of you probably know that I do not believe in free will. Because of this, I believe that anyone can get anyone to love them (and by "get" I don't just mean as a function of coersion or manipulation) if they know what the other person needs most. I also believe this doesn't see boundaries across gender. Meaning I believe that most women who would say, "I would NEVER!" actually would, if the situation and conditions were right.

BUT, I also believe that people are born gay. Not all gays, but I don't believe it's a free choice. For one because that would negate what I said earlier, and for two because people don't make choices like that when they're 2 years old - but many homosexuals can trace their behaviors back to that age or around about.

And because while I believe some people would choose to be homosexual for attention, in which case you have to weigh their homosexuality with a grain of salt (and to be even more accurate, I would say choose to ACT homosexual - e.g. bisexuality being "trendy"), I cannot fathom anyone just randomly decided to "be" among any minority. Even as an atheist, which does not come into conversations as much as a relationship or partner (but which IS probably more so assumed about -- people nowadays assume you're religious, and assume you're straight, but probably assume you're religious more frequently than assume you're straight), my atheism certainly does not make life any easier. People don't understand the concept that, by and large, people want to get along... and that "choosing" to be something that goes against the grain of society, and I mean really BE, not just "be for attention" or "be for a while", but truly embrace it and live it, isn't something people are jkust going to sign up for.

[Daisalana 33]

Suntra- I'm glad you knew what I was talking about, it had been a while since I remembered the animals that have sex for pleasure. But that's what I'm saying basically.. trying to put this into words to explain what I'm trying to say. 2 male penguins raise a baby (I thought it was flamingos, workin right now so don't want to open up anymore browsers atm).. What makes this anything more than raising offspring in a clan, or 'friends' if we associate these terms with animals, raising an offspring. Because that means they have emotions, or instincts, to protect the young. Seek companionship (I have followed a lot of studies in animals and companionship), and much like humans. I am 100% straight, but I love my female companions. My best friend, I could have lived the rest of my life in a 'relationship' with her,live with her, grow old together, etc. but it would not involve sex. I don't think that makes me bisexual/gay.. I think that means I have a great friend. Same example, if she or I had a kid, and some reason both our men died in a car wreck and we were alone. I could easily see us moving in together to help the other raise the child. Not because we're gay, but because we're great companions and friends. Does this make sense for what I'm trying to say as to the animals in this article? They have proven animals need companionship (I believe MOST animals-I know some species are solitaire kind of animals). So the article deeming them bisexual, for sexual reasons (which we already agreed, doesn't mean anything), or for companionship reasons (which is another thing of nature, has nothing to do with 'sexual preference').

And to Wheetsin, I think anything's possible in the scheme of things. I would not say I'd never be a lesbian. Like I said, I Have a best friend if she had a penis, we'd be a match made in heaven. But the thought of the woman sex really turns me off. It's not what attracts me. I've tried to be open to the idea, and let love find me in whatever form. It ended up being a man, and I love em

So then we can get really deep and say (and this goes with the animal article) what makes you gay? What does gay mean exactly?

[Sunta 4]

What makes this anything more than raising offspring in a clan, or 'friends' if we associate these terms with animals, raising an offspring. Because that means they have emotions, or instincts, to protect the young. Seek companionship (I have followed a lot of studies in animals and companionship), and much like humans.

That's an interesting idea. But I think that the animals in question also "mate", that is, engage in copulation. So essentially they have sex. I don't know, scientifically, how the experts know that this is not sex for "pleasure", because these animals are engaging in sexual behavior. And since they can't actually have offspring I don't know what else it would be called.

So, I don't know about the friend theory. I can't imagine "just friends" of the human variety also cuddling in bed, and rubbing up against each other and simulating mating and still being considered just friends.

Here's an article about penguins you might find interesting. It describes some of their sexual behavior besides just raising a baby together:

http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/studentwork/cns/2002-06-10/591.asp

[Lap_dancer 8]

Woops, hit enter..

Lap-Dancer:

The dog humping thing is actually a dominance thing. That's just one way dogs show their ranking, has nothing to do with sex.

My female boxer (who has never been around a boy dog), knows how to hump. And she humps my fiance's leg all the time. She's never tried that with me. I'm the alpha, and in her eyes they are playmates. So she is constantly trying to outrank him. She will also do more subtle things, like putting her paw on him to push him down, etc.

THANKS! That makes so much sense since the other dog is older and tends to get the best scraps, lots of love (not that Buck isn't gushed over..he's a Lab afterall!) I appreciate the reasoning. Dogs are awesome.

[Lap_dancer 8]

I just read it, it is an interesting article to say the least. And a clever exhibit, I'd have liked to seen it! It is against 'nature', because 'nature' gives us the drive to reproduce. It's odd to acknowledge it in animals, simply because in humans we have outside factors.. gender roles in society at the basic level. I wouldn't know where to find the information now, but there's very little animals that get 'pleasure' from sex.. so I don't understand the correlation of, they are bisexual vs. they are friendly. Also, in humans, even if not gay, there are people who go 'against' nature. There are people who DO NOT want kids.. and that's against nature's design. But again, how much of that is their genetics and not their surroundings? You can argue our life would be better without kids.. we'd have money for ourselves, we'd be able to go on trips on a whim, etc. So is that a genetic flaw, or is it your surroundings? Just more food for thought while we're on the topic

---

Edit to add Sutra, I did say I believe 100% some people are born gay! I'm not saying everyone has had a traumatic incident, everyone *I* know in RL that is gay has had a traumatic incident.

Excellent post!

Nature or nurture? Good thoughts.

[Lap_dancer 8]

I guess its time for me to come out of the closet on here.

I am a lesbian overweight female that have NEVER been reaped, molested, or abused. ALthough I was always a bigger girl, I never had poor self image of myself. I was not teased growing about my weight. I believe my weight had more to do with genetics than anything.

I cannot factually say that I was "born gay" but I do believe that many are. I went to catholic schools from k-12 and never really experienced a friendship with a gay/lesbian/bi. If I did, I did not know about it.

It wasn't until I was around 24 that I became familiar with the "lifestyle." That did pique my curiosity. I began dating both women and men (never at the same time - too complicating).

5 years ago, I met a wonderful female and we have been together ever since. She is my biggest supporter and I lover her dearly. She is by no means overweight - very athletic shaped. She said she always knew she was gay and was Never raped, molested, or abused.

I care about my appearance, I always have. I am a girlie girl - love clothes, shoes, makeup, jewelry, perfume, etc. My man decision for getting the lap band was to be healthy. We are going to have children in a few years and I want my body to be healthy.

I consider myself a beautiful African American female. I do not subscribe to the idea that you have to be skinny to be beautiful. I love being plus size but want to be a smaller plus size. I don't care about anyone's chart (weight/BMI) to tell me that I am healthy or beautiful.

SO........I guess I have to add myself to another statistic that is absolutely meaningless to me. I am fat because I am a woman, black, and now lesbian. Damn...lol...

Ovaries of steel. I love strong women. It's a beautiful thing. You sound so together.

[donnafhaas 0]

This is the most obscene, and ridiculous thing I have ever seen. My partner of 12 years is thin. I have a large circle of lesbian friends, and they too are healthy not fat. This is outragous! There are heavy set people in every group. Thats like trying to associate blacks with sports and all red necks have mullets. This is a very scary statement. I am so proud of my sexuality, and my weight gain at one point in my life had nothing to do with who I date. That sounds like a vauge statement an uneducated man would make. Ive been to several lesbian bars with some beautiful thin women. People should get out more before making such general statements. SICK

[Wheetsin 714]

Nature or nurture? Good thoughts.

I love this topic. Start a new thread.

[Wheetsin 714]

This is the most obscene, and ridiculous thing I have ever seen.

I've seen many, many things that I think are more obscene or ridiculous, but it certainly deserves its share of scrutiny.

[Daisalana 33]

The new link about the penguins is fascinating. To me though, I still want to know the definition of a 'gay' animal. The fact that they were inseperable could be any number of factors. Are they fixed, and no sexual drive? Are they traumatized by something so they don't want a real mate? Are the females 'bad' in the gene pool, and they know that, so they don't want to reproduce with them? Survival of the fittest, in packs/herds it's been shown they know when there's a 'weak link' and they essentially cast it out. What if in this group of penguins, they had a lot of 'weak links'? Could be a fancy set up to try to get Americans to be more accepting of gays. Like I said in the beginning, I am skeptical of researches, I want all the little details about where they came from, why they decided on these penguins.

---Only one of the eight bonded with a female. The rest went back to same-sex relationships, not necessarily with the same partner. Silo and Roy, long-time homosexuals, got together (or pair-bonded, in official penguin lingo) after that failed experiment.--

So only 1/8 penuins are heterosexual?? That makes me think something was wrong with the experiment. :rolleyes

[green 6]

I would like to know how that study collected their statistics regarding overweight dykes. I do know that urban women tend to be slimmer than women who live in the suburbs, smaller cities or in rural areas up here in Canada and I believe that these stats also apply south of the border. The reason for this is that urban women tend to walk more and drive less thanks to the good mass transit systems and the problems with clogged up roads and actually finding parking once you have arrived. In addition to this there are also cultural expectations and a woman is under more pressure to be slim and attractively dressed.

I live in the core of a large city and I have always had lots of gay friends, both men and women. The majority of my gay girlfriends are slim to normal in size; maybe a third of them have been chunky but none of them have fallen into the category of obese. I had drifted into this category before being banded and had still found myself being considered attractive by gay women. This only proves that women often tend to be less lookist than men. Perhaps this is a matter of hardwiring.....

[L8BloomR 1]

About 8 years ago our office staff was having a debate about whether homosexuality is found in the animal world. We called a local library, who then sent our question off to some large country-wide information base (I can't remember where it was, sorry). They sent us a lot of paperwork on the subject, with the bottom line being that no animal is a "true" homosexual...the bonobos monkeys came the closest, but it was determined that even they left their partners to mate with a female and raise babies, then they returned to their partners. The library researchers stated that true homosexual behavior is when two same-sex partners stay together or at least remain only with same-sex partners, not engaging in heterosexual behavior to raise a family. I don't know if the research has gone beyond what it was 8 years ago, but I found that an interesting study. They also stated that while many animals engage in homosexual "play", it is usually for other reasons like group bonding, dominance, submission, etc., and has never been observed as the sole relationship in the animals life.

I am neither a researcher nor an animal behaviorist, just passing along information, for what it's worth.

[lizreeka 0]

in my city....i could definitely see this to be true....however, i think it my depends on the age. i've noticed the older they get, the chunkier they get....but god love'em! years ago when i dating men, i definitely paid more attention to my appearance. now life with my partner is wonderful, and we support each other's chunkyness! can't wait to get banded though...i'm scheduled for early january! i'm looking forward to more energy and a couple more looks from some hot young chicks!:thumbup: