Lesbians more likely to be obese

[sleepyjean 0]

I just heard about this and have been puzzling it over. Putting aside people's individual opinions about the rightness or wrongness of homosexuality (not wanting to start a fight here), why do you think this is? I'm not gay, so I don't know if maybe this is a lifestyle thing or something, but it just seems like a strange connection to me. With everyone in the country getting fatter, it never occurred to me that sexuality might be a factor.

On a side note, one of my friends at work is gay and I've noticed that she has gone up a few sizes since meeting her partner last year. I'm sure not going to ask her what's up, though. LOL

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Fri Apr 27, 2007 10:06 PM IST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lesbians are twice as likely as heterosexual women to be overweight or obese, which puts them at greater risk for obesity-related health problems and death, U.S. researchers said.

The report, published in the American Journal of Public Health, is one of the first large studies to look at obesity among lesbians.

Ulrike Boehmer of the Boston University School of Public Health and colleagues looked at a 2002 national survey of almost 6,000 women, and found that lesbians were 2.69 times more likely to be overweight and 2.47 times more likely to be obese.

"Lesbians have more than twice the odds of (being) overweight," the authors wrote. This would put them at a higher risk for diabetes and heart disease, among other ailments.

"Our findings indicate that lesbian sexual identity is linked to a greater prevalence of overweight and obesity," the authors wrote in the study, released this week.

They reviewed smaller studies that have suggested a higher prevalence of obesity among lesbians and the possible reasons why.

"The results of these studies indicate that lesbian women have a better body image than do heterosexual women," they wrote.

But the authors said they placed little confidence in the idea that lesbians were more muscular than straight women, and thus were more likely to have a high body mass index, or BMI, while having little body fat.

High muscle mass is "unlikely to lead to classification as obese," the researchers said.

"We reported greater odds of both overweight and obesity in lesbians and we feel confident in asserting that these differences are a result of increased adiposity," the researchers wrote.

[babygrl1234 6]

From what I see among my friends who are gay and staight are that my straight friends tend to care more about how they look and what people think about them then my gay ones do. They are much more likely to not eat something or work out because they want to look good for some guy. Now not all of them are like this as I do have some friends who don't give a hoot and one of my lesbian friends in particular who is the biggest girlie girl who wants to look good all the time. But going by that I can see how sexuality may be a factor.

[kacee 3]

Many times obesity is seeded in self-worth issues. I would think that those individuals who have struggled through their lives with their gender/sexual identity issues would be more prone to have problems with self-worth issues too, which could lead to eating. After all, we all know that we use eating as a crutch and a panacea. This is just a layperson's view however.

[Sunta 4]

I am very unsure of the validity of the study. I know many, many, many lesbians, and very few of them are obese. As a matter of fact, in a room with 35 lesbians recently, I was the only one with a weight problem. Now I know that's not very scientific to say the least, but it's my personal experience. I would have tended to say that between straight women and lesbians, more straight women are obese. I'm not basing that on one night at an L Word party mentioned above, but on a lifetime of hanging out with lesbians. I'm more than a little bisexual myself (mainly Gay but married to a man), so I am speaking from experience.

I think more studies would have to be done in order to confirm these findings. How many times have we seen studies where a later study came out that totally discounted the earlier study? Hormone replacement therapy, for example! Not to mention so many conflicting diet/weight loss studies. (Low fat dieters lose more! NO- Low carb dieters lose more!)

I'd say that if these findings were true, it would be because women are more accepting of extra weight than men are, and therefore, there is less pressure on them to be obsessed about their weight, because finding a girlfriend is not contingent on appearance.

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

Makes sense. The way society treats gay folks doesn't exactly add to their self esteem.

[Daisalana 33]

Yeah, I'd question the validity of the study. My sister is a lesbian-overweight but not obese- and all of her friends are gay men or women.. I have not met an overweight or obese girl she's brought home.. And out of all the women I know, the only obese ones I know are straight women. They need more data on how they polled the women. Where did the 6,000 women they polled come from? If you went to a gay bar for instance, and then went to a fitness club.. you see my point? (I majored in sociology and learned to be extremely skeptical of 'researches' which can be extremely bias.)

[anonemouse 1]

Yeah, I don't really put much stock into a single study. Now, if they could back it up with multiple studies, using multiple sampling methods, that's another thing. Don't forget, also, that there is a distinct difference between correlation and causation. Excess weight and lesbianism may be correllated, but that doesn't mean much. You can correlate the decline in pirate activity with the increase in global warming, but that doesn't mean the one caused the other.

[Wheetsin 714]

why do you think this is?

Hmm. two issues off-hand. One would be the validity o the study (we always question that, don't we?) and the other would be their criteria for "lesbian."

I firmly believe that people are born homosexual. I also believe that others are conditioned to homosexuality. In either instance, there is a lot of emotional baggage involved. Emotional baggage and obesity have a way of going hand in hand (you can look at professions that tend to "attract" people with emotional baggage and see much, much higher rates of obesity). But one could argue that obesity and poverty do as well. That certainly would never prove that lesbians are more likely to be impoverished than hetersexuals.

[Sunta 4]

You can correlate the decline in pirate activity with the increase in global warming, but that doesn't mean the one caused the other.

Well, I never!

Of course one caused the other! And that is why Talk Like A Pirate Day is so very crucial to the survival of our species!

[SillyWillyMommy 2]

Arggghh.. Shiver me timbers, me thinks Sunta has a point.

[TracyinKS 7]

I really doubt this is true....... but if it were.. I would think it is because women tend to be more emotionaly attached rather than stimulated by sight like men are....... a great girl friend (gay or straight) is one that laughs with you at jokes and cry's with you during the sad times and gorges on ice cream with you wheneverthemood strikes! LOL

[kity 2]

I am an overweight lesbian, however, my partner is extremely fit, beautiful size 10. I don't know if there is a correlation, interesting as it might be, and if there is a correlation, so what. Aren't there other things researchers could focus on, like inventing the "skinny pill" I've been waiting for all my life, LOL.

I know many gay women, come on, I live in Palm Springs, CA. This study would not hold Water in PS...but perhaps, in other parts of the country/world.

Lastly, I put on about 20 pounds since I've been w/ my partner, over 2 years. We are happy, in love, cooking, snuggling, watching movies...basically enjoying life, and are probably not as concerned w/ getting to the gym as we should be (this is my preband self talking, of course). Perhaps the lesbians they polled were in love also...wonder if the results would be different if they polled single vs. partnered lesbians???

Enjoy!

[green 6]

Yah, I know a lot of gay women, too. Some of them are big women and some are not. What I have noticed is that women are often less lookist in their choice of romantic partner and this means that the older or over-weight gay woman is less likely to be left out in the cold than her straight sister when it comes to finding a partner.

[kyethra 0]

I dunno. Just one study. I'd want a bigger sample size, more diverse. Compare it other women. Compare it to men who are gay and straight and bi too. The biggest women I know also happen to be lesbians. But that is hardly scientific, esp considering the thinnest ones I know tend to have eating disorders. But then I know some big heterosexual women too. Single lesbians verus partnered. Long term partners versus short term (we all know people of either sex who like serial monogamy, never alone). What is the age of the people studied? My friends and I are discovering that if we thought it was hard to lose 20 pounds at 20, adding just a few years on sure didn't help. Its been a sad shocker. We thought we would at least have until we were about thirty before our metabolisms changed...

Now regarding pirates... There are the modern day ones. But so not the point. My husband got me a machette (or however it is spelled) for my birthday. Isn't that sweet? Sometimes he gives me blades because I like weapons. And I like pirates, hence the machette. When I write Peter Pan essays I like to make sure to write about the importance of the pirate as cultural figure there too (yes I like to research Peter Pan. its ok. I'm in Library Science). Long live the classic pirate!

[amy 0]

The only experience I have had knowing a lesbian with weight issues was always a quandry to me. She was extremely overweight, never dated or had much to do with any men. She lost 100 pounds through diet and exercise, met and dated a man for over a year, started gaining weight again. They broke up and now she has come out of the closet and is in a relationship with another overweight woman. Was she always gay? Or, has she just given up on men and turned to more weight forgiving women for love and companionship? So, could there a group of women who might not really be gay, but would rather be in a psuedo-lesbian relationship, albeit not the ideal situation, than alone?

Something I have always wondered about.