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.

I think there is a bit of validity to that story. I think low-self esteem relating to my parents not accepting me as gay may have had something to do w/ my weigh gain, though I was chubby before coming out. I was a bit chubby (160) but nothing like I am now.

I was never molested or raped or anything. I did have some bad experiences with guys through the years, but experimented with girls as young as 13 years old and had a steady girlfriend at 15. I think my sexuality is as much a part of me, as anyone's, and not the result of any trauma.

I will say, I initially thought dating would be easier as a lesbian, because women in general are more accepting... but I find that I am just as lousy about dating and have low self esteem with girls too! (Last time I dated a man was 10 years ago.)

Anyway, there are lots of reasons for obesity, but way fewer reasons people are gay!

I will also add that I have a BIG group of lesbian friends, and I am the only obese one in the group. I also date LESS than anyone else I know. At the gay bars, I am often the fattest one there! Most lesbians are athletic and fit, at least where I live. And ALL the lesbians I know care a lot about how they look!

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.

just had that debate with someone. i agree with everything you just said

I seriously doubt that just because you're a lesbian you're more likely to become obese. I know gay people and staright people who have different issues with depression/ self esteem etc. some thin some not. If there is any truth to it I would say it's because women feel more comfortable being themselves with other women, and women are more accepting. Usually.

I seem to get the idea that the article is suggesting overweight women are more likely to be lesbian rather than the lesbian lifestyle contributing to obesity. I think. :laugh:

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.

I'll agree with you there. I used food as a crutch first when my parents went through a nasty divorce and then more-so going through puberty and my high school years where I tried to be normal (in an all girls school) and dated guys which made me super depressed and put on weight like nobodies business! Getting out of that vicious cycle was the best thing I've done! The banding comes second. :w00t: