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4 Jun 2007

lesbian = fat. fact or myth?

According to a new US survey, lesbians have been found to be twice more likely to be overweight or obese than straight women. At the same time, the study also revealed that lesbians were more at ease with their bodies than straight women. Dinah Gardner has lesbians weigh in on the issue.

There's a common myth that lesbians are just ugly women too unattractive to get a man.

Serbian contestant Marija Serifovic, 23, beat participants from 42 European countries to win the 52nd annual Eurovision Song Contest, hosted in Helsinki, Finland last month.
While there's definitely some dubious science behind that jism of wisdom, there appears to be solid research behind a new report from a US university that says lesbians are more than twice as likely to be overweight as straight women.

Boffins at the Boston University School of Public Health found that lesbians were 2.69 times more likely to be overweight and 2.47 times more likely to be obese than heterosexual women from a survey of some 6,000 females.

Now I've been porky in my time but I've never blamed my sexuality. For those extra pounds I like to point my finger at stress, laziness, beer, and, of course, the universal scapegoat, my ex girlfriend. In fact, now I'm single the lard has legged it, but not my love of girls.

So is it true? Are dykes more likely to be dumpy than their straight sisters? And if so, why do lesbians tend to be larger?

What do the boffins say?

A similar study by scientists at the University of California several years ago says it might be because lesbians face greater levels of discrimination than straight chicks. To cope with this extra pressure, we resort to binge eating of comfort foods that are high in fat and calories, they suggest.

I can see the slogans now. "Your hate is making me fat!" It seems a bit of a cop out to blame society. Besides, everyone responds to stress in different ways. Possibly as many women lose weight under pressure as gain it. Gay men face similar discrimination. So why aren't fags blimps too?

Ms C, an American dyke in Beijing says she doesn't believe the scientists.

"I don't think lesbians are fatter," she scoffs. "There are a lot of fat people in the world and I don't know if the scientists know this."

She says the myth that lesbians are heftier comes from a vile habit of the media to portray us that way. She points to a recent article in the New York Times on same sex marriage which carries photos of some fairly sturdy dyke lawyers.

"Why is it that every time the New York Times has an article on lesbians it's always some ugly man-faced Larry? They don't even look like women. Can we get some beautiful les out there to represent us a tad better? No senator wants those Indigo Girls-loving, dog-hair covered, man-suit wearing bears to get married, but us. I mean. Really!"

And from that media distortion comes a Pavlovian-dog response where the public only pricks up its ears to beefier dykes.

"The problem is that people can only identify the fat ones," Ms C says. "People think lesbian equals fat. This rumour can easily be dispelled at most lesbian bars."

Canadian-Chinese lesbian, Jockie - who is just right - is with the boffins.

"It's not a stereotype!" she says. "Lesbians are, as a rule, often fatter than their straight female counterparts. Maybe we should be playing less softball and going on more runs."

Or drinking less beer.

She adds that many dykes gain weight on purpose - to look more masculine.

"When I wanted to be boyish, I gained weight on purpose to be... bigger," she says. "A lot of the boi dykes do it here. They get heavy on purpose. To be more mannish. I think you're allowed to be fat in the lesbian world. You don't get judged for it the same way. And the married lesbians --well they are at home, eating. I don't think they do it on purpose, but they are happy."

Ms L, a British lesbian in a long-term relationship with a Chinese woman, says she thinks it may be a political statement.

"We're rejecting the feminine stereotype," she says. "As a lesbian you go beyond the gender stereotype of a beautiful women - thin and desirable to men."

But, she adds, she's sick of fat dykes on telly. "Just look at the Eurovision Song Contest winner," she complains. Serbia's Marija Serifovic -a beefy out-dyke - won the competition last month. A tongue in cheek - don't ask me what cheek - report by the Sydney Star Observer, headed "Lesbian chic" cited a partygoer in Belgrade's only gay-friendly club as saying Serifovic's victory was, "a big win for Serbia, a small step for gay rights."

Ms L - who is kind of skinny - says she is part of a "new breed of lesbian" who have rejected the "old-dyke" stereotype of striving for that anti-feminine look.

"It used to be a political statement to look shit," she adds. "But we haven't rejected beauty, we've just created new codes of beauty, such as looking androgynous."

But the good news is that the Boston study found that lesbians were more at ease with their bodies than straight women. We may be fatter, but at least we're happy and fat! And maybe it's because we don't have such a problem with the pounds that we feel less pressure to lose them

Tolly, a British lesbian living in Beijing says girls are just more accepting.

"Girls are more forgiving and put less strain on their partners to be a certain shape," she says, adding that she quite likes big women.

Jockie agrees.

"One of the more important reasons is that lesbians can be fat and still get laid," she muses. "The rules are different in queer culture - from haircuts to style to body shape. It's another standard. At home in Canada, some of the most sought after women I know are larger in size, especially trans guys."

Even Ms L agrees. She says lesbians have been through enough sorting out their sexuality, that body shape issues are small fry.

"We've done all that soul searching," she says. "So we're more easy with whatever we end up being - whether that be a fat person or a thin one."

Right. Another beer anyone?

Reader's Comments

1. 2007-06-04 20:28  
I also havent found any evidence that les or butch r more fat than anybody else...

As a bi-guy with a nack for boyish/butch-ish asian girls and ladies, I have never come across an outstanding number of big ladies... although going through all my lady friends and also ex-gfs, I do prefer a slight touch of meat as i personally have an aversion towads skinny people...

Also, looking at the serbian lady who won the pop and point allotting bash, for caucasian people she wldnt exactly be regarded as 'fat', asian bodies are smaller and more sleek, so u may be regarded as 'fat' more easily...
2. 2007-06-04 20:34  
Hu?
Les= fat and all gay men= Mister Univers or plastic Ken?
Wow what an existential question!
Well, just give me a mirror, please...
Hmm hann hun...
No no, that's okey for me my abs have not disappeared...
{You can touch if you want.}

3. 2007-06-04 20:59  
What a generalisation that les = fat. How was comparison and ratio even made?? It's not as if les has more population than that of heterosexual women. Is 6,000 even a good representation of figures to begin with??
But, health should be taken seriously. Hence, keeping in shape should be priority concern for all, not just les. Also, image does counts too.. afterall, first impression lasts..
4. 2007-06-04 22:10  
oh pls. body mass does not mean lesbian. its just gluttony. girls are more forgiving abt bodyshape?

pishtosh. nonsense.

please i rather sooner sleep with a cute guy than an overweight mamma.

another story pls. about beautiful lesbians - something that doesn't make me choke on my dinner. thankyou.
5. 2007-06-04 23:12  
Facts and stats are meaningless. You could use numbers and facts to prove anything that's even remotely true! 36.3% of people knew that!
6. 2007-06-05 00:42  
Of course it's true.
They oughta cast Ellen in Sharon Stone's Katherine Trammel opposite Rosie o Donnell as the deranged foxy Roxy.

But then who would pay to see that?
Who would believe Michael Douglas can actually get it up with Ellen???
Why would the audience wanna see Ellen undress in the living room or cross her legs in the integoration room?

Not me not you!

And in Basic Instinct 2, how can the directors make sure Ellen won't swell up after how many donkey years?
How can she do the car orgasm scene if she can't fit in through the door?

Hollywood made Lesbians skinny.
God made them fat!
Har Har
7. 2007-06-05 00:46  
I do believe the "rejecting the feminine stereotype" thing therefore lesbians do not necessarily need to play into the role of the attractive, slim lady but hey, who's complaining if there are more less horizontally-challenged women around.

I also think we (i.e. lesbians) are more aware of our general health and well-being therefore this "fat" thing may just diminish with out supposed better nutritional awareness and onset of more supergyms popping up all over the world. I can hear their cash registers ringing already.


Back to the topic however, I do agree that there are quite a few "bigger" lesbians around but who's to say they're not someone else's cup of tea?
8. 2007-06-05 03:11  
They interviwed 6000 of what type of people?

5000 slim beauties and 1000 fat lesbians???
9. 2007-06-05 03:46  
For goodness sake, the survey was done from another part of the world (beijing hello?), where people defers les chicks as fat chicks is alright?! If being a lesbian had to be equivalent to faty, then why are women all alike trying to imitate the spliting cool images of the ladies from the l word?

Which is hypertically clich.

By&large whether you're gay or str, it'd more desirable to be attracted to someone who caught your eyes at first sight and falling in love in the process.

Sterotyping les as fat is very wrong. We lesbians are just as vain as our gay counterparts. Fat or not, many of us instil good dress sense, personality and sex appeal.
10. 2007-06-05 09:57  
"then why are women all alike trying to imitate the spliting cool images of the ladies from the l word?"

Did you not know that the women in the L word is being accused to be totally unrepresentative of lesbians in the real world? The L word is to lesbians what Calvin Klein (and the lot of underwear) ads are to straight men... in terms of affecting one's perception of ideal body types...

One would have thought that lesbians are spared dieting and eating disorders because they don't need to pander to patriarchal visions of an idealised female body type, but what do we know?!
11. 2007-06-05 10:04  
All it "maybe" means is that American lesbians tend to be fatter than straight women. But this was an American study and should be left as that.

A similar analogy could be that a hypothetical study has found more "bears" in the gay community than amongst the straight male community. But I don't think you'd find any of our big bellied hairy brethren in Asia.

Body types differ across races and cultures. Obesity is a much larger (excuse the pun) problem in the US than it is in Asia. Maybe the discussion should be focused on conformity to stereotypes (which I wholeheartedly agree that lesbians do not as a whole try as hard to look like supermodels - but c'mon we have our OWN stereotypes which some of us are guilty of adhering to), rather than whether lesbians are fat.
Comment #12 was deleted by its author
13. 2007-06-05 14:12  
haha...

IF les=fat
THAN str8guy=fat

rite? :P
Comment #14 was deleted by its author
15. 2007-06-05 15:35  
Whenever i read an article like this i always go- when will the hetero world ever LEARN ???!!!- to NOT judge a book by the cover??? Apparently all the education & experience is not of much help to them =p what's worse, we dykes are now adopting the bad side of their categorization & start labeling an overweight woman who happens to be lesbian 'fat & couldn't gt a man' ???? imagine!!!

Truth is, gay & lesbian ppl are not very diffferent fr the general population. Some are pretty, some are plain, some fat, some skinny, some smart, some dumb... so what? Dunno why conventional media always make a big deal over such trival issues...esp rgd lesbians/dykes.
16. 2007-06-05 15:38  
That being said, it's also a very common misconception, that "Girls are more forgiving and put less strain on their partners to be a certain shape" . Personally i know of many lezzies who can be very harsh & critical of another woman's appearance- just as bad as, if not worse than, straight men.
17. 2007-06-05 16:49  
Lesbian are general like straight woman too. so what's the problem if some of them are fat? some of them are sexy? some of them are havin big boob? or some of them r flat?

There's a common myth that lesbians are just ugly women too unattractive to get a man???
Excuse me.. lesbian don't give a damn to attract a man.

Excuse me. Gay and lesbian are hot. Hot doesn't mean they have to be skinny. I love her soul and i do not deny that i like bigger size woman(not fat).



18. 2007-06-05 16:51  
And one more thing to add:


There's a common myth that straight guy are just ugly too unattractive to get a man???
That is why they r straight...
19. 2007-06-05 17:31  
don't throw stones at me, but half of my lesbian friends are overweight.

ya, hunky straight guys are a minority and a rare sight, but yes, you can find them if you are fussy enough...
Comment #20 was deleted by its author
21. 2007-06-05 21:41  
but i believe that nowadays, us lesbians are trying to find a "middle" ground for our appearance. i don't necessarily believe that us lesbians were ever "ugly" or "fat". look at the iconic lesbian stars of the golden hollywood era - greta garbo, marlene dietrich, tallulah bankhead, alla nazimova and so on. they are women who exhibited charm and masculinity (when allowed) but didn't really fit the lesbian stereotype. i guess i'm saying that to be more rebellious, you have to really go against the butch, overweight and short haired look whom many are accustomed too. don't get me wrong, i'm in love with a woman who is quite overweight and butch in appearance, however, she is very much the femme in the relationship, as in persona-wise. if you were ever to classify anyone by their appearance alone, it's wrong. i'm quite femme in looks, but i love my power tools, firearms, porn and fast cars. oh, and yes i do kill cockroaches and love it. so i guess, what is a lesbian supposed to look like?
22. 2007-06-06 03:30  
the fact that the research is conducted only on 6000 women is highly dubious! i am guessing the research is conducted on american women.perhaps they should look into asia and chances are, their theory would be discredited!
23. 2007-06-06 09:39  
screw appearance, get your health. no point looking like a stick or michelin-man but forsake your health...
24. 2007-06-06 09:44  
Generally the asian lesbian community ive met are from thin to skinny. Although there might be some overweight ones. However most of the aussie lesbos i met here are overweight :/
25. 2007-06-06 10:12  
Well said, tygirrrl !!! you've gt it - spot-on ^-^
And you really impress with yr knowledge of the stars of Hollywood's Golden Era....LOTS of classy lesbian ladies there ;> Oh, & by the way, may i add that you're hot, too ;)
26. 2007-06-06 14:20  
curious about how the 6000 respondents were processed though... have seen lots of obviously overweight/obese obviously straight women walking around middle america too... if it was just a matter of a questionnaire asking 'how much do you weigh' vs putting the women on scales... (& taking into consideration the fact tt we dykes tend to be more comfortable with body size & weight) is it possible that the lesbians who responded to the survey were just more honest about their weight? Or that overweight/obese straight women lied or did not respond?
27. 2007-06-06 22:53  
Just asked Donald Trump, Rosie O'donnel is an ugly FAT girl,very ugly indeed she is, very un attractive angry lesbo
28. 2007-06-07 19:40  
hehehe...why, thank you vexx. ;) you are quite nice yourself....
29. 2007-06-09 17:04  
I know there are thousands of hot looking lesbian in the world, but I know none of them. I have only one lesbian friend, and she is fat...so thats 100% to me...
30. 2007-11-20 01:17  
as a gay guy ... i do make the same comments when i see a lesbian ... are all lesbians fat and or ugly? i'm sure there are pretty & skinny ones... but well... i dun really know any... and arent butches the female counterpart of a drag? drag = men who dress up like women ... butch = women who dress up like men... so where are the normal lesbians; women who likes women?

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