The Relationship of Weight, the Self Perception of Weight and Self Esteem with Courtship Behavior

The effect of body weight on adolescent sexual activity

“…Cawley (2001) used data from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. He found no evidence of a relationship between body weight and sexual activity, a result echoed by a number of studies drawing on smaller, non-representative samples (Kallen and Doughty 1984;Halpern et al, 1999). In contrast, two more-recent studies have found evidence of a link between body weight and sexual behavior.…”

Body size, physical attractiveness, and body image among young adult women: Relationships to sexual experience and sexual esteem

“…Although a small minority of men prefer large or obese women (Goode & Preissler, 1983), American males generally find relatively thin women most sexually desirable (Harris, Walters, & Washull, 1991;Spillman & Everington, 1989). Heavier women are generally stigmatized (Crandall, 1994;Harris, 1990;Harris et al, 1991;Miller, Rothblum, Felicio, & Brand, 1995), especially with regard to issues of sexuality and courtship (Regan, 1996;Sobal, Nicolopoulos, & Lee, 1995), and may have decreased opportunities for heterosexual dating (Kallen & Doughty, 1984;Schumaker, Krejci, Small, & Sargent, 1985;Tiggemann & Rothblum, 1988).…”

Dating People with Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa: Attitudes and Beliefs of University Students

“…Other studies show that obese people are stigmatized in dating relationships (Harris, 1990;Harris et al, 1991;Kallen & Doughty, 1984;Sobal et al, 1995). Reagan (1996) found both men and women stigmatize the dating attractiveness and sexuality of obese women, but obese men are not similarly stigmatized.…”

“…Smith et al (1986) found sccondary school and college students reluctant to date anorcxic and bulimic individuals. Studies of dating and obesity have also found an unwillingness to date obesc individuals, especially among men (Kallen & Doughty, 1984;Sobal et al, 1995 disorders carry a greater, lesser, or similar dating stigma compared with obesity, and how this varies between men and women.…”