Newspaper Article about Lesbians and Weight

[butch]

So, what do y'all think about this article:

http://chicagofreepress.com/node/3162

I'm ambivalent about it, myself.

[mergirl]

hmm..blee!! Yes ambivalent is the word.
Whats actually most important and is only in one wee scentence is that gay people actually have a rate of smoking/drinking/drug taking than straight people. I used to wonder if this was because of exclusion based depression or because most of gay social activity happens in gay bars where you are more likely to smoke/drink/druuuug.
I wonder why there is a prevailence for lesbians to carry weight around their middle? Is it some genetic/hormonal link? or just all the beer we apparently drink?
anyway..yeah..pretty much ambivalent is the buzz word at the mo and tis how that article made me feel. Now if they had pics, that might be a different thing!.

[Melian]

Yeah....here's another "ambivalent" reader.

I've always noticed this trend in lesbians (minus the lipstick variety), so it's not shocking to read that this (fairly flawed) study has picked it up. I always figured that many lesbians just wanted to be physically bigger than their girlfriends - I know I was always the larger, more dominant woman in a couple.

And again, a health article fearmongering over a slight increase in BMI is nothing out of the ordinary.

[Cors]

What Melian said, though I am more amused than ambivalent.

It is all too easy to speculate why lesbians, particularly the butch ones tend to be bigger than average. Whatever it is, I don't mind at all. *pervs happily*

[SparklingBBW]

Fat lesbians? That's hot! :wubu:

.

[Elij]

The article makes some significant claims, but has anyone bothered to actually read the 2003 study by San Francisco’s University of California School of Nursing? It would be interesting to look into the study and understand the hypothesis and basis. Even better, let's compare the study's ideas and hypotheses to a book called Looking Queer: Body Image and Identity in Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, and Transgender Communities by Dawn Atkins. What conclusions do you draw from this deep, academic look?


Quiz is next week! Flunkies get detention :-)

Butch...I'll see you in detention!

[butch]

The article makes some significant claims, but has anyone bothered to actually read the 2003 study by San Francisco’s University of California School of Nursing? It would be interesting to look into the study and understand the hypothesis and basis. Even better, let's compare the study's ideas and hypotheses to a book called Looking Queer: Body Image and Identity in Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, and Transgender Communities by Dawn Atkins. What conclusions do you draw from this deep, academic look?


Quiz is next week! Flunkies get detention :-)

Butch...I'll see you in detention!

Ha ha, I'm always in trouble for something, ;).

I think what I find most interesting about the study is the fact that they're saying fat lesbians are more likely to be apple shaped (the waist circumference thing the article mentions) than pear or hourglass shaped. Since men are more likely to be apple shaped, too, that connection begs to be explored.

I wonder, too, if looking at the Atkins book reinforces stereotypes about GLBTQ bodies? In particular, I came across something recently on the web about how there's a stereotype out there that all butch lesbians are fat. So not true, but what is the genesis of this belief?

I guess I know what I'll be studying for in anticipation of that quiz. :D