Feeling Ugly Hurts More Than Just Self-Esteem
Low body image is linked to riskier teen sex.
It shouldn't come as a surprise that a woman's body image is linked to her sexual habits. But a new study done at the University of Pittsburgh among teenage girls offers some eye-opening figures as to how the woman we see in the mirror affects our sex lives.
According to the results of the study, a young woman's ethnicity combined with her actual weight or perception of her weight may influence her to engage in risky sexual behaviors. Is the Pill Harmful?
"Those girls who were both sexually active and overweight, or who thought they were overweight, were less likely to use condoms than normal-weight sexually active girls. Underweight girls also were less likely to use condoms." Diary Of A Former Fat Girl: Sex And The Scale
The researchers compiled this information from interviews with 7,200 high school girls about their sexual activity. Here is the break down by race:
• Caucasian girls who believed that they were underweight, whether accurate or not, were more likely to have had sex and to have had four or more sexual partners. Overweight Caucasian girls were less likely to use condoms.
• Underweight African-American girls also were less likely to use condoms while overweight African-American girls reported four or more sexual partners.
• Latina girls of all weights were more likely to engage in a wide variety of sexually risky behaviors—lack of condom or oral contraception use, sex before age 13, greater than four sexual partners and use of alcohol.
The root of the problem, it seems, is the insecurity many of these girls face. Their body image issues lead them to look for acceptance and validation from sexual partners. Come to think of it, the issue may not be exclusive to teens. We have a sneaking suspicion that a poor opinion of one's body has led to many meaningless hookups, just for the sake of feeling attractive. 5 Cardinal Fashion Rules According To Men
What do you think, readers? Have you been more sexually irresponsible at times when you've been insecure?
Discussion
I can relate with the African American women statistic. I have a friend who "thinks" she is overweight and therefore engages in a lot of sexual behavior because of her insecurity. Quite sad, really.
OK-I'll bite; Where are all of the over/underweight women who feel promiscuous? LOL (not to forget the ones who have bad relationships with their fathers, who are also frequently promiscuous).
Now that a token "db" comment is out of the way, this is common knowledge to many-it's too bad people are not judged by their character as opposed to how heavy/light they are.
I'm like SilverClaudia if I don't feel attractive I don't want to be intimate...and it takes quite a bit before I get comfortable enough with someone to want to get naked let alone do something as intimate as oral sex. I can see the rational and yes I knew plenty of girls way back int he dark ages when I was in highschool who were promiscuous because they felt that meant they were loved and accepted. I was always very sad for them. Always seemed the latina girls were the hardest to bed in our school but could be times have changed.
I can't relate because for me it's the opposite. If I feel ugly, I don't want anyone being intimate with me at all. Because if my prospective partner would make any comment about my flaws (hopefully not, lol), I'd feel even worse about myself. I understand needing attention, and needing to be validated by other people, but not in this way.
I remember that my friend in high school was overweight and she was giving oral sex in the tenth grade. It was a way to get the boys to pay attention to her. Another friend has since said that she was promiscuous in high school b/c of her weight. So, there is definitely a correlation.
