The Skinny on Sex and Weight
I realize I may be getting into some politically incorrect territory here, but I’ve got a question. How does body image affect sex? Is fat a turn-on or a turn-off? If you’re obese, do you think it’s affected your sex life? If so, how? —Helen
Years ago women of my size were considered royalty. —Camryn Manheim
From JB
My first three lovers were thin (anorexic), nicely proportioned but on the thin side, and thin (not anorexic but looked it). I am sure it was just their personalities, but they were not good in bed.
My wife is about 50 pounds heavier than she wants to be, but she’s amazing in bed. She has totally transformed what I find sexy. I now love big butts, a bigger chest and round, wobbly tummies. Her form has equated in joy in my life and a wild and crazy sex life.
It has just been my personal experience that women that “control” their weight and don’t robustly eat at the table, want to “control” their sex life and they don’t robustly partake in the banquet between the sheets.
From Neil
The sexiest thing about a partner has nothing to do with size and weight but everything to do with confidence. A confident woman is a beautiful woman. First love yourself…then you can love someone else.
From Jani
I am what they call a ‘big girl’ but not morbidly obese. I have a job in my sis-in-law’s firm and in a smart business suit, white blouse, dark pantyhose and high heels I regard myself as being very attractive. But when a guy at work started to hit on me I wondered what was going through his head. Did he see me as a freak fuck?
After a few after work drinks I agreed to have dinner with him. The sex was awful. Not because of my size or anything I did or didn’t do. He was the problem – his cock was mega small! He lasted for 20 minutes or so but I really couldn’t feel him in my pussy. So, I might be big across the ass but not every guy is well hung enough for the needs of us big ones!
From Jax
I think the issue comes down more to state of mind than size of body. I’ve always been obese and because of that, I am seriously, seriously shy. I’ve had one lover in my life because of it and she was really really great even though we ended up breaking it off. Now after changing my lifestyle, I’ve lost a lot of weight (over 120 pounds) and I know that I’m looking a lot “better” and certainly feeling far more healthy but even though my sex drive is high, my shyness keeps me from getting out there and playing the field.
By contrast, my best friend in college has always been overweight/obese and she had no problems finding a horde of guys that wanted to be with her. I guess she just knew how to get what she wanted. So to all those big women out there, I’d say if you’re unafraid to put yourself out there, it shouldn’t be a big deal. Remember, with the obesity rate rising it may all soon be a moot point.
From 🙂
As Lisa Lampinelli would say, “More cushion for the pushin.”
From Anonymous
This can be a very difficult issue, I think. My ex-husband was and is a very large man (6’2″, 480 pounds at his top weight), which I found quite sexy at first. As we were together and things in our relationship went sour, I found him less and less attractive and I seem to have generalized this to all fat people.
It wouldn’t be a problem at all (my new lover is skinny) if it hadn’t affected my own body image (never good) so negatively. I can’t look at myself and my big belly and my sagging breasts without disgust.
From a lucky girl
I am obese by today’s standards and my husband is very fit. I admit to being ridiculously shy about my body and use lots of candlelight, lingerie and various other tactics like avoiding daytime sex to hide my body from my husband visually so I won’t turn him off during sex.
Sadly, this all comes from my own neurosis, as he is nothing but complementary and worshipful of every inch of me. He constantly tells me how good it feels to press his body against my soft, strong body. I am his Goddess – I just wish I felt that way inside.
We have a spectacular sex life, in spite of my issues. We both agree it’s the best sex ever. I have to laugh at myself that I love being fucked in the ass and will ride his face with abandon but won’t let him see my fat belly. I often wonder how much better it could be if I could get over my shyness and let myself be the sexual glutton I am in my head.
Being fat does seem to dampen my sex drive to the point that a couple of times a week is about all I’m interested in but fortunately the quality more than makes up for the quantity.
From Mary
Fat is a turn-off. Men carrying a lot of extra weight breath heavy, have sweaty skin at the drop of a hat, are not agile, and because of the extra fat at the base of their penis, they can’t get in very far – which is really a mute point because their stomach gets in the way. The only comfortable position is doggy-style, anything else is crushing the person on the bottom or fat gets in the way of any significant penetration.
But the main problem is health. Obese people look and feel unhealthy. There is nothing sexy about that. So yes, obese people are a turn-off and sex with a fat man is simply no fun.
From Douglas
I like very skinny, very tall women (I’m 6’1″). I’m not attracted in the least to any extra weight, flabby skin, or chubbiness. One man’s opinion.
From Dark Gypsy
I weigh 386 lbs. I am 31, married, and I have a lover. (My lover is my best friend’s husband, and everything is very loving and out in the open) I have sex with one or the other of them nearly every night, and sometimes several times a day (on the weekends). Fairly often, my boys team up to please me.
I get more sex than anyone I know, and I am fully capable of many positions including missionary, doggy-style, side penetrations, standing at the side of the bed, 69, you name it. My lover is married to a woman who is half my size, but I turn him on more than anyone he’s ever made love to. He has commented that the inside of my vagina feels tighter and more textured than anyone he’s ever experienced, and he loves not being concerned about breaking me.
Boys, there’s nothing wrong with a skinny girl, but don’t knock sinking yourself into fleshy woman until you’ve tried it. You may be surprised at how marvelously good we feel inside and out.
From Anonymous
I love big. I have become the big I fantasize about – D cup, big brown nipples, big – just big. I love walking naked in the Y and entering the sauna room. It is a big that has finiteness. It is beautiful.
I fantasize going down on naked big women with flower pussies, of getting big hugs, or rubbing big butts – if no one can get how big is beautiful there is something wrong with them. There is just more to make love to.
From Cat
I think weight is in the eye of the beholder and the person with the weight. For myself when my weight is above my norm I find I hide under sexy nightwear. I won’t be as forward as usual and even have less sex than usual. This isn’t because anyone else is uncomfortable with me, it’s just me.
I have health issues and my weight can go up and down easily. Right now it’s up by 15 pds. Yeah, not much but I’m 5′ nothing, so it shows. When I’m at my correct weight I’m a sensuous kitten ready to play as I roll over and wait for my belly rub. The 1 thing I have noticed over the yrs. is it seems big women are with skinny guys or vice versa. All I can say is, to each his own and have a good time!
From Mike
Although I’m mainly attracted to thin women, particularly Asians, I also am attracted to a degree to women that are mildly overweight. Some girls that are somewhat overweight (not grossly obese) can really carry that weight well, and it can look quite good on them. Hispanic women in particular have the ability to look really good with some extra weight.
My first wife was considerably overweight, and there was a certain sexiness to that. I’ll never forget how her big stomach looked as it jerked up and down in rhythm as she had an orgasm – damn, that was hot.
From Happy at Last
I was married for years to a woman who, by the vast majority of standards, is damned near perfect. She is very pretty, graceful and has an incredible shape (small waist, tall, perfect hips). However, she is the worst b*tch that most people have ever met. Incredibly shellfish and self-centered, my life with this beauty was pure hell. After we divorced, I dated several women solely for their personality.
Since I am in relatively good shape, many were worried because of their self-image issues. Their lack of self confidence was very unattractive to me. Eventually, I calmed down and settled for an overweight woman who makes me feel like a king. I am so turned on by her and cannot get enough! We make love like a couple of teenagers. Her extra weight is what adds character to the woman that I love. Love equals great sex to me now.
From Anonymous
I’m currently living in South Korea although I’m a white foreign women and I’m constantly surrounded by very thin Asian women. The men here think women from the States look disgusting. They are all very turned-off by fat, so in a way it’s a cultural thing. People are products of their environment and they make do with what they have and with what is available. If 70% of the population becomes overweight, men will just have to get use to overweight women so to speak.
Some people think it’s curves that make a women look womanly. Since being in Korea I would have to say that thin women can look very womanly. They have a gracefulness, flexibility. In their opinion thinness is a sign of femininity where as fat would be considered butch and manly.
From Anonymous
I’m a bit more than 1/2 way to a weight loss goal of 100 lbs. (doing it for health reasons, I was obese when I started). At 5’8, I’ve ranged from 120 lbs to 250 lbs. I feel my best between 130 & 160.
I find I’m at my most energetic when I’m exercising regularly, regardless of my weight. That helps with the important things like flexibility & stamina.
A lot of it is attitude. I’m middle aged and I’ve developed a lot more confidence as I’ve gotten older. I’m less physically attractive now than I was when I was in my twenties, but I’m not ashamed of my body and sex like I was then. And I’m more enthusiastic about sex now than I was then. Judging from the reactions of my partners, that seems to be a big turn on in and of itself. So, even though I’m overweight, I’m enjoying sex more now than I did when I was thinner & younger.
From Jeroen
I’ve had sex with one or two women who would be considered obese, not severely so but definitely more than 10-15 kgs overweight. In tactile terms, it feels fine. Visually, though, it’s almost always a major turn-off, though a small handful of women can pull it off. It depends on how it’s distributed, too, and on how good the person’s skin is. Bad skin and overweight is really not good.
From Doug
In the last 40 years my weight has varied between 175 and 325 for a variety of reasons. I’m 6’1″ so there is a range from lean to obese. After a broken back in my early 20s my weight shoot up to 325 pounds from 225. Sex was difficult and painful during the back fracture and rehabilitation phase, and unfortunately some added pain for the rest of my life. At 325 my stomach got in the way in every position except with my wife on top. Sitting face to face was difficult to do and impossible to be able to hug her at the same time. I also lost about an inch of penetration ability because of the fat around the base of my penis. I felt lousy about myself and didn’t like being fat like that.
Over the next 4 years I got down to 170 at the lowest, but not maintainable, and stabilized at 175 – 190 for the next 15 years until medical problems change it. The sex during those years was better in a lot of ways. I was jogging about 30 miles a week at the beginning and was in good condition. I had basically unlimited physical endurance with as much vigor as my wife enjoyed. With no stomach to interfere we could do things that had been impossible before. Being fat imposed all sorts of limits both from a power to weight ratio and physical bulk ratio. It got in the way, I got tired more quickly moving more weight around, I wasn’t strong enough to do some things with the weight that I can do without.
My wife was 5’4″ and about 125 most of this time. During menopause she gained 40 pounds in 6 months with no change in diet. It was about this time that my muscles became sore for medical reasons and her weight became an issue because of pressure on my body anywhere. Over the next decade she got back down to 125.
All in all, added weight did nothing at all positive for our sex lives. And the more weight either or both of us put on, the more hindrance it was. And when both of us were at the high end (165 and 280) things were the most difficult. We were not able to find a position comfortable for both of us when taking both weight and medical conditions into account. It wasn’t all weight and size. That further limited things. My wife wasn’t happy with herself at the higher weights. She looked good and certainly caught the men’s eyes at the nudist clubs even at her maximum weight. It wasn’t about other people’s reactions. It was about how she felt about herself. She felt unattractive.
From Jim
I read OTE, [see entry below] and I agree that a full-figured women is sexy in many ways. However, the question here is How does obesity affect sex, key word being ‘obesity’ which is beyond full-figured.
Yeah, voluptuous well padded curves makes me weak in the knees, but rolls of fat? No, no no. I know what I’m talking about. Been there, done that. I was 45 pounds over my desired weight, and let me tell you something, when I lost those 45 pounds, my dick looked almost twice as long because the base is no long hidden in rolls of fat. That also means I can now get closer, and go deeper in my full-figured girlfriend – yes, she’s full-figured, not fat. Big difference.
I don’t feel like I’m crushing her if I’m on top, I’m not huffing and puffing, or dripping sweaty during vigorous sex. And best of all I can hug my girl without my big fat belly getting in the way.
So yeah, obesity affects sex, no doubt. I mean just think of the logistics, which is not very exciting to think about.
From OTE
Having had long term relationships with women from the boney to obese, I have come to the conclusion that boney women aren’t comfortable for long rides. By the same token, obese women exhibit body image problems, yet can have extended periods of raw passion and no bone bumping that leaves bruises.
Now I’m in a long-term relationship with a full-figured woman that carries little extra weight beyond that bit that gives her real woman curves. You know the body type. Mature fertile curves of a proven breeder capable of bearing children with little effort.
My personal taste in woman’s physiology has nothing to do with desire to procreate as I took care of that possibility long ago. Rather I consider that I’m a throw-back to a time when women were chosen as mates based upon some genetic criteria of ability to bear and raise children successfully to maturity. Mayhaps it is also about the physical strength and endurance to join me on the hunt. At the same time, carry enough body fat to nurse offspring during the lean times without putting herself at risk from starvation.
What I do know is that this type of physiology has the look, strength and endurance to be the partner of any man worthy enough of her.
In m’lady’s case, she has developed a sense of body image that causes her no grief other than her stretch marks from birthing two children. To me, I have no problems with her stretch marks as I see them as proof of her virility.
In mine own perception, I see her as voluptuous. Perfect, no. But neither am I. Matters not as we have long since become bound to one another by the mutual need to be with a life partner that shares common interests and unconditional acceptance of one another. No other woman has ever brought out the “Son of Eros” that was so long kept buried within me. And me towards her? I love bringing out her inner “Aphrodite’s Daughter” passion.
The most intense erogenous zone is that grey stuff between our ears. A big share of all the rest is not much more than the wrapping on a birthday present. Draws the eye, but it is what is inside that really gets our attention. Or maybe it is just a strange sense of reality held solely by myself.
Tis my conclusion that you have to pad the package to avoid any damage. Tis for each to determine how much padding is enough. Once you can accept yourself and another, even clothing becomes just another wrapping on a highly desired present.