# Stressed men drawn to heavy women



## James (Aug 9, 2012)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19180983




> When placed under stressful situations, men rate larger women as more attractive, new research has shown.





> British researchers found that men exposed to tasks that were designed to put them under pressure preferred a wider range of female body sizes.
> They conclude that stress can act to alter judgments of potential partners.


 
So what do you all make of this? 

I think that while it isn't true for me (i.e. when stress-free, I am still drawn to larger women) there might be something to this.

The researchers are legit and have credibility in their work in this field. PloS is a serious journal too and they have some pretty high standards for methodology.

Part of me thinks that there's some confirmation bias going on here - by which I mean that the prior assumption was that when men get stressed out they run to mommy... with the thinking that mommy = heavier/more mature figure... 

Again... it doesn't feel true for me - nor, I imagine, for FAs as a group - but it is interesting to consider as a general effect on all men in a population (as I believe the study aimed to do).

Thoughts? Does it ring true in your experience?


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## Dr. Feelgood (Aug 9, 2012)

Of course men under stress prefer a wider range of body sizes! When push comes to shove, you don't have time to worry about irrelevancies. :happy:


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## musicman (Aug 9, 2012)

I saw an article about this earlier today, and my first response was: So, most guys only get to enjoy the company of a fat woman when they're stressed out, while I get to do it all the time! 

Seriously, this study may be legit or it may not, but it will only be twisted to bolster the agenda of the fat-haters and the diet/drug/medical scammers. The early article I saw was already doing it. Watch for crap like this: Guys are relaxing their "standards of beauty" when they're stressed, or else they're insecure wimps and they want their mommies. This is not good for fat acceptance.


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## CastingPearls (Aug 10, 2012)

People assume that because it's a study (it's on the internet--MUST be true), it must be factual when, at most it might green-light further research, not indicate any real trend or behavior. It's only making the rounds because teh fatz itself is trending as the vice-du-jour so all related industries stand to profit if they can find a way to further erode the self-esteem of fat people AND their admirers.

This is original link to the study:
http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0042593

Median age was 21-22 years old and British white in ethnicity. The control group included 40, the experimental group included 41, hardly a diverse and meaty slice of the male pie-chart.

The latest trend in the talk show circuit is to portray fat admirers are predatory towards vulnerable and child-like (smacks of being a pedophile) partners and fat people as being infantile, so they get to kill two birds with one stone by disenfranchising both parties. Undermine supporters of fat people, fat people are even easier to demonize.


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## musicman (Aug 10, 2012)

CastingPearls said:


> The latest trend in the talk show circuit is to portray fat admirers are predatory towards vulnerable and child-like (smacks of being a pedophile) partners and fat people as being infantile, so they get to kill two birds with one stone by disenfranchising both parties. Undermine supporters of fat people, fat people are even easier to demonize.



Good analysis! Attacking the mental stability of fat admirers is clearly becoming more important as a strategy in the war against fat people. The explosion of fat porn online is making it more difficult (but still not impossible) to sell the standard lines of "fat is ugly" and "no man will find you sexually attractive if you're fat". It's no surprise that "No man will want you" has changed to become "No QUALITY man will want you". Same BS, different day.


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## Ned Sonntag (Aug 10, 2012)

Isn't this study from 3 or 4 years ago?


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## James (Aug 10, 2012)

Swami and Tovée worked on another study looking at weight preferences and ranges a few years back. They concluded that the men that stated a preference for large women found a wider weight range to be aesthetically appealing than those that did not. 

I'm not sure what their bias/motivation in this work is but I think that the negative interpretations are more likely to be coming from the media filters rather than the actual research outcomes.


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## MIgirl2008 (Aug 11, 2012)

I haven't been on in this site in a long time, but I liked this posting. It reminded me about how great this forum is and the variety of interesting topics. This was a good article post.


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## musicman (Aug 11, 2012)

James said:


> Swami and Tovée worked on another study looking at weight preferences and ranges a few years back. They concluded that the men that stated a preference for large women found a wider weight range to be aesthetically appealing than those that did not.



I'm not familiar with their earlier study, but isn't that a pretty weak (and very obvious) conclusion? I hope they proved more than that! I can't imagine anyone disputing it, whether they measured weight range in terms of pounds or percentage.


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## SitiTomato (Aug 11, 2012)

Why *wouldn't* men find sexy women comforting when stressed, this study seems useless


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## Marlayna (Aug 11, 2012)

When one is stressed and needs a hug, a bigger body is more satisfying to hug and hold on to. This my personal experience with cats. When I had four, picking up and hugging the fattest one felt the best when I was feeling badly. With the skinnier ones, I'd feel like there's not enough cat there, and I may hurt it.

I agree with this study, and yes, men may want a bigger mama-figure to hold, but I think a bigger woman is like a bigger cat - more huggable.


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## Tad (Aug 13, 2012)

Just to speculate on the basis of no real data.....

What if a lot of guys are innately attracted to more voluptuous women, but growing up in our society they learn to consistently suppress those feeling and indicate (even to themselves) an attraction to the more fashionably thin women? However, that sort of mental exercise is, well, exercise--it burns energy and takes effort. When the brain is tired, it is less apt to perform those substitutions (this part is pretty well documented, how exerting will gets harder the more we've used it recently).

The result of this situation would be expected to be that when under mental stress, guys would be more honest about their attraction to larger women, as the study purports to show.

If this was the case, you'd also expect that under the influence of alcohol guys might follow their basic instincts more, so that at bars drunk guys might be more apt to hit on larger women than they would normally. Anecdotally, this may well be the case.

Not saying that adds up to anything like proof for my theory, just giving an alternate stab at what could cause this behaviour.


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## one2one (Aug 15, 2012)

Tad said:


> What if a lot of guys are innately attracted to more voluptuous women, but growing up in our society they learn to consistently suppress those feeling and indicate (even to themselves) an attraction to the more fashionably thin women? However, that sort of mental exercise is, well, exercise--it burns energy and takes effort. When the brain is tired, it is less apt to perform those substitutions (this part is pretty well documented, how exerting will gets harder the more we've used it recently).
> 
> The result of this situation would be expected to be that when under mental stress, guys would be more honest about their attraction to larger women, as the study purports to show.



This makes complete sense to me. I think it's a very good theory.


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## Jay West Coast (Aug 15, 2012)

Tad said:


> Just to speculate on the basis of no real data.....
> 
> What if a lot of guys are innately attracted to more voluptuous women, but growing up in our society they learn to consistently suppress those feeling and indicate (even to themselves) an attraction to the more fashionably thin women? However, that sort of mental exercise is, well, exercise--it burns energy and takes effort. When the brain is tired, it is less apt to perform those substitutions (this part is pretty well documented, how exerting will gets harder the more we've used it recently).
> 
> ...



I like this one too. I also think that it might be a bit more primeval: in moments of crisis, natural selection would favor those who mate with partners who are more crisis-resilient--such as those who are particularly strong or fat or confident.


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## fa_foo (Aug 17, 2012)

I dunno. I've been under stress for the last twenty years, AND I've preferred larger women for the last twenty years. Hmmmm....


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## The Orange Mage (Aug 17, 2012)

The only stressed part of me is the front of my pants.


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## bbwbud (Aug 17, 2012)

I enjoy comfort food, comfortable furniture and comfortable clothes. Why should I be different when it comes to enjoying comfortable (and comforting) women? I'd say bones are for dogs, but I like dogs too much.


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## KittyKitten (Aug 17, 2012)

Perhaps larger women exhuberate warmth! Perhaps it's the big boobs of many larger women that make them feel comfort, not frigidness?


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## bigmac (Aug 17, 2012)

KittyKitten said:


> Perhaps larger women exhuberate warmth! Perhaps it's the big boobs of many larger women that make them feel comfort, not frigidness?



I agree, stick insect barbies are prizes alpha males fight over. Such males are seeking increased status not companionship or empathy.

Guys who are stressed may be less likely to play alpha male games and more likely to seek the comfort a nice (both physically and emotionally) large woman.


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## liz (di-va) (Aug 17, 2012)

The Orange Mage said:


> The only stressed part of me is the front of my pants.


bwahahah 

& I think you might have something there, Tad. I wondering something similar when I read it -


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## mediaboy (Aug 17, 2012)

I Like Fat Chicks


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## J34 (Aug 19, 2012)

Jay West Coast said:


> I like this one too. I also think that it might be a bit more primeval: in moments of crisis, natural selection would favor those who mate with partners who are more crisis-resilient--such as those who are particularly strong or fat or confident.



Yup, I have to agree with you here. Much of our instincts are built into our psyche after thousands of years of human evolution. Perhaps now more than in the past, men lust for skinnier women because of the status it brings them to their peers. Though much of our history, a larger woman was able to withstand more adverse conditions, and perhaps produce more children. So it's come as no surprise that we would fall back to our primitive instincts in times of duress. :happy:


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## B-Enhanced (Aug 23, 2012)

I wonder what has had me so stressed since I was 3?


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## LoveBHMS (Aug 24, 2012)

bigmac said:


> I agree, stick insect barbies are prizes alpha males fight over. Such males are seeking increased status not companionship or empathy.
> 
> Guys who are stressed may be less likely to play alpha male games and more likely to seek the comfort a nice (both physically and emotionally) large woman.



You could easily have this conversation without insulting women's body types and without denigrating sexuality and aesthetic preferences that differ from your own.

Thin women are thin, not "stick insect barbies". It's ludicrous to insist that a man who wants a thin partner must be superficial and not really interested in "companionship". It's even worse to suggest that women's body types determine their personalities. Fat women aren't any more likely to be "nice" or "comforting" simply due to their size. That's like one step away from insisting fat people are all "jolly".


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## FA Punk (Aug 25, 2012)

It's total fucking bullshit. I like fatties regardless of how stressed I my be, so if your into thin women does that mean you can handle stress better then I can lol:doh:? Where do people get funding to do studies on such nonesense is beyond me.


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## KingColt (Sep 4, 2012)

I´m never not stressed, so I can´t shed much light on this.


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## runningsoft (Sep 9, 2012)

Here's a bit of a tangent to the aformetioned study:

I had a late night discussion with a dear friend last evening and we got on to talking about bigger women and our admiration for them. 

She told me that men may be attracted to bigger woman from a reproductive stand point and see larger women as more fertile. 

Needless to say, it was an interesting point for me and I thought I would share it with all of you.


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## liz (di-va) (Sep 9, 2012)

This thread title cracks me up every time I see it. Not a comment on the science in this study or anything, just cracks me up.

(That is all.)


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## doublejm1 (Sep 10, 2012)

I'm with the others on this board who say they love BBWs no matter what -- whether they're happy or sad, stressed or energetic, hungry or full.


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