The Influence of Body Shape on Impressions of Sexual Traits

ABSTRACT

The assumptions people make from body shape can have serious implications for the well-being of the individuals inhabiting such bodies. Fat people are subject to pervasive and resilient social stigma and discrimination, leading to negative mental and physical health outcomes, including negative sexuality-related outcomes. Though previous studies have examined the personality traits attributed to, or the sexual attractiveness of, varying body shapes, no research has asked participants to make attributions of sexual traits to varying body shapes. The purpose of this study was thus to examine sexuality-related trait inferences made from body shapes. Participants (N = 891, 70% women, M_age = 25.28) were randomly assigned to view 5 computer-generated 3-dimensional body models of varying shapes developed using the skinned multi-person linear model. Participants rated their sexual attraction to each body and the degree to which each of 30 traits (10 personality and 20 sexual) applied. Results demonstrated that larger bodies are generally viewed as less sexually attractive. Further, constellations of sexuality traits were predicted reliably by body shape, demonstrating that people hold sexual stereotypes about a diverse range of body shapes. This study provides an initial comprehensive demonstration of the sexuality-specific traits associated with varying body shapes.

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Katheryn Morrison, Kailie Brown, and Cydney Cocking for editorial comments and revisions to earlier drafts of this manuscript.

Notes

¹ Court recording published by Journal de Montreal, October 25, 2017.

² We use the terms “fat” and “fatness” in keeping with fat studies scholarship, which rejects the use of terms such as “obesity” and “overweight” in favor of fat as a descriptive term for larger bodies.

³ The survey was anonymous and information regarding recruitment locations for each participant was not gathered. It is unknown where most of the successful participant acquisition took place; therefore, the composition of our sample as it relates to recruitment locale is uncertain.