Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Slimness and Celibacy

According to Fitness magazine, 2,400 women were asked if they would sacrifice a full year of sex to be skinny -- and 51 percent said yes.

Other findings: 43 percent of the women in the study reported that they have skipped meals regularly to lose weight, 39 percent have taken diet pills, and 40 percent began dieting either in high school or in middle school.

On "The Early Show on Saturday Morning," Dr. Jennifer Hartstein, a psychologist, remarked that the survey "really says a lot about (women's) body image. She also noted that another study said 61 percent of women are thinking about what their body looks like while they're having sex!

Now, that's being distracted!  Guys need to learn about that G-spot, or discover the joys of foreplay, or something.

I guess we do have issues regarding appearance and worry about being thin.

On the other hand, let's look critically at these stats.

What percentage of women do not have an available sexual partner, effectively giving up nothing by refraining from sex for a year?  While it's easier for a woman to find an all-too-willing male, finding a quality one is another matter.

Then there's those who don't really enjoy coupling that much.  No loss for them.

But here's something else: refraining from sex for a limited time, if it offers a prospect of increasing one's attractiveness and ths value as a prospective mate, it might be simply viewed as a logical investment.  After all, women spend lots of time exercising, dieting, counting calories, and doing general maintenance on their bods.  This might be a short-term deprivation chosen for the prospect of future rewards.

And any Arkansas lawyer or politician might raise some red herrings as to what constitutes sex.  Did the readers of the question assume it to mean sexual intercourse only?  Would they also have to give up oral sex, or self-pleasuring?  The article is unclear as to how specific this denial of sex for a year is to be.

As for concerns about bodily appearance while having sex, remember this: most often (except in Massachuetts) people engage in sex while nude.  Or nekkid, if you prefer.  Therefore, there's maximal exposure.  Also, a lesson from evolutionary psychology: males tend to respond very strongly to cues that a woman is more sexually desirable if she appears youthful, slim, and with hyperfeminine features.  In short, there is a natural selection substratum going on here.  You can't entirely disregard biology.  More news from evolutionary psychology:  women have been subject to evolutionary pressures to be more seelctive with regard to sex; after all, we have to bear the costs of pregnancy!

Finally, I would be a bit more convinced if the deal involved giving up sex permanently in order to be slim. Now, that's more draconian!

Or, to be blunt, to give up chocolate forever in order to be slim.  Now that's scary!


5 comments:

  1. I didn't think that playing hard to get increased a woman's attractiveness. What evidence is there?

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  2. You made a good point. You go, girl!

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  3. You made some good points here, ept.

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  4. Can someone retrospectively get credit for 'dry' periods of no sex to lose weight?

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