Well, I can tell you what is true amongst my group of friends, but we're all weirdos and highly non-representative, so I'll take my cue from published scientists on this one, and see what their peer reviewed studies say.
Be Skinny
Yes, scientists are once again nagging on overweight people to lose some weight. Apparently, if you are obese, you are far more likely to engage in unprotected sex, get STIs, and have an unplanned pregnancy. According to the final number crunches: Women who were single and obese were 4 times more likely to have an unplanned pregnancy than their single healthy weight counterparts (weight class was determined by BMI). Obese women were also 70% less likely to go on the pill, and were 8 times more likely to use less effective forms of birth control (like withdrawal). They were also less likely to seek out information about birth control. Men who were obese and under 30 were more likely to have contracted an STI than less hefty men.
Now, I don't think anyone is suggesting that somehow gaining some extra weight suddenly makes you allergic to latex or turns birth control pills toxic. Now, there has not been a scientific study to follow this up yet that looks at the cognitive and social processes that contribute to lower rates of contraception, but I can probably hazard a few guesses.
One theory is that it could be related to self-esteem and self-respect. I remember hearing stories from gay men talking about how they didn't use condoms during the 80s, even during the AIDS crisis (which is still on-going I might add) because they felt self-loathing and shame. Using a condom in order to help protect your health and your life means that you want to live, see the future, and that you are someone worth protecting. Now, I'm not saying that obese men or women have a death wish, but I think that if you lack self-respect because society tells you that you are not desirable, both as a sexual being and a person, then that can affect your self-esteem and protecting your body and your future may not be the highest priority for you.
One thing that the study found was that obese men and women were less likely to have had a sexual partner in the past year, and tended to have fewer sexual partners. If someone feels that their weight is a barrier to sexual activity with other people (whether this is true or not is definitely up for debate) then when they do get into a sexual situation with another person, they may feel less agency to bring up condoms. If there is a general belief out there that condoms are annoying, get in the way, ruin the mood, or that asking your partner to use a condom is somehow an insult or accusation, then someone who feels less sexual empowerment and agency may not bring up condom use out of fear.
Not to mention, birth control pills can get pricey and have some interesting side effects. Since obese women are statistically less likely to have regular sexual partners (many exceptions to the rule do exist), then these women may choose to not go on the pill. When they do get into a sexual situation, it could be a complete surprise to them, and they might not be prepared.
It was also found in the study that obese people were more likely to have obese partners, which can also create a doubling effect, where if the cognitive and social processes which are acting to prevent one person from enforcing contraception use are at play, then it's more likely that those same processes are also affecting the second partner. And, since obese men under 30 are more likely to have contracted an STI, this means that there is a slightly higher chance that an infected man could pass this onto obese women (who tend to not use condoms as much, and are more likely to engage in sexual activity with him).
Now, there is no empirical evidence to back up my theories (yet!), but I do encourage anyone to comment and volunteer their thoughts or theories.
Again, I want to stress that being obese is not necessarily indicative of having low self-esteem, no sex life, or not being loved. This was a study that was conducted with thousands of people in France. In statistics, especially in psychology research, the larger the sample size, the easier it is to pick up on more subtle differences in populations, since the outliers get muted, and you have a much clearer vision of the average. This is basically the "individual results may vary" fine print. Individuals are not the average, and to say that the average woman of a certain weight behaves a certain way is not a prediction of all women of that weight. It's a trend, an average, and just a statistic.
So what can we do with this? Well, we can start to understand that weight has more than just a physical affect on people's health. Weight puts people into social categories and parts of society, and these people are treated differently. If you are treated differently, it is reasonable to expect that you may behave differently. We need to understand that weight is not just a physical category, but a social one too, and both categories affect sexual health, including health behaviours such as condom and contraception use.
I would love to see more research done on self-esteem, self-respect, and how a person's self-image of being sexy or not contributes to contraception, especially condom use.
I have a ton more research where that come from: stay tuned!
In love and lust,
Lilith
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