The Relationships of Body Image, Feminism and Sexual Orientation in College Women

Abstract

In this study, 409 undergraduate women completed surveys about their own body image, feminism and sexual orientation as well as their attitudes about others, that is, attitudes about weight in others, attitudes about feminism and attitudes about lesbians and gay men. There was a significant relationship between the three external measures of fat attitudes, attitudes towards feminism and attitudes towards lesbians and gay men, and it is argued that each of these three variables reflects some degree of political liberalism. We also found that the relationship between own identity and attitudes towards others was significant for feminism and sexual orientation, but non-significant for own body image and attitudes about fatness in others. Thus, the results of this study imply that fat people as a group have still not formed the kind of political or social cohesiveness that has been so advantageous to other oppressed groups, such as women or gay men and lesbians.