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Body Image Satisfaction in Heterosexual, Gay, and Lesbian Adults

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Abstract

Does the prevalence and degree of body dissatisfaction differ among heterosexual and homosexual men and women? Some theorists have suggested that, compared to their heterosexual peers, gay men are at greater risk for body dissatisfaction and lesbians at lower risk. Past studies examining this issue have generally relied on small samples recruited from gay or lesbian groups. Further, these studies have sometimes produced conflicting results, particularly for comparisons of lesbian and heterosexual women. In the present research, we compared body satisfaction and comfort with one’s body during sexual activity among lesbian women, gay men, heterosexual women, and heterosexual men through two large online studies (Ns = 2,512 and 54,865). Compared to all other groups, heterosexual men reported more positive evaluations of their appearance, less preoccupation with their weight, more positive effects of their body image on their quality of life and the quality of their sex life, more comfort wearing a swimsuit in public, and greater willingness to reveal aspects of their body to their partner during sexual activity. Few significant differences were found among gay men, lesbian women, and heterosexual women. Many gay men (42%) reported that their feelings about their body had negative effects on the quality of their sex life, as did some lesbian women (27%), heterosexual women (30%), and heterosexual men (22%). Overall, the findings supported the hypothesis that gay men are at greater risk than heterosexual men for experiencing body dissatisfaction. There was little evidence that lesbian women experience greater body satisfaction than heterosexual women.

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Notes

  1. In these ANOVAs, the df for all main effects and interactions were 1, 2508. The main effects of gender were: Appearance evaluation, F = 2.1, ns; Overweight preoccupation, F = 49.5, p < .001; Body image quality of life, F = 1.2, ns. The main effects of sexual orientation were: Appearance evaluation, F = 2.0, ns; Overweight preoccupation, F < 1; Body image quality of life, F = 10.6, p < .001. The interactions were: Appearance evaluation, F = 6.3, p = .012; Overweight preoccupation, F = 25.9, p < .001; Body image quality of life, F = 8.8, p = .003.

  2. Although the primary focus of Study 1 was on group differences in body dissatisfaction, readers may be interested in the intercorrelations among the measures for all four groups (heterosexual and homosexual men and women). Individuals with higher BMIs reported lower appearance evaluation (rs = −.38 to −.51), more overweight preoccupation (rs = .19 to .33), and more negative impact of body image on quality of life (rs = −.27 to −.40) and quality of sex life (rs = −.19 to −.30). Participants with higher appearance evaluation scores reported more positive impact of body image on overall quality of life and quality of sex life (rs = .59 to .68) and less overweight preoccupation (rs = −.40 to −.57). Participants with more overweight preoccupation reported more negative impact of body image on overall quality of life and quality of sex life (rs = −.15 to −.44). All correlations were significant at the p < .05 level except for the association between BMI and quality of sex life for gay men (r = −.19, n.s.).

  3. Analyses reported in Frederick, Peplau, and Lever (2006) did not adjust mean scores for age or BMI.

  4. In Study 2, we first conducted 2 (male vs. female) x 2 (heterosexual vs. homosexual) ANOVAs with age and BMI as covariates to compare the groups on self-rated attractiveness and comfort in a swimsuit. All main effects and interactions were significant at p < .001 (Fs = 23.0–543.6), and post-hoc (LSD) comparisons were conducted to compare the cell means. Next, we conducted 2 (male vs. female) × 2 (heterosexual vs. homosexual) × 4 (underweight, healthy weight, overweight, obese) ANOVAs to examine the possible moderating role that BMI has on gender and sexual orientation differences in self-rated attractiveness and comfort in a swimsuit. Age was included as a covariate. In the analyses of self-rated attractiveness, all main effects and interactions were significant at p < .001 (Fs = 19.5–675.5) except for the main effect of sexual orientation (F = 3.9, p = .049), the interaction of sexual orientation and BMI (F = 3.2, p = .022), and the three-way interaction among gender, sexual orientation, and BMI (F = 2.5, p = .056). For comfort in a swimsuit, all main effects and interactions were significant at p < .001 (Fs = 12.2–336), except for the interaction of sexual orientation and BMI (F = 1.7, ns), and the three-way interaction among gender, sexual orientation, and BMI (F = 3.0, p = .028). Post-hoc tests (LSD) were conducted to compare individual cells.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Elle magazine for access to the data from the ELLE/msnbc.com Sex and Body Image Survey and Carol Edwards, who helped to create the database. We gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided to David Frederick by the UCLA Graduate Division; the Center for Culture, Brain, and Development; the Departments of Psychology and Communication Studies; and National Institute of Health Grant No. 1F31MH072384-01. Thanks to Courtney Borden, Youssef Boroumand, Beth Daniels, Brenda Duarte, Yael Filossof, Adam Fingerhut, Andrew Galperin, Andrea Niles, Danny Osborne, Taylor Rhoades, Kelly Turner, and Proud Usahacharoenporn for helpful comments on earlier drafts of this article. We are also grateful for the helpful comments by anonymous reviewers for this journal.

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  1. Department of Psychology, University of California, 4441 Franz Hall, Los Angeles, CA, 90095-1563, USA

    Letitia Anne Peplau, David A. Frederick, Curtis Yee, Natalya Maisel & Negin Ghavami

  2. Department of Sociology, California State University, Los Angeles, CA, 90032, USA

    Janet Lever

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  1. Letitia Anne Peplau
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  2. David A. Frederick
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  3. Curtis Yee
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  4. Natalya Maisel
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Correspondence to Letitia Anne Peplau.

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Peplau, L.A., Frederick, D.A., Yee, C. et al. Body Image Satisfaction in Heterosexual, Gay, and Lesbian Adults. Arch Sex Behav 38, 713–725 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-008-9378-1

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