Category Archives: body image

Women Want Emotionally Connected Sex. Why?

105464-103886Women want emotionally connected sex.

Not all women, all the time.

But University of Texas psychologists, Cindy Meston and David Buss interviewed over 1,000 women around the world for their book, Why Women Have Sex, and here’s what they found:

Both women and men have sex because they are physically attracted, for pleasure, because they are in love, or just because they’re horny… the list goes on. But most women want emotionally bonded sex.

Men prefer emotionally bonded sex, too, by the way. But women are less likely to want it any other way.

Why? Read the rest of this entry

Breast Buds and Growing Pains

What's happening to me?

What’s happening to me?

By Bo Bi

Growing breasts can be awkward.

When I first started developing I was nervous about other people seeing my “breast buds” and thinking they were weird. And I felt embarrassed because my nipples kind of showed beneath my undershirt in those early days before I got permission to buy a bra.

The solution? Develop terrible posture. When I hung out with boys I slumped my shoulders, hoping they wouldn’t notice.  Read the rest of this entry

Body Image: What Guys Don’t Get

Mila Kunis

Mila Kunis

Do you ever worry that you’re too fat, too thin, or that your breasts or derrière might be too big, too small, too droopy, too lopsided…?

Men are often surprised when they find out that their partners are worried about such things— “You’re beautiful!” they think. Read the rest of this entry

Sexy = Sexual?

Paris Hilton, "That's hot!"

Paris Hilton, “That’s hot!”

When people talk about sexuality, they sometimes confuse looking sexy with being sexual.

At least when it comes to women.

You see a sexy woman and assume that she is sexual. When you don’t know anything about how she actually enjoys her experience in bed. Maybe she is just looking hot but not feeling hot. Read the rest of this entry

Fetishes are Natural – Unless Desensitized?

Paul Gauguin, Two Tahitian Women

Paul Gauguin, Two Tahitian Women

I get a lot of feedback on a piece I wrote called, “Men Aren’t Hard Wired To Find Breasts Arousing.”

There, I note that you don’t find the breast fetish in every culture. For instance, you don’t find it in tribal societies. So it can’t be biological.

Several men have suggested that the fetish is natural, but when you see it all the time men simply become desensitized. Like this guy: Read the rest of this entry

Cindy Crawford Makes Me Feel Inadequate

Cindy CrawfordI recently asked my students to write down their thoughts on a nude-ish picture of Cindy Crawford to see if attitudes had changed since sociologist, Beth Eck, studied reactions more than a decade ago.

Dr. Eck found that these images made women feel bad about their own bodies.

Do they still? Read the rest of this entry

Women React to Sexy Cindy Crawford

Cindy Crawford on Rolling Stone cover

Cindy Crawford on Rolling Stone cover

Want to know how women and men experience skin-revealing images of men and women?

I recently asked my students to write down what thoughts came to mind when looking at nearly-nude pictures of Cindy Crawford and Sly Stallone.

My participants included 35 straight women and 19 straight men, from three different women’s studies classes that met during the 2014-15 school year. I surveyed them on the second or third day of class.

First, let’s look at how women experienced Cindy. Read the rest of this entry

Girls Bullying Girls Who Are “Too Pretty”

Lady Gaga says bullying is for losers

Lady Gaga says Bullying is for losers

I’m told I’m good-looking, but I think I’m more average. But that could be a remnant of how often I was bullied in middle and high school.

That’s from a woman who commented on my blog.

But being bullied doesn’t mean you aren’t attractive.

Plenty of women are bullied because they’re “too pretty.” Read the rest of this entry

Casual Sex Distresses Women?

The double standard

The double standard

Women who do casual sex are, on average, more distressed than other women.

Men who do casual sex are, on average, more confident than other men.

That’s what sociologists, Mark Regnerus and Jeremy Uecker, found as they researched their book, Premarital Sex in America.

That means the double standard is neither good nor bad. It just is. They say. Read the rest of this entry

Loose Women Don’t Wear Corsets

The corset

The corset

Plenty of women’s fashions restrict them — intended or not — whether we’re talking girdles, spiked heels, bound feet, or wearing curlers to bed (who can sleep?!)

And how about that corset?

This ubiquitous pre-20th-century garment was so tightly laced that organs could be pushed around. And they promoted lung disease. Those things were not comfy!

Despite the health risks, some 19th century doctors believed that women’s bodies were too weak to hold themselves up, so they needed the contraption. (Scientists of the time also thought that education shrunk a woman’s womb!) Read the rest of this entry