http://www.thefrisky.com/post/246-ha...0:00Z?eref=RSS
Edited: it's a celeb-gossip-dating-chat site ... so for some people it might be NSFW. Sorry for not putting the warning earlier.

Interesting article that draws on a poll taken in the UK about how women rated their own happiness.

I also thought Nigella Lawson's quote about sex life was interesting.

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Eeek!

I don't know what "the frisky" is, but I clicked on it at work and it was blocked as "adult content." Just a heads up to others who are at work.

Photo, I assume you mean the above quote? I disagree with her. First of all, I am not on a diet. #2, my body is most certainly not the enemy. No, no, no, no, no.

And believe me, TMI warning, I am more than relaxed.

Oh whoops .... sorry. The Frisky is a celeb-gossip type blog site. It's got some "dating advice" content. I didn't think about it being NSFW.

So sorry!!!

Here's the link to the UK poll, which is SFW

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/ar...14-figure.html

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Robin ... but you just said it: You're not on a diet and you don't consider your body the enemy.

And what she said was if you're spend your life "on a diet" and you consider your body the enemy, how can you relax and enjoy sex.

So you kinda proved her point!

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Yes, interesting. I think it has truth to it, but is also oversimplified. Lots of overweight or obese women spend all their lives on a diet too.

Also:
That's not terribly exciting. The happiest group doesn't really sound amazingly happy.

It was only a poll, so they would have no way of knowing, but I wonder how honest people were about their sizes. People tend to lie even on a poll, because they're trying to lie to themselves.

I did wonder that as well.

But I think what I found positive about this poll is the idea that people who are in the middle rate happiest (even if it's not over the moon happy or whatever). I think that's a fairly positive message to send to young women. You don't have to be a size 2 or size 0 to be happy, and in fact if you're mid-range, you might be happier.

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But she kinda makes it sound that smaller sized women ARE on a diet and that we consider our body the enemy.

Hm. I guess I didn't get that. Maybe because I've watched her show and have all of her cookbooks and so I know her philosophy? I guess it's hard from a single soundbite quote.

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I think most skinner people feel like to be happy is to be skinny.
My best friend wont eat. Because her boy friend told her if she ever got as fat as her mom he'll leave her. so she wont eat, and she thinks just because she is skinny shes pretty. and now her younger sister who is bigger thinks the only way to be pretty is to be skinny.
and most of skinny people, try to get smaller in unhealthy way. I think thats what she was trying to say.

some people will disagree, which is how it will always be on every issue. Because Im a size 14, and not happy.

I'd say that I feel a lot more self conscious at a larger size than a smaller size. Hands down.

"Curvy" is a contentious word. What does she mean by that?

All I know is that all overweight - and many normal weight - women I know are not very happy with their bodies. Having said that, I don't know that many overweight women. I'm not overweight and I'm not happy either. Disliking my body has indeed had a negative influence on my life, in that Nigella has it right. Certainly my sex life has suffered, I don't even hang out with certain people because they make me feel so fat.

I'm not sure that these results aren't just a mathematical coincidence. I mean a size 12 is pretty "average." Maybe the further you get from "average" whatever "average" you're measuring, the less likely you are to be "reasonably content."

I think that the conclusions that were being drawn are far exceeding what the result of the poll really suggest (the typical misuse of data that is found in non-scientific media).

Even if size correlates, it doesn't tell you that to be happiest, one would need to be a size 12. A woman who wears a size 12 and has never dieted, may be very different from a woman who is a size 12 because she has gained or lost a lot of weight. Also, a woman who has worn a size 12 all of her life, may be very different from a woman who just happens to be a size 12 now, who yoyos in size.

I think the assumption that dieting is to blame for poor body image is an odd conclusion from the results. It may very well be true, but you wouldn't be able to conclude that from clothing size. It doesn't make sense to assume that most size 12's aren't dieting or haven't dieted.


I think that every person has a weight they are most comfortable physically and mentally, and that weight is going to be different for different people. I've been severely morbidly obese all of my adult life and most of my childhood. If I don't make it to a size 6, I'm not going to let that keep me from being happy.

I've known size 16 women who see themselves as gorgeous and super hot, and I've known size 4 women who see themselves as ugly and disgusting, and sometimes even fat. Body image often doesn't have anything to do with an objective reality.

But that's not what it says.

There's a difference between "to be happy you need to be a size 12" and "in a poll, more size 12 women said they were happy".

Also no assumption that dieting was to blame for poor body image was made. You're taking a quote from Nigella Lawson based on her opinion about women who are "always on a diet" and integrating it with the poll results, which isn't accurate.

The poll was a simple poll that asked women of various sizes how happy they were. The results found that of the women saying they were happy, the greatest number were size 12.

Period. That's all the poll says. I do agree with whoever said that since 12 is the average, it's going to make sense that a greater number of people in any group - happy, sad, blonde, green eyed, whatever - are also going to fall in that range.

I thought it was an interesting article, not that I agree with it entirely. But what I'm finding more interesting is the response here.

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I was just commenting that that's how many people (whether it's expressed or not) often do draw the conclusion that if size 12 women are statistically happier, then by becoming a size 12 I have a greater chance of becoming happy - when there's no indication at all that that would be true.

I do think that it probably simply is the mathematical effects of the "normal" or bell curve. Yes, if most women are a size 12, it also makes sense that most happy women are also a size 12.