“It’s a Comparison Thing, Isn’t It?”

Abstract

Women's feelings about their body and their appearance are an important aspect of their lives, yet little is known about the ways in which partner relationships shape these feelings. There has been some debate about whether or not samesex relationships offer protection to nonheterosexual (lesbian and bisexual) women from potentially harmful social appearance pressures, but there has been little empirical exploration of this issue. We contribute to the debate by presenting findings from a British qualitative study based on interviews with 15 nonheterosexual women talking about their feelings about their bodies and their appearance in the context of partner relationships. These accounts were analyzed using a phenomenologically oriented form of thematic analysis (TA) and seven main themes were generated. The women suggested that same-sex relationships were both positive and negative influences in shaping their feelings about their body and appearance, highlighting the complexity of this issue. However, positive descriptions of empathy toward body and appearance concerns as well as diversity within same-sex attractions suggest that same-sex relationships have the potential to encourage women to feel happier with their bodies. This analysis also suggests that the theoretical debate is too simplistic and that a synthesized explanation should be explored in future research.

Moving beyond the binary with disordered eating research: A test and extension of objectification theory with bisexual women.

“…Second, past studies have indicated that bisexual women worry about their appearance and conform to ideals of femininity (e.g., thinness) more in relationships with men than women (Huxley, Clarke, & Halliwell, 2011;Taub, 1999). Thus, bisexual women in relationships with women may have greater freedom in defming their own standards of attractiveness.…”

Gender, sexual orientation, and romantic partner influence on body image

“…However, there is relatively less research examining these issues among lesbian women and the research that is available provides conflicting information. In particular, there has been speculation that identification with lesbian culture may serve a protective function against body dissatisfaction (Huxley, Clarke, & Halliwell, 2011); however, findings examining lesbian women's vulnerability to body dissatisfaction (and related eating disorders) remain mixed. Peplau et al (2009) have reported few differences (d ¼ .07) between lesbian and heterosexual women's body dissatisfaction.…”

Body Image and Sexual Dissatisfaction: Differences Among Heterosexual, Bisexual, and Lesbian Women

“…Chmielewski and Yost (2013) found that bisexual women experience a tension between their resistance to adopt sexist ideals, characteristic of feminist women, and the assumption of the thin ideal of feminine beauty. Previous studies have reported that bisexual women worry about their body image and conform to the feminine ideal (e.g., thinness) more so in relationships with men, and may enjoy greater freedom in defining their own standards of attractiveness in same-sex relationships (Huxley et al, 2011). Research also suggests that bisexual women may have more body image issues than lesbian and heterosexual women (Boehmer et al, 2007; Polimeni et al, 2009); are more prone to developing eating disorders compared to lesbian women (Koh and Ross, 2006); and exhibit higher rates of unhealthy weight-control behaviors than heterosexual women (Polimeni et al, 2009).…”