It is not what you weigh, it is how you present it: body size, attractiveness, physical functioning, and access to partnership and sexuality for older men and women

Abstract

Physical attractiveness has been linked to better economic, dyadic, and health outcomes but is understudied. We focus here on the gendered implications of attractiveness for one component of social well-being, access to intimate partnership and sexuality, among older adults. In addition, we examine the role of body size, as measured and rated by an observer, in evaluating attractiveness and the diverging consequences for women and men. We use data from Rounds 1 (2005–2006) and 2 (2010–2011) of the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (N = 2,144) to explore the association of two measures of body size, weight relative to height (body mass index [BMI]) and interviewer assessments of body size, with sexual behavior that requires a partner and sexual behavior that does not. We find that at larger body sizes as reflected in both the BMI and rated body shape, women—but not men—face a lower probability of having a partner and engaging in partnered sex, and a lower frequency of vaginal intercourse and receiving sexual touch. These associations are mediated by physical functioning for the BMI and by attractiveness as rated by the interviewer for rated body shape. We also find that women—but not men—are more likely to report finding sex not pleasurable at a higher BMI, which partly operates through the mechanism of functional limitations. We suggest that these findings reflect different attractiveness standards for men and women, which reduce women’s access to partners and partnered sex but not solitary sex, such as masturbation.