They don't have a variable that measures how attractive a person is, but they do record the interviewer's impression of the person's weight. For women, this is closely tied to attractiveness, thin women looking better than seacows. A priori, we expect the moo-moos to cheat more than the lithe-bodied due to having poorer impulse control when tempted. Sure enough, fat women treat dick as a fifth food group:
Now, this subjective rating of weight is based on the population average, and since they're all Americans, the categories are really: thin, fat, obese, and morbidly obese. There is a clear split between thin women and the various types of fat women, so I pooled all of the fatties together. Here is the contingency table for cheating by weight class:
_______ Cheat _ Not cheat _ Tot
Thin ___ 2 _____ 74 ______ 76
Fat ____ 104 ___ 663 _____ 767
Tot ____ 106 ___ 737 _____ 843
Obviously thin women are much less likely to cheat than fat women -- 2.6% vs. 13.6%, resp. A Fisher's Exact Test shows that if there were no difference in cheating between weight groups, the chance of finding a result at least as extreme as this one is p = 0.003.
Yet another reason for men not to settle!
GSS variables used: EVSTRAY, INTRWGHT, SEX
Might there be a class component here? Being overweight is a lower-class attribute, as is inattention to fidelity (or at least not having the decency to lie about or rationalize it).
ReplyDeleteAgree with Peter.
ReplyDeleteThe welfare class women are overweight and less respectful of monogamy.
That's an ignorant generalization. You should think things out before you say something.
DeleteObserved behavior: While in the Army, I used to see this situation where a fat white chick would bang her way through the black guys in the company.
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing it was because even though she was a fat slag, it was snatch.
Doesn't look like it has to do with income, education, or other social class variables.
ReplyDeletePattern looks the same when you separate women into classes, and anyway cheating doesn't look strongly related to class -- if anything, looks like the higher end of women cheat more. Probably no difference, though.
Cheating, lack of exercise and over-eating indicate high time preference (and low future orientation).
ReplyDeleteSo, I don't think it's too strange.
This makes perfect sense, because fat women are a lot more likely to be in relationships with low-status men. Since infidelity by women is an attempt to obtain higher-quality sperm and raise higher-quality children, a fat woman in a relationship with a low-status man has much to gain by seeking the sperm of a higher-quality man. Furthermore, if the low-status man dumps her as a result, she will not lose very much.
ReplyDeleteSkinny women are more likely to be attractive, and therefore more likely to be with high-status men. Because the woman is with a high-status man, she has less to gain by seeking sperm elsewhere (slightly higher-quality DNA?) and much more to lose if her mate dumps her. It makes much more sense to have a high-quality child and supporting husband, than to risk having no support while taking care of a slightly higher-quality child.
Since infidelity by women is an attempt to obtain higher-quality sperm and raise higher-quality children, a fat woman in a relationship with a low-status man has much to gain by seeking the sperm of a higher-quality man.
ReplyDeleteLike all the fat hos who go on the Maury Povich Show!
To a fat, unattractive person of low socio-economic status, and low IQ, "higher quality" means high testosterone. Could be King Kong with a Halloween mask.
ReplyDelete"Quality" is all relative.
And btw, lower socio-economic class does signal higher promiscuousness according to most studied. Definitely higher percentages of babies not belonging to the purported or legal father. Again, studies corroborate this.
Random humping aside, people tend to marry persons who are within 5 points of IQ. This is not intentional, obviously. It just happens.
Illegitimacy is not the same as promiscuity.
ReplyDeleteAnd no, the GSS does not back that up -- if you look at IQ, education, or income, cheating doesn't appear to increase as you move up the social class ladder.
there previous eons of lack of acknowledgment by men means they are far likely to seize any affirmation when they perchance find it.
ReplyDelete- Peter - infidelity actually Increases as lack of financial dependence and education levels increase. Though some of us with middle to upper class backgrounds would like to denigrate the lower classes as unfaithful, in fact the upper classes are far more likely to cheat as they are able to, people who are dependant upon one another due to poverty are less likely to cheat (women in particular as their earning potential is even lower at this end of the socioeconomic scale).
I linked this, because it rules, and I didn't feel like firing up R to do the histogram myself:
ReplyDeletehttp://lupoleboucher.livejournal.com/92762.html
I dont think fat women are more likely to commit extramarital affairs..coz the truth is fat women try to keep their relationshhips coz they find it hard to find a man who would truly love her..
ReplyDeleteare all of you crazy? or what? Overweight should not be the ones that have society pointing their fingers at them and saying that they cheat because they are overweight. I can tell most of you are guys! Get educated you morons!! Skinny chicks and medium average chicks cheat just as much as MEN DO!! Women on Welfare are on it because maybe they left their husband due domestic violence, or because he cheated on her.
ReplyDeleteEveryone cheats on everyone, so leave the fat lady out of it. I know some very pretty overweight women, and they are very smart and loyal to their boyfriends and/or husbands.
Goes to show that most of you are ignorant and just want to blame it all on fat women. Shame on you all!