The really ironic thing is, most of these responses are from America, which has major obesity issues. So being overweight in the US is pretty common, yet people still talk about trying to live up to some standard.
Far as the previous poster said of women being 'more accepting', all i ever hear from women is 'looks aren't important', though i know that attitude is not as prevalent among women as they would have you believe. So which is it, are women just being more tolerant, or do they not care? Contradicting statements there.
And stemming from that concept, i see that many of the responses here have turned to the 'women have to live up to a standard' concept. But women are so caught up that that they forget men also feel they have standards they can't reach either. Look at the male celebrities. Mostly these are not beer guts, but trim, often muscular, handsome men. They get makeup and air brushing as well. The only reason it may lean more towards women having to deal with this is that men are Naturally visual. This doesn't make us cretins or jerks. It is just the way we are designed. So obviously there's going to be a bigger visual push on a womans appearance.
But at the end of the day, man or woman, you have to realize and accept that if a person doesn't want you as you are, whether you're overweight or not, happens to everyone. Even the most famous and attractive people in the world don't have every person on the planet in agreement. We all just have preferences. Maybe some, both men and women, are more superficial and become overly focused on looks. If that's the case, what are you missing?
And i can, personally, agree with a previous poster, that stick figures often don't make the most attractive women. I saw a report on a study that said, on the average, a curvy woman of average height/build was considered most attractive, but it went on to say that men generally would rather take a larger curvy woman, than a thinner woman, as was exampled by Beyonce.
I've dated women of various sizes, from tiny and petite to overweight.
