Are Birth Control Pills Inadvertently Contributing To Male Obesity?

It’s a little known fact, but birth control pills have an effect on what women find to be attractive. This study found that women who discontinued birth control after getting married had a statistically significant decline in marriage satisfaction if their husband had a less attractive face, while the women who continued taking birth control had no such decline, and the women with classically handsome husbands also had no such decline.

This Scientific American article notes that birth control can also effect attraction in other ways, stating:

Women who start or stop taking the pill, then, may be in for some relationship problems. A study published last year in Psychological Science found that women paired with MHC-similar [major histocompatibility complex] men are less sexually satisfied and more likely to cheat on their partners than women paired with MHC-dissimilar men. So a woman on the pill, for example, might be more likely to start dating a MHC-similar man, but he could ultimately leave her less sexually satisfied. Then if she goes off the pill during the relationship, the accompanying hormonal changes will draw her even more strongly toward more MHC-dissimilar men. These immune genes may have a “powerful effect in terms of how well relationships are cemented,” says University of Liverpool psychologist Craig Roberts, co-author of the August paper.

This Yale article covers the same topic in slightly more detail. The conclusion being that masculine features are moved down the priority list in terms of female attraction for women who are on the pill. The Yale article states that:

Shockingly, these studies also found that hormonal birth control seems to throw off the biochemical basis of attraction. In the facial preference study, experimental subjects no longer showed the cyclic variation in preference for faces with more masculine or feminine features when they were using hormonal contraception. More dramatically, in the MHC T-shirt study, women on hormonal contraception no longer preferred the more MHC dissimilar males; conversely, they preferred men with MHC more similar to their own. Scientists speculate that this shift is due to the preference of pregnant women to be around kin, who are more likely to assist them, and similarity of MHC could indicate kinship. However, in terms of mating, the offspring of two individuals with highly similar MHC are expected to have weaker immune systems. Finally, in the study of estrus in lap dancers, the women using hormonal contraception showed no estrus earnings peak, suggesting that hormonal contraception shuts down the body’s natural estrus signaling. It would seem from these findings that hormonal contraception is stopping and sometimes even reversing our natural tendencies in sexual attraction.

Might this explain why women seem to value looks about half as much as men do? As a classically good looking guy myself, I feel like I’m getting shafted in this deal!

All jokes aside, this dramatic change in sexual attraction preferences among females on the pill can’t be good for the evolution of humanity. From the stripper estrus study (what a great study!) I also get the impression that the pill makes women far less flirtatious than they otherwise would be. The researchers found that, “professional lap dancers earned significantly more in tips when they were most fertile, with an average of $185 per night during menstruation, $260 during the luteal phase, and $335 during estrus.” – that’s a huge difference! Double the money! Yet there was no such difference for the strippers on the pill.

What would a female stripper have to do in order to make double the money without changing her looks at all? That must take a HUGE change in personality! It sounds like men are getting double shafted here. The good looking guys miss out on the advantage of having good looks, and all the guys miss out on having highly flirtatious females come on to them.

I also have to wonder if the pill might be a secondary contributing cause of the obesity epidemic. If men can get away with being fat, yet still pull down the hotties, it disincentivizes men to trim their waistlines. Take a look at the gay community to see a dramatic example of this. There’s a reason why obesity is far less prevalent among the gay male population, as opposed to the gay female population. Trim fit gay guys generally don’t party with fat gay men, while on the other-hand, gay females seem to care far less about how their partners look.

I also wonder if the pill also causes women to value their waistlines less than they otherwise would. Since we know the pill causes women to devalue men’s looks, it might also cause women to devalue their own looks as well. I’m not saying the pill directly causes obesity, just that if women barely value masculine features in men, it stands to reason they might fail to recognize just how important feminine looks are to the guys, thereby making less of an effort to keep their appearance up. If a person doesn’t value looks in others, why should they value how they look themselves?

FYI ladies, according to this research, men around the world prefer females with a BMI just slightly above anorexic status. If you get so skinny that you look sick, you’ve gone too far. Aim for a BMI of 19 and you’re doing good. Obviously this doesn’t apply to all men, just the majority. As for the guys, you should be fine at a BMI of around 24.

I think they are really reaching far for answers here. Most birth control is estrogen and progestin. A simpler explanation is they stopped taking birth control and a change in hormones is to blame.

a reply to: drewlander

It doesn't sound like you're disagreeing with the studies at all. The studies all say that the change in hormones is what is responsible for the change in female attraction preferences. The pill is a hormone therapy that tricks the female body into thinking it is already pregnant.

a reply to: AnarchoCapitalist


One of the reasons I would never consider the birth control pill or the patch that stops your period entirely is the risk of long term effects.

I'd always wondered what effects tricking the body like that, could do to the body.
Our hormones are complex and really not totally understood, IMHO.
They interact with the brain...and I'm mot even sure science know how much they DON'T know about it....let alone all the hormone-related messages.

Great topic, AC!!!!!!

OP, interesting thread and I think there is some truth to what you're saying. But I don't think you're taking into account the biological cues we are all subject to. For example, women's facial preferences change when they are ovulating vs mentruating-- they prefer more masculine-looking men while ovulating but more of a pretty boy at all other times.

www.medicalnewstoday.com...

And men are more attracted to ovulating women (hence the results of stripper study). Interesting that the pill negates the woman's natural draw, though.

originally posted by: AnarchoCapitalist
It’s a little known fact, but birth control pills have an effect on what women find to be attractive. This study found that women who discontinued birth control after getting married had a statistically significant decline in marriage satisfaction if their husband had a less attractive face, while the women who continued taking birth control had no such decline, and the women with classically handsome husbands also had no such decline.

Women can only discontinue contraption while in child bearing mode... so

never for long periods of time. You are stating 'a less attractive face' that

does not necessarily equate with being obese? Not all women are attracted

to 'classically handsome' either.

Women who start or stop taking the pill, then, may be in for some relationship problems. A study published last year in Psychological Science found that women paired with MHC-similar [major histocompatibility complex] men are less sexually satisfied and more likely to cheat on their partners than women paired with MHC-dissimilar men. So a woman on the pill, for example, might be more likely to start dating a MHC-similar man, but he could ultimately leave her less sexually satisfied. Then if she goes off the pill during the relationship, the accompanying hormonal changes will draw her even more strongly toward more MHC-dissimilar men. These immune genes may have a “powerful effect in terms of how well relationships are cemented,” says University of Liverpool psychologist Craig Roberts, co-author of the August paper.

This Yale article covers the same topic in slightly more detail. The conclusion being that masculine features are moved down the priority list in terms of female attraction for women who are on the pill. The Yale article states that:

Shockingly, these studies also found that hormonal birth control seems to throw off the biochemical basis of attraction. In the facial preference study, experimental subjects no longer showed the cyclic variation in preference for faces with more masculine or feminine features when they were using hormonal contraception. More dramatically, in the MHC T-shirt study, women on hormonal contraception no longer preferred the more MHC dissimilar males; conversely, they preferred men with MHC more similar to their own. Scientists speculate that this shift is due to the preference of pregnant women to be around kin, who are more likely to assist them, and similarity of MHC could indicate kinship. However, in terms of mating, the offspring of two individuals with highly similar MHC are expected to have weaker immune systems. Finally, in the study of estrus in lap dancers, the women using hormonal contraception showed no estrus earnings peak, suggesting that hormonal contraception shuts down the body’s natural estrus signaling. It would seem from these findings that hormonal contraception is stopping and sometimes even reversing our natural tendencies in sexual attraction.

Might this explain why women seem to value looks about half as much as men do? As a classically good looking guy myself, I feel like I’m getting shafted in this deal!

LOL!! was that pun meant?

Speaking as a woman ... *Fresh and clean* counts for a lot ... sometimes

some men get lazy in the hygiene stakes, and in being caring

outside of the bedroom?

I'm still waiting on the weight gain, obesity part of your post .....

All jokes aside, this dramatic change in sexual attraction preferences among females on the pill can’t be good for the evolution of humanity. From the stripper estrus study I also get the impression that the pill makes women far less flirtatious than they otherwise would be. The researchers found that, “professional lap dancers earned significantly more in tips when they were most fertile, with an average of $185 per night during menstruation, $260 during the luteal phase, and $335 during estrus.” – that’s a huge difference! Double the money! Yet there was no such difference for the strippers on the pill

This is their job/career .... they are earning money, not looking for a life

partner. I should imagine it could be quite boring. One thing is they can't

deliberately turn on their 'fertility' to increase their earnings or please

the punters!

What would a female stripper have to do in order to make double the money without changing her looks at all? That must take a HUGE change in personality! It sounds like men are getting double shafted here. The good looking guys miss out on the advantage of having good looks, and all the guys miss out on having highly flirtatious females come on to them.

Could it be that the 'good looking guys' miss out because they believe their

looks are sufficient and they have no need to put themselves out?

I also have to wonder if the pill might be a secondary contributing cause of the obesity epidemic. If men can get away with being fat, yet still pull down the hotties, it disincentivizes men to trim their waistlines. Take a look at the gay community to see a dramatic example of this. There’s a reason why obesity is far less prevalent among the gay male population, as opposed to the gay female population. Trim fit gay guys generally don’t party with fat gay men, while on the other-hand, gay females seem to care far less about how their partners look.

I have seen fat gay men .... they usually are partnered together,

Its a known fact that people go for similarities to themselves

whether gay or hetrosexual.

I also wonder if the pill also causes women to value their waistlines less than they otherwise would. I’m not saying the pill directly causes obesity, just that if women barely value masculine features in men, it stands to reason they might fail to recognize just how important feminine looks are to the guys, thereby making less of an effort to keep their appearance up. If a person doesn’t value looks in others, why should they value how they look themselves?

The pill and maturity does bloom a woman .... However they have

more choice than pre 1960's woman, who were nearly constantly

pregnant. So the choice is a few extra pounds or a few

extra babies?

FYI ladies, according to this research, men around the world prefer females with a BMI just slightly above anorexic status. If you get so skinny that you look sick, you’ve gone too far. Aim for a BMI of 19 and you’re doing good. Obviously this doesn’t apply to all men,just the majority. As for the guys, you should be fine at a BMI of around 24.

I'm sure all this information is going to be very handy to the women

who cant wait to please you. Obesity is caused

by eating more than your body requires...Some one once said *There

were no fat people in Belson*

a reply to: AnarchoCapitalist


so does this mean that men and women are not pairing correctly due to birth control? As men would be seeking a disimilar MHC while the women would be seeking similar MHC if they are on birth control?

As for men and weight, there is a variety of factors. Excess estrogen and estrogen like compounds in the modern environment have not been great for men. Testosterone levels in american males have dropped 17% between 1987 and 2004. Likely even farther today as that was 10 years ago.

a reply to: jellyrev

Yeah, this is definitely not the only factor, it's just my hypothesis that it may be a contributing factor.

One of the interesting studies I looked at showed the number of people who actively tried control their weight through dieting now vs. 1960. In 1960, about 90% of the people surveyed said they had dieted to control their weight within the past year, as opposed to now which turned up like 57% if I recall correctly.

This prompted me to look into factors that might contribute to people not bothering to even try and control their weight any more. It's almost as if people have completely thrown in the towel. Obviously obesity rates were far lower during the 1960s.

I'm a firm believer that added fat and animal products are the primary cause of the obesity epidemic, followed closely by increased refined carbohydrate consumption. People are eating more calories than they used to, and they are consuming more "bad" foods than they used to.

Per gram of weight, fat has twice the calories of carbs or protein, and animal products have obesity inducing effects. Refined carbs again have far higher caloric densities than unrefined carbs, with a 100 grams of oatmeal containing 68 calories vs. 256 for white bread.

a reply to: AnarchoCapitalist

In my limited research the obesity ballooned when fat was blamed for all the ills in society. So the companies replaced the fat with HF corn syrup, which made the problem much worse.

originally posted by: jellyrev
a reply to: AnarchoCapitalist

In my limited research the obesity ballooned when fat was blamed for all the ills in society. So the companies replaced the fat with HF corn syrup, which made the problem much worse.

Yeah that's the myth that's being pushed right now. The fact of the matter is that total calories increased as a whole. Fat intake increased, as did carbohydrate intake. As a percentage of diet fat decreased, but that doesn't tell you the whole story.

The bottom line is that there's no getting around the laws of physics. When energy in is greater than energy out, you get fat. That's the bottom line.

Given that the laws of physics don't care if you're eating carbs or fat to get your calories, what matters is energy density. As I explained, 100 grams of oatmeal only has 68 calories, compared to 256 for the same weight of white bread. Oats are obviously unrefined. By refining carbs, you end up concentrating the calories.

Fat on the other hand is obnoxiously high in calories. 100 grams of olive oil contains 884 calories. You'll feel just as full eating 100 grams of oatmeal as you will eating 100 grams of olive oil, but the oatmeal isn't going to make you fat. Fats and refined carbs are definitely at the root of the obesity problem.

If you cut out all high fat food and refined carbs from your diet, chances are high that you will lose weight, because that only leaves vegetables and unrefined grains left to eat.

Try getting fat on a diet of nothing but broccoli - it ain't gonna happen.

Women always have been attracted to masculine males. It's in their genetic makeup.

Should surprise no one they resort back to their true genetic desires once off Big Pharma medication.

originally posted by: AnarchoCapitalist
FYI ladies, according to this research, men around the world prefer females with a BMI just slightly above anorexic status. If you get so skinny that you look sick, you’ve gone too far. Aim for a BMI of 19 and you’re doing good. Obviously this doesn’t apply to all men, just the majority. As for the guys, you should be fine at a BMI of around 24.

LOL Who are you to tell women what size or shape they should have? Screw that.

Hey ladies, love yourself for who you are, regardless of your complexion, height, size, or shape. Because regardless of the fake "proof" presented above, there will always be someone out there who will love you just as you are. Confidence and a good heart will make a woman far more attractive, especially if you're trying to attract someone who'll love you and not just your bodyparts.

Oh yeah, and lol at blaming women for male obesity. Maybe if those guys would exercise, eat healthy, and take care of themselves, it wouldn't be an issue. If anything, we should be applauding women for not being shallow and rejecting their newly obese male partners. Because a lot of those same guys might leave or cheat on those women if they gained even a portion of that additional weight, as your last paragraph implied.

a reply to: AnarchoCapitalist

I have a very symetrical face.... I am about 5'10" 160 lbs I can run a half marathon and still go to work...exceptionally fit for 30 in this day and age... . I'll say my looks are classical as well.. Medium brown hair, green eyes, endless battle to tame the facial hair.

I have had zero problems finding and keeping a mate in my 30 years... I have dated women on and women who choose not to use hormonal birth control. I have not had an issue with either, in terms of satisfaction for myself or them in a relationship. Both me and my mates are always vocal, we communicate regularly about all things.

I sincerely doubt birth control is the problem for many men... I could pull up pictures of cars, #ty foods, alcohol, gambling, women(big or skinny), statements of grand lies, statements of blatant honesty.... I bet each of these holds more merit than Birth control to the failure of a relationship long term, or 20 minutes in length....

I was intrigued, then disappointed..

Clink, clink...

-Aesh

originally posted by: enlightenedservant
LOL Who are you to tell women what size or shape they should have? Screw that.

I'm just reporting what a scientific study of 1,327 men and women, recruited from 10 countries, had to say about what they found the most attractive female BMI to be. If women want to maximize their attractiveness, which in our society directly correlates to earning potential, that's the BMI they should be aiming for. All men and women, from all countries, reported the same attraction scores. All of them said they found women with a BMI of 19 to be the most attractive.

To see just how important looking good is for women, check out the stats from Payscale:

www.payscale.com...

If I was a woman, I would do everything within my power to cut my weight. The benefits of a low BMI for women go way beyond simply having your pick of men to chose from.

Hey ladies, love yourself for who you are, regardless of your complexion, height, size, or shape. Because regardless of the fake "proof" presented above, there will always be someone out there who will love you just as you are. Confidence and a good heart will make a woman far more attractive, especially if you're trying to attract someone who'll love you and not just your bodyparts.

If women truly loved themselves, they would do everything in their power to maintain a healthy BMI, which not only increases their earning potential, and their ability to find a quality mate, but is also directly correlated to health outcomes and happiness. Anyone who is overweight is outwardly showing that they do not value their own health and well being.

Oh yeah, and lol at blaming women for male obesity. Maybe if those guys would exercise, eat healthy, and take care of themselves, it wouldn't be an issue. If anything, we should be applauding women for not being shallow and rejecting their newly obese male partners. Because a lot of those same guys might leave or cheat on those women if they gained even a portion of that additional weight, as your last paragraph implied.

I'm not blaming women for male obesity, I'm suggesting that the pill may cause women to make relationship choices that do not maximize their happiness or the future genetics of their offspring. That's what the science says. I'm hypothesizing that the unintended consequence of these choices, caused by the pill, may impact male obesity levels as a side-effect.

a reply to: Aeshma

I think you're interpreting my post wrong. The question is, if you were 50 lbs overweight, could you still pull down the hotties?

If the answer to that question is yes, then you've proven my point.

I think game trumps looks every time, and I'm not so sure that's necessarily a good thing.

Are Birth Control Pills Inadvertently Contributing To Male Obesity?

With all due respect, if they are making you fat, you should not eat that many. One a day will do,

originally posted by: AnarchoCapitalist

I'm just reporting what a scientific study of 1,327 men and women, recruited from 10 countries, had to say about what they found the most attractive female BMI to be. If women want to maximize their attractiveness, which in our society directly correlates to earning potential, that's the BMI they should be aiming for. All men and women, from all countries, reported the same attraction scores. All of them said they found women with a BMI of 19 to be the most attractive.

Some research that! 1,327 men and women! from 10 countries!!

That's 132 people per country? what % point of the population does

that represent?

Have you never heard that *BEAUTY IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER*


As for attractiveness correlating to earning potential? It might get them

a rich husband..... but being plain or even ugly doesn't effect their brain

power.

I'm not blaming women for male obesity, I'm suggesting that the pill may cause women to make relationship choices that do not maximize their happiness or the future genetics of their offspring. That's what the science says. I'm hypothesizing that the unintended consequence of these choices, caused by the pill, may impact male obesity levels as a side-effect.

You. my friend vastly underestimate women.

"gay females seem to care far less about how their partners look"

So you just disproved your whole post with this one sentence.

It stands to reason that Gay Females arent likely to take birth control. They can't get pregnant though their sexual activity.

originally posted by: DanDanDat
"gay females seem to care far less about how their partners look"

So you just disproved your whole post with this one sentence.

It stands to reason that Gay Females arent likely to take birth control. They can't get pregnant though their sexual activity.

That doesn't disprove my theory. The studies dealing with looks, scent and earnings were all done with straight women. Lesbians obviously have different attraction mechanisms to begin with, so comparing the two is like comparing apples and oranges. All that means is my hypothesis isn't applicable to lesbians.

Plus, we don't know how many lesbians may be on birth control. Women use birth control for a variety of reasons. It can help control acne and eliminate their periods, besides preventing pregnancy.

Well hey thanks for the self-esteem boost. I'm at a BMI of 23.6

Too bad my version of autistic kinda strips me of any chance to get with anyone let alone reproduce.

But it also strips me of any desire for such things either so it's whatever lol