Defying stereotypes about overweight women and sexuality, a new study has revealed that obese women actually report more sexual encounters with men than normal-weight women.

The award-winning study, which was released in the September issue of Obstetrics and Gynecology, was led by Bliss Kaneshiro of University of Hawaii, but also included work by Prof. Marie Harvey of Oregon State University.

Harvey said the study will help health practitioners overcome stereotypes about sexual activity and body type and will hopefully lead to a lowering of unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections in overweight women, whom clinicians and doctors may falsely assume are not as sexually active as their thinner counterparts.

“As weight demographics in our country continue to increase, we’re thinking about disease prevention and wondering how weight affects sexual behavior,” Harvey said.

Kaneshiro was the lead author and used the work for her Masters of Public Health thesis. Harvey was brought in for her expertise on sexuality and reproduction issues.

The study used existing data gathered by the National Survey of Family Growth, and focused on heterosexual, penetrative sexual encounters that could potentially lead to pregnancies or disease transmission. Nearly 8,000 women were involved in the survey.

Harvey admitted that she had preconceived notions about women’s weight negatively affecting their sexual encounters, in part based on previous studies which suggested obese women were more impaired in sexual function and quality.

However, the new data clearly revealed that larger body mass does not lower sexual activity. Data revealed that 92 percent of overweight women reported having intercourse with men, while 87 percent of women with normal body mass said the same.

“It goes to the need to approach every woman as you provide prevention programs and services,” Harvey said, “to understand that all women are potentially sexually active.”

Because the study was based on pre-existing numbers, there were some limitations to the amount and type of data the researchers could use. Harvey would like to see a follow-up study that questioned women more closely about the quality and satisfaction levels of their sexual experiences.

“These are very objective measures,” she said of the current data. “It probably begs for more qualitative studies … to better understand the quality of relationships.”

This could also help determine whether women were engaging in protective behaviors during their sexual encounters, and could lead to further data that could be used to lower sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancy.