weight

Dating site OkCupid created some shiny graphs last month based on its users' profiles and found that women who enjoy exercising have an easier time achieving orgasm. Now a study appearing in the Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy provides scientific evidence linking fitness with good sex. The study out of Duke University found obese women experience lower sexual satisfaction and a lower sexual quality of life overall.

Using a questionnaire to measure sexual interest, arousal, masturbation, and more, researchers found obesity impacts a woman's sexual satisfaction more than a man's, although both obese men and women have lower sexual quality of life over all. Obese women had lower sexual satisfaction scores than both cancer survivors and the general population, while obese men's satisfaction fell above cancer survivors and below the general population.

In fact, another study conducted last year found some extra weight can be a sexual advantage for men. It concluded the higher a man's body mass index, the longer he lasts in bed. Maybe size does matter.

• In her shoes: what's it like to be a plus-size model magazine editor — SavvySugar
• Why women date bad boys — The Frisky
• How to reach your relationship goals — YourTango
• In praise of older mothers — Huffington Post
• When you fight with your friends online — College Candy
• "Why doesn't my boyfriend pay for anything?" — Glamour
• Is it OK to ask parents about fertility issues? — LilSugar
• What guys think about jealous girls — GuySpeak
• Flickr photos: an ode to MLK — Flavorwire
• Today is the saddest day of the year — The Awl

This question comes from a Group Therapy post in our TrèsSugar Community. Add your advice in the comments!

I'm a new grad who has recently started working at a local bookstore. I absolutely love it there — my job is fantastic and my co-workers are wonderful. Lately though, one of my female co-workers has been making some comments about my weight that quite frankly make me feel awkward and uncomfortable. Whenever a customer asks me where the weight-loss section is, my co-worker will say something like, "Oh, don't send her over there; she might try to actually go on one of those diets;" the other day, when I bought a Snickers on my break, the woman said, "Oh, is that yours? Good. Buy five more of them, you're so darn skinny." Added to these incidents are the little remarks like, "Oh, where's [my name]? Look hard for her . . . if you turned her sideways, she'd completely disappear," as well as remarks about my 12+ years of vegetarianism and regular workouts.

I'm 5 foot 5 and weigh about 110 pounds, so I've never considered myself fat, but I don't think I'm so desperately skinny as to be warranting comments like this. I'm a vegetarian because I'm morally opposed to meat; I work out because I consider it part of a healthy lifestyle. I know this might sound like a case of "poor little thin girl," but I'm honestly really embarrassed by my co-worker's comments and feel really awkward and don't know how to react when she says something. My co-worker is somewhat plump and has a few health issues, so I don't know if she considers her words compliments, but either way, I'm tired of being told I'm too thin and am interested about different ways to handle these remarks.

Have a dilemma of your own? Post it, anonymously, to Group Therapy for advice, and check out what else is happening in the TrèsSugar Community.

This question comes from a Group Therapy post in our TrèsSugar Community. Add your advice in the comments!

Hi, I'm at a point where I just can't stand my weight. It's holding me back so much. It hurts my back. I hate clothes shopping because they don't make clothes for short fat women, unless it's a moo moo. I don't even want to attempt dating because I'm really self conscious about how I look, with and without clothes on. I've had boyfriends, but I've also had mean guys tell him how fat I am and that makes me not date worthy. It's very discouraging.

I have a huge tendency to overeat, eat junk food with a lot of fat and/or sugar, and I self sooth with food (I have a history of depression). I don't want to do this to myself anymore. I've tried stupid fad diets in the past and ofcourse they don't work. I want to Weight Watchers which seemed to help some. I lost 25 pounds last year but gained back 15 after some stressful life changes.

Does anyone have suggestions for how to get control of my eating habits? I'm stuck in a vicious cycle here and really want to get out of it.

Have a dilemma of your own? Post it, anonymously, to Group Therapy for advice, and check out what else is happening in the TrèsSugar Community.

Nature? Nurture? Mothers from hell? It's hard to say what exactly makes a person prone to misery, but we shouldn't have to wait until we're 54 to be happy. A new study found that genes account for only 50 percent of well-being, with external factors like work, weight, and love filling in the rest.

So what's the most effective way to sabotage happiness? Marry a neurotic person. People with neurotic partners were significantly less happy than those in emotionally stable couplings; however, they were not as unhappy as neurotic people themselves.

As a slightly neurotic person, I worry about this news.

A 24-year study set out to determine what makes a woman happy, and the results suggest that there's more pressure on women to be skinny than there is to find a mate.

The study concluded that being thin makes a woman happier than being in a relationship, while being obese makes a woman more discontent than being single.

The author Dr. Pam Spurr says extra pounds constantly weigh on a woman's mind. She told the Daily Mail: "Their weight is always on their minds. And not at the back of their minds but at the forefront, because we live in a society that is constantly evaluating shape, size and attractiveness." The silver lining: Dr. Spurr says the results mean living a single life has become more socially acceptable.

Last year, a 70-year study from Harvard also claimed to figure out what makes us happy. But the researcher behind that one determined our relationships are the only thing that matter in life. He said: "Happiness is love. Full stop." The Harvard study had one important difference: it only looked at men, implying perhaps that weight is not as important to their happiness. All more evidence that society's bias against obesity is actually a bias against obese women.