Heavy black women are more confident with their bodies than thin white women, a new study has found. A nationwide survey by the Washington Post and the Kaiser Family Foundation interviewed more than 800 women across America and found that 66 percent of overweight or obese black women had high self esteem compared to 41 percent of average-sized or thin white women!
Surprisingly, black women are more concerned than white women with looking good: 28% said being physically attractive is ‘very important’, compared to just 11% of white women.
The study also found that although black women are happier with their bodies, they also have higher rates of diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and other weight-related problems. Two thirds reported eating fast food at least once a week, although 90 percent of them rated living a healthy lifestyle as more important than religion, career and marriage.
The study suggests that “looking good” and being physically attractive means different things to white and black women. Black women in the study generally said they aren’t trying to look like super-thin models; they look to stars like Queen Latifah and Jennifer Hudson for inspiration.
So what’s better? Being at a healthy weight or being confident and happy with your body? Or is this not even a fair representation of women in the United States?
