Half of men would ditch woman who gained weight: poll

Sounds about right.... So glad I met and married my husband at my heaviest! Although he's a total chubby chaser he assures me that he'd love me even if I did get skinny.

My husband met me when I was a good 180lbs + and he has been VERY supportive of my weight loss. He is a sweetheart

In addition to relationship status being a factor in how you answer the question, I think there's also some "internet tough guy/millionnaire/supermodel" syndrome going on. It's easy to act like you'd leave your woman for gaining weight when the questioner is some random person taking a survey and you get to remain nameless and faceless. Entirely different thing if your woman asked you that question (or her friend or relative or someone who might report back to her).

But I think in general that is a very useless question. The circumstances surrounding the weight-gain matter

As for women, we all know women are more forgiving than men when it comes to looks, so I'll address the issue of being unemployed or not making very much money. Please note that these are just my opinions; I am not suggesting that all or even most women do or should feel the same way.

I believe work ethic tells you about 80% of what you need to know about a man. If he has a strong work ethic, he is most likely loyal, trustworthy, responsible, dependable, and is willing to make sacrifices for the people and things that are important to him. So yeah, I care whether or not a man is gainfully employed.

That said, I also realize that hard-working men do lose their jobs from time to time, so I would never leave a good man just because he got laid off. In fact, I would do whatever I could to pick up the slack and help in whatever way he needs. However, if he got laid off and took a lackadaisical approach to finding a new job, I'd think he wasn't serious about our future and his responsibility as a man to take care of his family, and I would have a real problem with that.

If it's just that he doesn't make much money, then all I care about is whether or not he's doing what he loves. If he's passionate about his work and he has chosen it because of that, then money isn't that big of a deal to me. I am well-educated, and I have a good job, and I am not at all opposed to working outside the home if that's what my family needs from me. But if he has had to settle for a low-paying crap job because he doesn't care enough to do what's necessary to get a better one, then I hardly think I'm the selfish one in that scenario.

My ex-boyfriend (of 6 years) proposed to me while he was unemployed and living with his parents. He had been out of college for a year and was not making any attempt at all to find work or his own place to live. Meanwhile, I was working 60 to 70 hour weeks and just beginning to climb the corporate ladder. I was truly insulted that he proposed to me under those circumstances because it was clear that marriage, to him, meant "Let's have a wedding and split the rent."

Again, circumstances matter.

Would half of women leave a man if gained weight?

I don't think that's the relevant comparison. Might be more relevant to ask: would half of women leave a man if he lost his job and became bankrupt?

I've seen polls that suggest 75% of women would not marry an unemployed man, so definitely there are both shallow men and women out there.

Women are not being shallow by not marrying a man if he is unemployed...

A. Women (or anyone for that matter) would not want to support someone who isnt contributing any type of money to the relationship.
B. Not all, but most women would like to have childern at some point, therefore, there has to be income from both parties
C. Either way, men or women, who would want to have to pay for everything all the time

I agree wioth most things on this post about women being more insucre therefore when they gain weight it does more to the relationship then just the physical part, but you cant sit here and say someone would want to support the other person 24/7

I think there is such a double standard with weight. Men could be 200 lbs over weight and its fine, but if a girl is so much 5 lbs over weight the whole world is against her. I think its totally unfair. You see it everywhere, how its easier to lose weight if your a guy, so why do we get so much pressure put on us?! I think its crazy. Sorry for my rant, but its just the way I feel (:

Would half of women leave a man if gained weight?

I don't think that's the relevant comparison. Might be more relevant to ask: would half of women leave a man if he lost his job and became bankrupt?

I've seen polls that suggest 75% of women would not marry an unemployed man, so definitely there are both shallow men and women out there.

Women are not being shallow by not marrying a man if he is unemployed...

A. Women (or anyone for that matter) would not want to support someone who isnt contributing any type of money to the relationship.
B. Not all, but most women would like to have childern at some point, therefore, there has to be income from both parties
C. Either way, men or women, who would want to have to pay for everything all the time

I agree wioth most things on this post about women being more insucre therefore when they gain weight it does more to the relationship then just the physical part, but you cant sit here and say someone would want to support the other person 24/7

In general, I think its just as easy to ascribe negative characteristics to an overweight woman (lazy, not taking pride in her appearance, unhealthy, not willing to please her man, etc) as it is to ascribe negative characteristics to an unemployed man (lazy, not willing to contribute to the household, etc.)

Such over-generalizations ring hollow to me (in both cases).

A. I think a man is much more willing to date/marry an unemployed woman and "support" her than vice versa. This asymmetry strikes me as evidence that this rationale is fairly shallow. Its like saying, a man (or anyone for that matter) would not want to be in a relationship with a fat person who wasn't contributing any aesthetic beauty for the man's pleasure.

B. Lots of couples with children live on one income. Just when it's the woman not working, its not judged in the same way as vice versa (another indication its a shallow rationale). Still stay-at-home-dads are pretty commonplace anyways.

C. This strikes me as the same as A.

I think there is such a double standard with weight. Men could be 200 lbs over weight and its fine, but if a girl is so much 5 lbs over weight the whole world is against her. I think its totally unfair. You see it everywhere, how its easier to lose weight if your a guy, so why do we get so much pressure put on us?! I think its crazy. Sorry for my rant, but its just the way I feel (:

It's easier to lose weight for a guy according to whom? Losing more weight =/= losing more body weight percentage.

IS IT IMPORTANT FOR A GIRLFRIEND TO HAVE "WIFE POTENTIAL"?
48% Somewhat, though I won't break up with her if I realize that she isn't a potential wife.

I also found this question interesting. Hubby and I had a long debate over this when discussing his brother and now ex-girlfriend. Apparently hubby's brother told him that he wasn't going to marry the current gf and when I inquired as to why he was still with her there was a long argument that essentially resulted in male theory "that if it's going well then why mess up a good thing?". My response involved why would I spend all that emotional time and energy on someone I wasn't planning to stay with. I also think it's appalling for someone to know they don't want to marry a person, but not tell the significant other and essentially as far as I'm concerned lead them on... wasting their time. Needless to say hubby and I could have another hour long debate on this and still not agree lol.
Needless to say less than a week after this conversation the brother called and said the gf had asked where it was all going and he had no answer for her... they broke up and have now gone their separate way. I would bet $100 that if he'd told her when he realized she wasn't the one she would have left then.
Why do guys stay with someone they know they won't ever marry?! Am I the only person who thinks this is just stupid and wastes time and emotions?

Because ***** is cheaper when you don't have to pull out all the stops like in the first month or so of dating. Also, not everyone is looking for a relationship that's going to last the rest of their lives (especially younger people).

ya, they would. that is not a surprise, is it? A lot of them don't want to even begin a relationship with a woman who is too fat in their opinion. Even if they are fat themselves.

Would half of women leave a man if gained weight?

actually, probably not. women are much less visually-motivated to enter, stay in or leave a relationship.