Hogging or sweat hogging refers to the practice of groups of men who target overweight or

obese Obesity is a medical condition, sometimes considered a disease, in which excess body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it may negatively affect health. People are classified as obese when their body mass index (BMI)—a person's we ...

women, typically for sexual encounters. Unlike fat fetishists, men who participate in hogging are not necessarily sexually attracted to obese women's bodies; they aim to manipulate a female's emotional state or to derive amusement for themselves and their friends by engaging in sexual activities with women who are overweight.

Practice

Individuals or groups have used hogging against women. Hogging often includes excessive

alcohol consumption An alcoholic beverage (also called an alcoholic drink, adult beverage, or a drink) is a drink that contains ethanol, a type of alcohol that acts as a drug and is produced by fermentation of grains, fruits, or other sources of sugar. The cons ...

and

emotional detachment In psychology, emotional detachment, also known as emotional blunting, is a condition or state in which a person lacks emotional connectivity to others, whether due to an unwanted circumstance or as a positive means to cope with anxiety. Such a ...

. Hogging does not always include sexual intercourse, and often other sexual activities are the end goal. Participation sometimes includes making bets among male peers, as well as humiliating the woman involved. The practice has also been suggested as a manifestation of

hypermasculinity Hypermasculinity is a psychological term for the exaggeration of male stereotypical behavior, such as an emphasis on physical strength, aggression, and sexuality. This term has been used ever since the research conducted by Donald L. Mosher and Ma ...

, in which men who do not fit into normative expectations of manhood exhibit insecurity, defensiveness, and sexual aggression to make up for their incapacity to meet masculine standards. In this manner, hogging is described as a form of sexual predation in which sex is an act of conquest, not intimacy.

In society

In 2005 the Journal of Deviant Behaviour published a study of men's accounts of the practice. Writing in Inside Higher Ed the study's author claimed that its interviewers did not ask its interviewees if they had heard of the term, instead the author claimed "We simply asked them whether they had ever heard of a practice where men try to pick up women they deem fat or unattractive as part of a bet or for sex, and they responded, ‘Yeah, hogging.’”

Practice

In society

See also

References

Further reading