In the last week…Burris has run for cover…the markets have fallen like a lead balloon….banks want more money…auto makers have their hands out and a partrisge in a pear tree….so to lighten up the day  it is Sex Sunday!

Despite the cheerful tenacity of Dove advertising campaigns, slenderness remains a desirable state for many women. The widely held belief is that slim women are more attractive to men, can find nicer clothes and, when it comes to sex, are rocking the casbah far more often than their zaftig counterparts.

But not so fast, Calista Flockhart. According to research published in the September issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology, overweight and obese women are more likely than their skinny sisters to report that they’ve had sex with a man — 92% of overweight or obese women reported having had sexual intercourse with a man vs. 87% of women of normal weight.

“It’s totally unexpected,” says Marie Harvey, the Oregon State University professor who co-authored the study with Dr. Bliss Kaneshiro, assistant professor at the school of medicine at the University of Hawaii. The results were based on secondary data already collected by the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth, which collects a variety of reproductive health outcomes and behaviours for a sample of more than 7,000 women aged 15 to 44.

The study’s objective was to look at the impact of body mass index on sexual behaviour, and all other measures — such as age of first intercourse, number of partners, frequency of intercourse and sexual orientation — showed no difference between normal weight women and overweight and obese women.

Prior to the release of the study’s results, many hypothesized that overweight and obese women would be less sexually active than their normal-weight counterparts. “It’s our stereotype that men are attracted to slender women,” says Harvey, who adds that thin women are often perceived as more sexually empowered.

So all you lonely guys out there…when it is closing tiome and you have struck out with the Giselle look-a likes….there may be hope for you yet.