“Knocking off a Fat Girl:” an Exploration of Hogging, Male Sexuality, and Neutralizations

The mistreatment of women in the United States is part of a larger problem of cultural misogyny. Hogging is one of the many forms of mistreatment that is devalued and often overlooked. It is a practice where men seek women who are overweight or unattractive to satisfy their competitive or sexual urges. The purpose of this paper is to understand hogging through men's accounts and use of neutralization techniques. Results indicate that two-thirds of the men we interviewed and all of the accounts we analyzed used neutralization techniques to minimize negative self-conceptions and to manage stigma.