We see Myrtle's sexuality through the eyes of narrator Nick Carraway. He considers her a bit distasteful, noting that her face doesn't have a "facet" or "gleam" of beauty, but he appreciates that she has a "vitality" that makes her smoulder. While he finds her somewhat fat, he says she carries her "surplus flesh" "sensuously."
We learn more about Myrtle when she tells Nick the story of meeting Tom on the train. Myrtle explains that she sized Tom up and decided he was wealthy. When he made a pass at her, brushing against her arm when they were getting off the train, she first threatened to call the police but then quickly decided to get into a taxi with him. She was "so excited" to be with him because she recognized she wouldn't live forever: she continues fearless and forward in her willingness to exchange her robust sexuality for the good things a man like Tom can offer.
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