Roger Hawcroft says:

The harmful stereotypes, distortions & unrealistic or unattainable images to which women are encouraged to aspire are an indicator of the sad depths to which the use of human intellect, at least in so-called “developed” societies has plummetted.

It is good to see that despite what must be an almost irresistible urge to scream at the World, some women are able to turn the tables / shine the spotlight with humour.

This particularly nonsensical but harmful notion of how women “should be” has a particular irony for me. It reminds me of a discussion I overheard between two adult women back in England in the 1950’s when I was about 10 years old. They were exclaiming to one another about how brazen and inappropriate a younger neighbour was being for dressing in jeans that showed her legs didn’t just meet at the top of her inner thighs – in other words that she actually had genitalia between them.

I may have a flawed perspective about this because I’m male, but it seems to me that while I won’t deny having my own measure of what is attractive in the female form, the sort of stereotypical bullshit and re-touched images sold as something to which ALL women should aspire is actually a disparagingly harmful nonsense that does great damage to many women.

If I have it wrong or am putting my male opinion into a place it doesn’t belong, I apologise and will accept, with as much grace as I can, your remonstration. However, I think it long past time that we men grew up and worked actively against such unreality.

In 67 years I have never met a single one of these “perfect” women but I have had the good fortune to meet and appreciate many women whom, to me, have been naturally and normally imperfect in very beautiful ways and I privileged to have had that good fortune.