The Feminine Ideal

[KMCE]

Women get breast implants for the same reason that men put metal balls in their penises.

Sexual competition is so exciting!

[niffer]

Women get breast implants for the same reason that men put metal balls in their penises.

Sexual competition is so exciting!

WHAT!? *scarred for life*

[darlets]

Hmm...well I know some guy who waxed his arms..

lol, I struggle with shaving once a week.

[darlets]

Sexual competition is so exciting!

At a guess, I think as wages have balanced out I think the "looks" of guys have become more important. Guys are starting to shave their chest and get facials.

I have nothing to back that up, its just a theory/guess.

[KMCE]

At a guess, I think as wages have balanced out I think the "looks" of guys have become more important. Guys are starting to shave their chest and get facials.

I have nothing to back that up, its just a theory/guess.

A man's attitude is more important than his look. I wonder if you have read any books on seduction?

And at the end of the day Hemingway code heros get chicks. Not the sissy and wimp with 'cute' looks.

[darlets]

A man's attitude is more important than his look. I wonder if you have read any books on seduction?

And at the end of the day Hemingway code heros get chicks. Not the sissy and wimp with 'cute' looks.

What I've written can be taken two ways, and we're talking about two different things. I'm simply saying that looks have increased in importance, not that they are the most important thing.

Women are no longer as reliant on the male being the bread winner, so they can be more picky in other areas.

[KMCE]

What I've written can be taken two ways, and we're talking about two different things. I'm simply saying that looks have increased in importance, not that they are the most important thing.

I know what you are saying.

Women are no longer as reliant on the male being the bread winner, so they can be more picky in other areas.

Women are always picky.

But their taste of men have never changed. No matter how rich they are, they still want the dominating, aggressive, and adventurous men with an attitude. Casanova, Lord Byron, and Hemingway are examples of such men.

Women want a bread winner only when they need stability, for themselves or their children. That's why women above 30 always try to get married, or dream of marriage. They know they will not be attractive anymore in a few years time and they need to get married to ensure their financial stability.

This is so going off topic.

[Totenkindly]

But their taste of men have never changed. No matter how rich they are, they still want the dominating, aggressive, and adventurous men with an attitude. Casanova, Lord Byron, and Hemingway are examples of such men.

Women want a bread winner only when they need stability, for themselves or their children. That's why women above 30 always try to get married, or dream of marriage. They know they will not be attractive anymore in a few years time and they need to get married to ensure their financial stability.

I can see why you say this, but it's a pretty blatant generalization. Women are all different, just as men are, and the sincere smart people are looking at individuals as they make their mating choices, not just stereotypes. (And the ones that do usually end up having a failed relationship, eventually, when they realize what they've done.)

I think the behavior is more obvious with the average teenager. Most males are very prone to chasing after physically attractive women for at least the short-term, regardless of the personality involved... or they're willing to make do for awhile with someone good-looking rather than someone with more depth. And the women tend to fall for the male who exudes strength and fearlessness, while relegating the "sensitive" male more to the "good friend" category.

Later in life, after we've experienced more things and expanded our knowledge of ourselves and how things work, we then realize that there are more important qualities and we make more nuanced and deeper decisions.

This is so going off topic.

Maybe. If it keeps going without tying back in, I'll split it off.

Women get breast implants for the same reason that men put metal balls in their penises. Sexual competition is so exciting!

<crosses legs painfully, tries to avoid falling on floor>

There is probably good reason I've never heard of the latter before. *groan*

Getting back to the OP, hmmm, I don't know. I see value in what Toonia AND Gatsby say and can't quite make sense of which is closer to the truth. What's interesting to me, though, is that if you take Toonia's tact that the standards are meant in some way to restrain women, it also means that women are complicit in their own enslavement. I have found women more uptight about their weight and appearance than men demand from them explicitly. Perhaps there is a cultural ideal that is being assimilated, but on the personal level, many men seem much more forgiving of women -- they're not required to play the skin-and-bones role of the Fifth Horseman.

It hurts to watch -- my daughter, who is slim and slight like most Asian women, and probably always will be no matter what she eats, already comments negatively about her weight... and I think she's already too skinny. I constantly reassure her that she's skinnier than many women and most would be happy to look just like her... but she persists in this thinking. I just don't understand. No one at home is talking about "being fat" -- not about her, not about anyone.

[proteanmix]

There is a long and broad history of the ideal female body type to require artificially exaggerating some aspect of it. Why is this? Is it the result of women competing based on their appearance, so that any valued feature is taken beyond its natural extreme? Also, some of the alterations by nature make the woman less capable and independent. Many of these images will appear grotesque to our eyes, but consider the exaggerations we are conditioned to value. Consider the following...

I'd like to bring up the fact that a lot of being the ideal depends on one's ability to be the ideal. Take foot binding, corsets, and tanning for example. Weren't those practices limited to the upper classes in their respective societies? A person's ability emulate the ideal depends on the tools they have access to. If I can't afford to get implants I stuff my bra with tissues, but that's even more false advertising then implants because at least the implants are "real." I think many of the pics you used are extreme examples of beauty and not the norm in most societies.

Re: Fortunato's post, that sounds well and good and all, and most people at some point in their lives can see past the casing, but at my office Christmas party, the presents that were wrapped in nice shiny packaging were the first ones to be snatched up. What happened after the box was opened is a different story, but the dull looking presents were that last to be chosen.

[Totenkindly]

Re: Fortunato's post, that sounds well and good and all, and most people at some point in their lives can see past the casing, but at my office Christmas party, the presents that were wrapped in nice shiny packaging were the first ones to be snatched up. What happened after the box was opened is a different story, but the dull looking presents were that last to be chosen.

That's rather sad. Of course, I was describing an ideal. And it still makes one think, "Why do we go to an office Christmas party and DESIRE to be selected in such manner in that setting?"