I'm enjoying this discussion.

Runner, I totally respect your view. But my article was not an endorsement of the notion that sex appeal is the fullest indicator of a woman's worth. It was aimed at body image/self acceptance - in the context of a society obsessed by 'perfection'. Western culture is not highly evolved, but we're going backwards. I grew up wanting to be a mother - and the 'adverse affect' motherhood would have on my body, barely even entered my mind. Nowadays we have magazine headlines screaming "I hate my post baby body!". I can't begin to tell you how angry this makes me.

Team this up with the fact that women over 50 are supposed to 'disappear' according to Germaine Greer. While I appreciate the kind remarks regarding my being 'in good shape' - this was not the point. Have a really close look at the silhouette pic. You can still see the protruberant mole on my left breast and some patchiness on my skin. A different photographer friend liked the pictures, composition-wise, but winced at the lack of air-brushing. He thought it 'devalued' (as in dollar value) the photo. That's because he routinely air-brushes everything. He probably would have airbrushed Cait's tummy too! This was the point of my story.

I know I'm not particularly evolved because I still want to be seen as a woman, as well as human being. I rejoice in my value as a human being but I also love the feminine qualities that lay beneath my skin, and my biology. I truly feel that the fact that I'm nude in these pictures, tells more of a story about those qualities than of 'sex appeal'. We are hard-wired to factor 'sexual attractiveness' into our assessment of each other...but the definition of same, is being sullied by the media and a gazillion dollar 'beauty industry'.

And at the end of the day, I'm probably pissing in the wind, but it won't stop me from ranting and raving about how wrong I think it all is.

: )

*We are hard-wired to factor 'sexual attractiveness' into our assessment of each other...but the definition of same, is being sullied by the media and a gazillion dollar 'beauty industry'. *

You make a valid point there, Rose. We are Americanising the
whole thing and there are big bucks to me made. 300 million $
on Botox alone is being spent per year, just in Australia.

A Canadian nurse friend of mine, worked in a place
where they did nothing but facelifts and other similar
operations, on American women. When I asked her why so many were
getting it done, her response was that they were nervous that
their husbands might run off with a younger woman. My response
was that if a marriage depends on surgery for its survival,
surely its a pretty shallow one to start with.

Rose C

'Western culture is not highly evolved, but we're going backwards.'

You certainly gave me a laugh. This is the same logic warmist alarmist use to try and explain why half the planet is frozen at the moment. We certainly are regressing to the dark ages and you are doing your bit to help that.

Runner - If Climate change is the metaphor, then I think you just call me a chloroflurocarbon. : )

Good on you Rose. I've seen a lot of naked people of all ages, and I've found that just as a lot of our character is reflected in our faces, so more is reflected in our bodies. Seeing only faces seems like missing a lot of the person. And bodies of all ages have their beauty, of different kinds at different ages, but it's still beauty (though I don't find all bodies beautiful, just as I don't find all people attractive). Also, isn't it sad that we (males especially) are often so hung up on sexual responses that we can miss the delightfully-different humanity of half the human race.

I hope your adventure continues to bring you fun and gifts. You've given some of each to the world.

I'm trying to imagine an article like this, written by a bloke.

And finding myself unable to do so.

Is it just me?

Is there, for example, a male equivalent of this line of Rose's?

"Every woman needs to feel like a sex symbol at least once in her life"

It may just be a simple failure of my imagination - put it down to a sheltered upbringing - if so, perhaps someone out there could help by conjuring up a sample extract from such a piece.

Any takers?