Yo! I shall bite my tongue for the time being - much naughty fun could be had here.

But think about this: What do the following have in common? -

Mickey Mouse
Fred Flintstone
Daffy Duck
Homer Simpson
Madonna

Correct! All cartoon characters, except the last one never made us laugh very much.

Way too much postmodernism for me here - why do we have to overanalyse everything? Perhaps we need to remember that Madonna is human like the rest of us - having fun and living her life to the fullest and doing whatever suits her best at any time and place. As would everyone giving the chance. Maybe she is just enjoying being 'normal' for a while.

Thank you for an enjoyable and provoking discussion Leanne.

For the sake of playing the devil’s advocate, why must we commonly critique women on the grounds of their physicality.

While there is an observable commercial bias that offers slim figured women as the standard model of beauty, it seems pointless to attempt to overcome this bias by attacking slim women and trying to either redefine slim as ugly or inaccurately understand slim to be unhealthy.

The problem with this strategy is that instead of moving away from a focus on physical beauty – we are simply exchanging one version of beautiful (skinny) for another (plump).

If we are to ask people to stop judging women for their physicality then we must stop criticising them on that basis.

If Madonna is happy to spend a lot of time exercising (dancing) then let's be happy for her that she has found something in life that is satisfying and fulfilling.

Women of all ages face pressure to conform. As we get older, that conformity takes on a different nature. The classic depiction of the good (right) older women is a plump woman. Bad (wrong) older women are typically portrayed as skinny. A good, plump, older woman will dress sedately, deny her sexuality, be married to a man who is older than her and engage in cultural pursuits different from those of younger women.

Madonna continues to be revolutionary by offering a different model from this.

How odd that as some of us start to feel more comfortable with certain aspects of conformity (getting plump with age), we then cease to see this kind of conformity as conservative (the norm) and instead start to redefine it as right.

Madonna used to be bad because she was overtly sexual. Now she's bad because she's exercised. The conversation is a good one - but we should all challenge the basis upon which we build and defend our morality to ensure we're not just self justifying to make ourselves feel good.

Madonna has grown up and looks fantastic. Long may she reign!

I reckon Madonna's completely awesome, she awakens my oedopus complex quite nicely.
If she had, say, fat ankles or something, she'd still be awesome but you know, in a different sort of way. The best thing then is to be just friends.

She's got nothing on Beethoven.