What a beautifully written article, a delight to read. Well done. One positive outcome is that while women may be spending more than a decade ago, they are also looking a lot more beutiful. I was at the gym for my regular bodypump class yesterday morning and the young woman who usually occupies the spot behind me looked completely different. Much paler and younger looking than usual. It took me the whole class to work out what the differrence was, she hadn't put her make-up on! It brought home to me how ubiquitous the use of these products must be.

When I was emptying the donation bins around the city for a welfare organisation,the bulk of goods collected was women shoes,dresses and accessories, closely followed by exercising implements.

Men are not the only ones who spend on home repairs, eating out, gambling and holidays.
They car has packed it in, so I am walking, cadging a lift or the bus or train. Make-up is practically no existent, how can you improve on perfect? At 63 I believe a few wrinkles can be expected, but the grey reminds me of my mother who I only knew her to have grey hair, then white. So it is do-it-yourself by-monthly rinse day, subtle shade of nut brown. My daughter reminds me to colour up, when I let it go, and lately she hints to a hair cut. I have managed to grow it long enough to plat at back, and my arms can reach up and hold that stance for long enough to do a reasonable job. Why go back to moody hair dressers who believe I am not spending enough in their salon, so they hack it.

Then I have put on a few extra kilograms that make life a bit unpleasant if I am walking up hill & have shopping to carry, and it gets hotter as the day goes on. I believe I eat healthy, just a bit too many mouthfuls, possibly the bacteria in my gut, or a hydatids tape-worm, is anyone’s guess, but one would think I would be looking lean if one or more of those wretches invaded the dark spaces of my interior.

I don’t have the money for gyms, nor is there one in the vicinity of my home, so it will be walking, plating my hair, pushing the mower and digging the ground to plant more exotic flowers, herbs & unusual vegetables & native plants that the passer-by mistake for drugs.

It struck me as funny that this article mentions the cost of being "decently covered." The priority at present seems to be indecency. Is anyone else sick of seeing pairs of tits walking around - they confront you before you get a chance to look at the face behind them and if you are trying to have some semblance of an intelligent conversation the tits are out front saying "Look at me look at me, don't bother talking to her ..." There has to be some happy medium between the dreadful Islamic total cover-up and the uber decolletage walking the highways and byways of the cities today ...

Well, I don't know, I'm a man but I've sometimes thought I wouldn't mind a Brazilian or two. I've thought that ever since I saw Brazil's womens team competing in the Beach volleyball at Bondi in the 2000 Olympics.

But, seriously, isn't what the article really identifying is the false allure and mystique of consumerism itself? That we want a newer, or bigger, or better anything, whether it's cars, clothes, house renovations, whatever, but gaining any of them only brings short-term satisfaction. It's a desire for self-improvement and self-satisfaction through materialism and consumerism, the modern religions that replace the ancient religions that preached austerity.

Possessions are just stuff. We take pleasure in them for a while but it is fleeting. Possessions cannot bring lasting happiness, in fact, more likely the opposite, through clutter and debt, envy and insecurity. Many people realise this when they finally gain a bit of wisdom with the years.

Consumerism drives our economy, but contains the seeds of destruction of our selves and our society.

This stuff isnt peculiar to women. What about the metrosexual nancy boyz. They spend lots on their own vain gullibility too. Not to mention all the other pointless expenditures incurred in order to attract/impress (and keep) a partner in this consumer driven world.

Its not like anyone is puting a gun to your head.

If it bothers you enuff to write a self pitying article about it, then dont do it.