All Sheilas should look like the babes in Ralph or at the very least in porno.

That's wot real men like.

Well I suppose if women do not want their looks to be commented on they could always wear a burka!

When it comes down to judging looks, personal preferences always play a part. For example if Marilyn Monroe were alive today it is possible she would never be noticed.

From the article “naysayers: if you don't like lists like these, don't read them. And I agree. But even if — like me — you don't actively seek out polls like these, assessments of women permeate every aspect of our culture.”

Since I was about to say just that (ignore them) I stand-up and admit, I might be a “naysayer” but at least the author agrees with me.

As for “assessments of women permeate every aspect of our culture.”

As do assessments of men, children, pets, politicians, barnyard animals, TV shows, toys, houses, cars, food and every other artifact which might catch our interest.

As “reasoning adults” we each assess everyone we come into contact with against a personal standard or expectation. So where do we get that standard or expectation from?

From “assessments” either in polls like these or other sources, such as mothers, sisters and friends, the opinions of others etc.

The only way to control “assessments of women permeate every aspect of our culture.” Would be to remove the free choice of individuals to read, assimilate and consider for themselves.

I would suggest a “state” where individuals are denied the right to read, assimilate and consider, has been tried several times and the poor folk who lived under Stalin and Hitler found life somewhat lacking in quality.

As for “Maxim”, never read it but who on earth buys a bloke magazine for the articles? The purchasers are, invariably more focused on the pictures of the girlie “bits”.

As for Sarah Jessica Parker, yes she has a long face, a little horse like but I like horses and would certainly not stand her up if given the opportunity of a date with the filly

DEMOS

1. Humans are one of the few creatures that have sex regardless of fertility cycles and advanced ageing. That is, sex is recreational as well as procreational. Therefore, sex is not governed solely by the imperative to reproduce.

2. It would be interesting to study how many men having sex actually want children. For years family sizes have been shrinking, fertility rates have been dropping and increasing numbers of men are happy to have vasectomies. I would say that less sex occurs out of a need, desire or even a drive to procreate than it does because of the simple pleasure of the act.

3. To say that women should be satisfied to be judged primarily according to their appearance as compared to some mythic, airbrushed , usually porn driven ideal, is to negate everything else that women contribute, even only towards perpetuation of the species. That includes: capacity for nurturing; sufficient intelligence to care for and teach offspring; good health and all the wide range of skills that we see applied in almost every field of endeavour. Even IF women were limited to the function of reproduction there is still more to that than attracting a bloke for a bonk.

4. Indeed, on the matter of conception, I have yet to meet the woman – regardless of looks – who hasn’t been propositioned. It would seem to me that looks have very little to do with enabling the species to continue. Any number of examples of bestiality, the use of objects, child and elder rape can be found even throughout the porn industry to
further bear witness to the fact that men are not invariably inspired by the visual appeal of women.

It seems clear to me that men are not driven by some biological imperative to view women only as reproductive organisms, devoid of any other value that makes them completely human and worthy of human respect.

COL - points out that all aspects of culture are subject to “assessment” by reasoning adults, so women should just accept that they are going to be assessed as well. Col almost gets there with a good feminist argument, but not quite.

The point is not that women object to being “assessed”, but that the assessment of any human being should extend beyond their utility as an object of base gratification.

Blokes are assessed on talents and abilities, their skill in negotiating in the workplace and so on – they succeed on merit by default. (- and good on them) Nobody cares too much about a pot gut; baldness and other deviations from a Brad Pitt image.

In contrast, women are valued primarily on whether they are sexy or not – and a decision either way is anathema to being taken seriously in a career or any other aspects of living for that matter.

I see somewhere where another writer refers to women wearing Burkas as one solution; perhaps they were joking. Nevertheless, that is no solution. Women and girls in countries where this form of dress prevails continue to be subjected to rape and are still required to stay indoors and away from public scrutiny. This is just an extreme of the matters that we’ve been addressing – women seen as the repository of blame for men failing to govern or be accountable for their impulses and the values and worldview that guide them. If we are thinking and reasoning adults, surely we can expect that women be regarded as all that they are – complete humans – and nothing less than that - regardless of what they are wearing.

Pynchme, somewhere in one of the testements is a reference to the power of attraction, women have to men. I cant remember the exact pharsing and cant be bothered to find it.

So it has been a problem for an extremely long time and not some new creation to do with porn.

"If we are thinking and reasoning adults, surely we can expect that women be regarded as all that they are – complete humans – and nothing less than that - regardless of what they are wearing."

Usually the criticism I hear of what women are wearing comes from other women. Whether it be shoes, handbags etc, stuff that as a bloke I do not even notice, much less care about.

The media is made out to be the ogre and male dominated at that, yet it appears the vast majority of the media's obession with womens looks, comes from the female gender in the media.

Mind you the occasional bloke suffers from foot in mouth disease and then virtually everyone decides to jump on him.