Sunday 27 April 2014

All About Women

 Science Daily reports on research that suggests the width of a woman's hips is connected to her sexual behaviour.   The researchers, Colin A. Hendrie and co-authors Victoria J. Simpson and Gayle Brewer, surmise that women with wider hips are more likely to engage in sex because the birth process is generally easier and less traumatic for them than for smaller-hipped women (below 31cm).  Click here Science Daily report to read the full article.

As usual this got me thinking about all the research that is carried out and all the conclusions that are reached based on the results.  Did I really need to know that my hip width might influence my sex life?  Of course this knowledge has its advantages. As an interesting topic for conversation at the next dull party, it might be a show stopper.  Can you imagine hungry males eyeing up the girls and wondering what the chances were?  Or women anxiously checking their hip widths to see if they are sending out the right message?  It would kind of put a stop to all the hype about being thin enough to fit into a toilet roll tube.  Broader hips would signal attractiveness.  Women could always knock 'em dead with the remark "I have the most fabulous child-bearing hips, darling."

I have the utmost respect for scientists and researchers and the work they do. But I think that in this case humans are more than statistics.  They are not objects to be assessed and classified except in the broadest of terms (and no, this is not a pun on broad hips).  Every single one of us whether small, tall, thin or broad-hipped is an individual with our own very personal likes and dislikes.  And we don't need everything we do to be explained to us in scientific terms.


Sunday 6 April 2014

Scaredy Cat

I'll admit it, I am scared of those elegant women at the make-up counters of department stores.  Their sheer elegance, flawlessly made up faces and terrific hairstyles make me cringe.  I envy anyone with the self confidence needed to sit down in the public eye so to speak and have a makeover performed on them.

I once got trapped into having a makeover of sorts or at least of trying out some new make-up.  I was prowling as inconspicuously as I could at my favourite cosmetics counter when an assistant pounced on me.  'Can I help you?' she purred and then on my mumbling something about 'just looking at some make-up', she produced a tube with lightning speed and suggested I try it.  Before I could gather what few wits I have, I found myself seated in a chair with the assistant applying make-up and advising me at the same time on what to do about my red and dry skin, all of which could be helped by one cream apparently.  When I looked in the mirror I had to admit that there was a general improvement and I was persuaded to buy the moisturizing cream to help my "little skin problem" as she put it.  In the end I bought the new foundation and also the magic cream, both excellent products I hasten to add, but way above my modest budget.  I know it's worth paying for quality cosmetics but having had to economize all my life, I always feel a bit guilty spending a lot on myself.

Looking back I have to admit that the encounter with the assistant was not guaranteed to boost my morale.  She was pleasant but very impersonal and in a discreet way she was pushy.  That's her job and I am not carping at it.  I am only saying that even though I felt good with the results of her labours, I also felt that I must have looked a wreck before she took me in hand.  But that's more down to me than to the sales assistant.  I know lots of women who love having makeovers and don't care if the whole stores looks on.  I even know one or two who will ask to try different things or reject the assistant's suggestions, something I wouldn't have the courage to do.

So if I'm inspecting a cosmetics counter I will still keep a wary eye out for any approaching assistant and I will move on before she can make me over. But I think I've matured enough to know that in the long run, no one can make you feel good except yourself and not all the lavish attention of a beauty expert is going to change that.  Kind of reassuring, isn't it?