Posted on 03/27/2018 5:55:25 AM PDT by C19fan
My mother and I were in WHSmith in Guildford on a Saturday afternoon when I first became aware of the power of good looks. We'd spent a very happy afternoon shopping when she remarked: 'You do know men are beginning to notice you, don't you?'
Then 15, I was a fairly unsophisticated schoolgirl for whom the purchase of a new pencil case held far more allure than the prospect of male attention. But I had noticed it, too. And, yes, there was a frisson of excitement at the prospect of this new phase of my life.
For my mother, a very good-looking woman whose background was in fashion, it must have been a significant moment, too. She made the comment kindly, without a hint of jealousy or disapproval. But now, as a mother of two teenage daughters, I find myself in her shoes and know that a keen sense of loss is ignited as you pass on the beauty baton.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Well there are always the butch lesbians who can take an interest in her lovely femme daughters...
Keep it in the sisterhood
A while back, my wife allowed as how doors didn’t fly open semi-automatically as often as they used to, back in the day.
Women are only offended by attention from men THEY do not find attractive.
A woman wants the best man she can snag. By openly indicating interest, a man is also communicating (whether he realizes it or not) that HE considers himself the best she can do. If she strongly disagrees, then she will feel offended by his attention.
beauty of a woman is also indicative of her willingness...
it is a sliding scale.
She’s facing an existential crises, and realizing her mortality, manifested in the surface concern over her looks.
All people confront their mortality eventually.
Oh, look - a self-absorbed woman.
I couldn’t make it through the entire article because I don’t share her shallow gene
The article is right on, except it happened as I approached my 60’s that I lost it. Not bragging...but I was in the Miss Texas program when I was 19, and growing “mature” waited kindly on my face and image. I applied makeup daily, and was taught to think you fixed yourself every morning and then forgot about your image the rest of the day with a touch-up in the afternoon...Then grey hair caught up with me, weight gain, and slight wrinkles gathered around my mouth. BUT, the light at the end of the tunnel is now men tend to hug a grandmother image more and take special time in opening doors for you. My husband was disappointed in my aging body for a while, but finally accepted the fact that we BOTH are getting old;...now heading into my 80’s, all in all, life has been good.
Caring about how you look and present yourself to the world is not vain, but simply self-pride. I see no problem with that.
Given its OK to vain in this manner, it would be fitting if they wouldn’t sue men for noticing.
“But but..I thought the male gaze was oppressive patriarchy.”
Either that or toxic masculinity.
Probably a combination of both!
“A while back, my wife allowed as how doors didn’t fly open semi-automatically as often as they used to, back in the day.”
Doors still fly open for me, but now young women with children and professional women in suits hurry to hold the door for the tottering gray hair who has trouble with the door’s weight. Are they putting more steel in the new doors? They are awfully heavy. I don’t remember them being that hard to pull when I was twenty.
One gets old, gets wrinkles and looks like every other old woman of any color. Fighting it with botox, facelifts and cosmetics only fills in craters, winding crevasses and the wattles of old age. At the end of the day, cougars are simply old feral cats.
However, it is part of the human circus, and unless one is a complete puritan there is nothing wrong with enjoying some vain and superficial moments, so long as they do not define one’s life.
...
Exceptional wisdom displayed in your comment.
I am a woman, and I believe that for most women physical attractiveness partly defines our self-image.
All people confront their mortality eventually.
Mod up for insightful
That was my objection as well. The headline is just factually incorrect. Of course it’s vain and superficial.
The rest of the article, whatever. Yes you go from being attractive to 90% of the male population from 8 to 80, to being invisible, probably that’s a noticeable loss.
But to claim that’s not vanity??
However, for the silent majority of women, the whole feminist thing is loony land.
That doesn’t mean a woman wouldn’t use aspects of feminism to get an advantage, but that’s more of a human trait rather than a female one.
I’m not saying you are doing this, but we have a tendency towards the “squeaky wheel getting the grease”, and because they’re so obnoxious, nasty and loud, the feminist movement activists seem to be what today’s women are.
But most aren’t.
We all need to remember that, and actually, use that FACT to push back whenever the activists mouth off.
The most beautiful woman I have ever met in my entire life (a bartender with Playboy Playmate good looks at my favorite stopover) once silently stood there and then leaned confidentially over to me and asked if she still had “it”.
This was a married mother of two turning 30 who was still the epitome of “drop dead gorgeous” and she was bewildered that I was the only man at her bar. Once I figured out what she meant, I said “oh, definitely! Trust me, if the day comes that you aren’t sure, just come to me and I will set you straight.”
Next thing I knew, she had raced from around the bar and clenched me in a big hug. To me, the thought of *this* lady, of all people, being insecure about her looks made me fear for the 99% who look worse.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.