About the universal, non-subjective, standards of beauty....

In China for centuries it was beautiful for a full grown woman to have feet the size of a 5 year old and be unable to walk.

Venus of Willendorf doesn't look a thing like Twiggy.

Twiggy doesn't look a thing like Cindy Crawford.

Japanese women avoid exercise because muscle definition on a woman (see Cindy Crawford) is considered ugly.

At her highest weight, Nigella Lawson was wearing a US size 14 and, in a popular survey, was voted the most beautiful woman in Great Britain.

If one goes to the Acropolis (that is in Athens for people who didn't learn anything in school) and sees the statues there, one quickly realizes that the Greek ideal of beauty was that of a very muscular athlete. That was true of both males *and* females.

In several African societies women are considered beautiful when they are older and wrinkled, not when they look like Eva Longoria.

In some societies, a butt the size and shape of a rumble seat is considered the sexiest thing going. Some men in the US find that to be a great turn-on.

Right here in the US, today, there are numerous men who find the women of Desperate Housewives to be downright ugly, and who prefer to date and marry women who are much larger. Obese even. My stepson, who graduated from college with a 4.0 and played safety on his football team, married such a woman a couple of years ago. Guess he didn't get the memo on what is attractive. He did, however, get the memo on how to deal with having dozens of women throwing themselves at you because you are freakin' hunk.

Somehow, a lot of men in their 40s, 50s and 60s haven't gotten that memo on beauty being universal. I don't look a thing like models or popular US actresses or women in advertisements but they sure do seem to express a lot of interest. Either my mirror and scales are broken or their eyes aren't working correctly.