Exactly. The truth is usually more outside of our reach than we want to think, in either direction

Man, that sucks. This may be a minor point, but I have noticed that these things seem to vary regionally. I think in the South, appreciation for more ample female physiques is more common than, say, on the coasts. I am sure it has class implications as well. I am so glad your current partner is more evolved!

It sounded unnecessarily sanctimonious, but what I really mean is that being open-minded can definitely influence preferences and taste. Same with food. Same with lots of other cultural values that we don't question until we're presented with an alternative.

Please cc to Playboy. Edit: just saw your subsequent post, never mind!

"Let people look at people they find sexy" I completely agree. If you'll notice, porn does cater to much more diverse desires than mainstream media ever has. You have porn for the people who like hairy chicks. You have porn for the people who like fat or pregnant women. In porn you can watch old men having sex…

I guess the way I see it, they're advertising something they don't deliver. If someone wants to have a cartoon zombie nose, then fine, but I doubt people are thinking of it this way going in. They think they're going to get a better version of the nose they have. Just like people look at their small breasts and…

That doesn't surprise me. I admit a huge part of my personal distaste over cosmetic procedures is that they stand out like a sore thumb. I can't see a person who's had a nose job without that being the only thing I'm noticing about their face. There's also that general shiny skin look that I find disturbing. Also…

Not saying you're necessarily going to outgrow your tastes, but being over 40, that's my response to a lot of things I hear youngsters say. You will likely be perfectly happy without dating outside your standards. I doubt I will ever be attracted to older guys, on the other hand, but I completely acknowledge that…

Yeah, there's a difference between having a physical preference, and letting that preference be the tie-breaker over every other type of consideration.

The reason it's hard for me to believe is that I used to be exactly the same way. I didn't think I could be attracted to overweight guys, or people who didn't fit my criteria in other ways. Eventually I outgrew it.

The difference is that there isn't a pervasive social stigma against blond men, nor is a woman's general appeal questioned if she dates a blond guy.

I can confirm that more men would date fat girls if their peers' opinion of their prowess wasn't a factor. I have seen real-life examples of this and one guy even explained it to me in exactly those terms. He was afraid of getting teased by his friends, period. It wasn't because body fat killed his boner. That's…

For awhile there were some really great salad bar chains. They featured homemade soup and bread as well, and listed nutritional facts for all of their menu items (including the dressings and premade salads). The salad bar itself was about half a mile long, with every manner of produce you can imagine (this was in…

Always with the expensive fruit in Japan. First there was the cubic watermelon. If that's not expensive enough there's always these grapes.

Aw that's a shame! It sounds brilliant. Even as an affectation, I could get behind it. With the right Coen brothers film, I bet it could catch on.

I have been told that I sound like an outpost colonial BBC radio broadcast from some time between the two wars

It just disappoints me personally when I hear "sexual agency" used now as the default defense of people who use conventional presentations of female desirability (particularly as it relates to a profession, and particularly entertainment or image-oriented professions). I know women with plenty of their own sexual…

I am SO looking forward to being a crazy cat lady. ("forward"...heh)

The fact that both sexes participate doesn't necessarily mean they benefit equally.