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From: morphy@truebalt.cco.caltech.EDU (Jones Maxime Murphy)
Newsgroups: soc.feminism
Subject: Re: Sexual attraction (was: diversity)
Message-ID: <1990Oct31.165320.15137@nntp-server.caltech.edu>
Date: 31 Oct 90 23:57:38 GMT
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
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turpin@cs.utexas.edu (Russell Turpin) writes:

>In article <1990Oct26.170150.9341@nntp-server.caltech.edu> morphy@truebalt.cco.caltech.EDU (Jones Maxime Murphy) writes:
>>> [...] In my native Caribbean and in Latin America, I find men much
>>> more open-minded about what's "attractive" in female bodies. [...]

>But where is the social goal?  Ms Huxtable wants us to "work for
>a society where these perceptions are different".  Different how?
>Where people's tastes are the same?  Where appearance is totally
>irrelevant to sexual attraction?  (Really?)  And how is this
>social goal, whatever it is, tied to feminism?

There is a definite double standard between the genders as far as the
percentage of each gender that matches its "ideal body type". The
ridiculously lean image of feminine beauty leads to dire consequences.
Excerpted from Time's new issue on women--twice as many women ages
30-64 as men think they're overweight. In a UC study, 58% of
17-year-old girls said they were overweight; only 17% actually were.
This farcical situation leads to low self-esteem and unneccessary
dieting.

Forget feminism for a second, how about common sense and good health?

Jones
Physics Department
California Institute of Technology