I watched the first one of these VS specials, however many years ago that was. I haven't seen one since because, well, I've seen it already. I mean, it's pretty much the same thing every time, isn't it? If they want me to watch again they should jazz it up, add a new angle. Perhaps leaking to the media beforehand that one of the models will breath fire into the audience, setting alight half a dozen fashion magazine editors and at least one of the Olsen twins. It doesn't have to be spectacular pyrotechnics, of course, but it should be something. Give me something, for crying out loud! I'm not going to abandon a good basketball game for just anything, you know.

I must say, though, that parading Heidi Klum's new rugrat across the catwalk wouldn't cut the mustard. I know I'm being pandered to when I'm promised a show of nothing but supermodels strutting around in underwear. I know I'm being pandered to and INSULTED when they throw a kid into the mix. What am I supposed to do, wet myself at the sight of Heidi Klum's offspring? Unless this kid is actually a panda cub, that ain't gonna happen. A human infant, if it is not your own, isn't a terribly interesting sight -- even strapped to Heidi Klum's mostly-naked body.

And I really do wish we could -- once and for all -- dispense with the notion that supermodels are a threat to the average woman. They're not. I've never come across a male over the age of 20 who doesn't understand that supermodels are exceedingly rare and it is correspondingly unlikely that they will ever have sexual intercourse with one of them. That's why almost all men lust after supermodels, but marry ordinary women. Just as almost all women lust after a very handsome [but usually quite short] Hollywood actor, but marry an ordinary guy. I don't sit awake at night worrying that my wife lusts afer Brad Pitt. If she does, she does, but it doesn't mean Brad Pitt is a threat to my marriage.

So let's just get over that, shall we? And if you can't get over it, well, just blame yourself. Leave the supermodels and us ordinary guys out of it.

What a newsflash.

how this entire thing can be blamed on heterosexual men. All else pales in comparison. Until you can do that I don't see how this topic can really gain traction.

I did love the part where it is all blamed on gay men flocking together. Gee, I wonder why gay men would do something like that? Let's all sit down and think for a while; maybe we can come up with a reason why members of a small and ferociously persecuted minority might look out for each other first and foremost. Gay men are pretty much doing what women do. Right now, it appears, they're doing it better.

In the field of fashion design anyway. The consumers are king. Or, in the case of fashion design, the consumers are queen [no pun intended], since the consumers are largely female. I don't think most women care whether their clothes are designed by gay men or straight women -- so long as a straight man wasn't involved in any way. If women prefer buying clothes designed by gay men, who is to blame for that? The gay patriarchy? Teehee. [Sorry, I couldn't help myself. You gals had it coming.]

Is this subject really back again? It's like the "Night of the Living Dead" of topics. No matter how many times you shoot it, it keeps coming for you. Someone needs to put a bullet into the skull of this dusty old corpse. Let's see if we can predict how this'll go:

A bunch of women will complain about Mr Dalton's writings, comparing his world to Nazism and slavery and there will be words like "patriarchy" and "speak truth to power" used without the slightest trace of irony or amusement.

A bunch of men will complain about how women are trampling their rights and how to a man feminism is just another word for oppression.

A few men will opine about how much they hate Mr Dalton and his views and how much they love the sisterhood. [These guys are my favorites. Despite abundant evidence that taking this line won't get you laid anymore, they keep plugging away. It's quite touching.]

Broadsheet, time to be a little more, well, broad. Spread your wings a little. Stretch yourself. Whatever. Just put a bullet into whatever passes for the brain of this topic and move on. This one is played. So played.

That is soooo cute. Yes, yes, anyone who believes a t-shirt can be empowering is in for a very rude awakening in a few years, but...shhhhhh. Let's keep that to ourselves. Don't ruin it for her. She'll be 23 soon enough.

Women are fond of listing all the ways men have an advantage over women in our society, but they usually forget one. Boys get to play with cool toys and never discuss what it means politically. There are people on this planet capable of draining anything of its fun and turning it into a hot button political issue. The vast majority of those people, apparently, are girls who played with dolls as children.

Thank God for G.I. Joe and the U.S.S. Enterprise model and Lionel trains. Oh, and basketballs your dad could pump up for you in 60 seconds. Yeah, it was pretty darn good to be a boy.

That boy knew better than to pay attention to silly self-absorbed navel-gazing trying to pass itself off as social commentary. Everyone could learn something from that boy. You most of all, Ms. Traister.