Appearance is important. The hourglass shape is the healthiest and most fertile. Slender women get pregnant the easist and have the healthiest babies. That is what we men want, too bad there is such a shortage of them. It's also nice to keep the lights on and not be revolted by rolls of fat, etc. We also have a great antipathy to raising another mans child, so we do not want a slut. So a virgin with a good set of firm jugs and nice butt is our ideal. Of course we will be compelled to settle for less, since the ideal are few and far between, except for rich guys like The Donald. But we still want that perfect woman who is beautiful and ours alone. And not a beautiful personality or mind, unless it is accompanied by that great body.

Heck, my wife is a composer, as well as a published writer. On the side she was the CFO of a corporation, and very athletic. When I married her she was getting a graduate degree from a prestigious university, but most important, had a smokin' hot body. It presented some minor problems since she was always being hit on, but that was sort of fun, too. I have always put a womans intelligence as the number one selection criterion. After all I want my kids to have as many advantages as possible. However, it is quite possible for a very intelligent woman to also have a smokin' hot body. So, it seems that it is possible to have it all. And since I am a moderately good-lookin' guy with an IQ in the top 1% I got it all. I ended up with several intelligent and very good-looking daughters, who are also very athletic.

Women have different selection criteria than men. The ability to protect and provide for children is probably most important. Because good-looking women can out-compete their plainer sisters, they get the top-drawer men. the result is that looks and brains are weakly correlated in women, but not men.

There are a lot of moderately intelligent, but ugly, broads out there who hate this situation. So they come with all sorts of bullshit to explain it away. It's still bullshit. However, a lot of you could improve on your looks if you would shed some body fat and get in shape, instead of sitting around drinking lattes's and complaining.

Yeah, I do live in Idaho. And I'm kind of an old geezer. Idaho does have its share of nutcases, and maybe I'm one of them. Idaho is a wonderful state if you can put up with the ultra-right wing consveratism, and the women are mostly fat and ugly. However, the natural scenery is breathtaking, and the outdoor recreation is plentiful and not crowded.

I have been around long enough to see and be involved with all kinds of bullshit. In Idaho I enjoy jerking the chains of the right-wing religious nuts, of whom we have plenty. On Salon it's much more fun and useful to jerk the chains of the so-called "politically correct" like you and LeCastor. You do have one thing going for you, however. You probably live in an area where the fat and ugly women are at least moderately bright, as opposed to Idaho. It is fun to talk to bright women, no matter their looks or avoirdupois.

When I was young (a very long time ago) most women were at least slender. However, in NY where you live, and I once lived, there are many hot and beautiful women. Probably more proportionally than where I live. There seems to be a certain social pressure for women in big cities to work a little harder at looking good. I get to NY, Boston, Dallas, San Francisco, etc, often enough to notice, at least in the metro areas that there are far more attractive women than in more rural areas. Do good looking women gravitate to the metro areas, or what?

The correlation between looks and intelligence in women is well documented. Google it. Slender women also have the healthiest babies, also well documented. A waist to hip ratio of 0.7 is the most attractive to men in all cultures, again well documented.

I do not believe that the present obesity epidemic is soley a failure of self-control. The food industry has developed products that are addictive, like the pharmaceutical industry.

I am pleased to see that the fashion industry is making at least a feeble attempt to get rid of the anorectic and unattractive role models that they have been using.

My still good-looking wife who is about to go on Medicare led the way on our 7.5 mile XC ski outing three days ago. She took no mercy on the three guys following her, and skied us into the dirt (snow). My daughters could kick my butt in a 10K by the time I was 60. Now that is the kind of role model that we should have for women. Smart, good looking, athletic, and hot.

As the old song says, "you can have it if you try." There are plenty of 10K's in NY, start running in a few, you will get a lot more attractive (and interesting).