In the animal and bird kingdoms, the burden of attraction falls squarely on the males. They are the ones with the fancy colors, bright plumage and actions to attract a mate. Jenny Wren knows her value and watches carefully before committing herself to one of those cheerful, lying males.
In contrast, it seems that the burden of attraction in the human species falls much more upon the female. They are the ones with the bright colors, fancy hair, makeup and clothing. You can see groups of them preening – mostly showing off for each other as much as demonstrating for the males of the species.
Then there are those, who in my humble opinion would be better off not preening. Wheelchairs, walkers, canes and prosthetic legs are facts of life. Medically required, when used properly they provide an individual with independence and a chance to travel.
However, there are some trends which I would prefer to avoid. Take the Speedo. Please, take it somewhere else, far far out of my line of sight. Not an issue on the young teen-20s competitive swimmer; it has a far more negative effect when worn by someone who is older than I and outweighs me by 50 kg or more. Trust me, the imagination doesn’t even come close!
Let you think I am just picking on the men, there are already a significant number of women with huge expanses of burned flesh. I am not sure which is worse: a bikini on someone in her 80s – or the significant burn that runs a risk of making her quite ill. And yes, before you ask – she is German. Lovely person who is not worried about skin cancer at her age, but hadn’t thought about the effects of the burn (dehydration, overheating and difficulty with wearing clothes for the next few days).
Reminds me of what we called a “blivvy” back in the ’50’s. My very first Army job–before they found out I could type–was as a cook. A “blivvy” was described as four pounds of Crisco in a three-pound bag. And, you’re right; the imagination doesn’t even come close. Hope you can finish all the wonderful products while enjoying the remainder of sailing the blue.
Cheryl’s law of the beach: The likelihood of someone wearing a bikini is inversely proportional to how much business they wearing one!
Last night I was knitting along to a Nature show about birds (humming, specifically) where the male plumage issue was widely discussed. In the case of hummers, the females don’t get any help from the males in raising the babies, so I guess picking a mate has to be based on mate’s apparent survive-and –thrive capabilities. No pair bonding means the females are not completing with each other to keep a mate.
In Western culture, the females are competing with each other for the most tasty males (with tastiness being defined either by hormones or good sense, depending on age, I suppose.) So, that would explain the showing off for each other, too.
But, in non-Western cultures, it isn’t necessarily the women who get decked out.
Didn’t anyone tell her… y’know…about what the sun does…?