Claws are out
It is lunchtime and we are sitting in the canteen talking about this and that, when in walks the big boss's secretary. Now this girl has got it going on! (my apologies ladies). She is young and beautiful, dressed to kill and oh-so-sexy. She the kind woman who walks into room and music starts to play in your head. There’s not a guy in the room, moi included, whose blood circulation does not go into full reverse and leaves him as lightheaded as a helium-filled balloon at a county fair. One of the girls sitting at the table with us, comments sarcastically, “The lengths some women would go to draw the attention of men.” Screech… at this point the music stops and life returns back to normal. Now I disagree respectfully with my female colleague on this subject. I do not have a compelling need to go to bat on male/female issues, but there is no way in hell you can convince me that the girl went to all this trouble just to get the men at the office interested. If that is what it is all about, all she really needed to do is to dress up as a hooker. Sure she is flattered by the looks of appreciation and attention she’s getting, but if women feel the need to blame anyone for the lengths they go to to look beautful, they should look no further than their precious sistas! Yes, Ma’am… your girlfriends (and I use the term loosely) are to blame. Now before you say, WTF is he smoking… let me elaborate! (This is where poor old chitty goes out on a limb… hehe) An ex-gf on mine always said; "Looking good and getting a compliment from a man is great, but adoration and looks of envy from other women… priceless". Who is more critical of you and more likely to pass comments on how you look/what you wear and gossip behind your back? The husband and the bf or the girlfriend and the other women you know? The fashion standards of what to wear, which colours are in, what to nip, tuck and enhance etc. are all set by women, the so-called fashionistas, the editors of the fashion magazines and the tabloids. It is all part of the cycle on which the fashion and beauty industry runs. Women are encouraged by other women, no less, to embrace cosmetic and fashion advice and make it their own. Pretty soon it becomes the “in” thing to do and once it reaches the all important critical mass, it goes out of control… every body has to have it. But like all cosmetic/fashion phenomena, it finally comes to an end. Let’s face it, when every body does it or has it, it becomes the norm. And then the next wave starts… The essential ingredient that fuels this phenomenon of beauty and fashion is c-o-m-p-e-t-i-t-i-o-n. And what better form of competition, than competition amongst women. Without the female-on-female competition, the multi-billion dollar fashion and beauty industry will grind to a complete halt. And the prize? The prize is NOT just getting the man... nope it is the envy and admiration of every other women you come in contact with. Ok, getting the man has its many rewards too, and I for one would like to believe that. In the meantime, the dumb-ass males of the species watch the show with Neanderthal-like interest. Sure we benefit from all the competition, but being the simple creatures that we are, we don't ask questions. What do we know about fashion anyway? Men don’t care what women wear or whether it makes their bums look big, all we want to do is get women OUT of their clothes. And women know that! But since we are told by women to find certain things sexy, that is exactly what we will do. God forbid that we don’t… Having reached the point where a fad becomes the norm, women turn the tables on men and make us the scapegoats for what they go through to look beautiful. They can’t go blaming themselves, can they now? “I am only doing this to be more desirable and more beautiful to you!” Suddenly it is men who expect women to be perfect, to be thin… to look like supermodels… bah-de-blah. The pain and suffering they go through is all for our benefit and the very “girlfriends” who started the ball rolling in the first place are the ones they run to for advice and guidance So ask yourself again why women do what they do. Is it really to impress men or is it because of competition and to impress other women? As for the girl who made the comment in the canteen; I can bet you she’s out shopping this weekend to buy something that will make the secretary look like a Sunday school teacher. Let the games begin!
