Cellulite
WOMBAT:
I would like a quick show of hands please, as to how many women have cellulite. Okay, you there at the back, straight up please. Is that a raised arm, Miss?
...counting...
Well you are all very honest, because WebMD claims that around 85% of women, and very few men, have some cellulite. They say that the dimply-looking dermis occurs because of the way women's skin is constructed, and the way in which it ages. It has nothing to do with what you weigh, nor how much you lose. Apparently men have thicker skin, which prevents us being so blessed.
Irony comes in many forms.
Arms down now.
The other fact I discovered is that the occurrence of cellulite is entirely genetic, and apart from maintaining healthy eating and exercise habits, there is pretty much nothing you can do about it. Which in my mind, makes cellulite normal. Let me write that again; if you are a woman, having cellulite is normal. That is, if 85% still represents a majority like it did when I went to school.
Now for those of you with a memory reaching back no further than last night's episode of CSI:Sheboygan, time was when things were different. In fact since at least the 16th century, ladies with picture-perfect dimpling were seen as the peak of perfection, the very essence of womanhood. The current (media driven) obsession with women without womanly characteristics is without precedent.
I think I can speak for most men and say that the less a woman worries about her cellulite, the better we like her. Confidence trumps cottage cheese every time.
Thanks to Amy for giving me the idea in yesterday's comments.
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20 comments:
Confidence trumps cellulite? Thank goodness because I have gobs of the confidence and an equal amount of cellulite. :)
And sometimes eating right and having proper exercise habits doesn't work to keep cellulite at bay. [Hello training for 40K+ a week...]
I like my juicy ass. And I like that the mens' like the juiciness that some women carry. Every so often our confidence wavers because of the pop culture beauties who wear double digit clothes -- those double digits being 00. But then we're back in reality flauntin' what we got. And loving every minute of it.
wombat, youre my hero
You rock Wombat! My boyfriend always tells me the same thing, but with how the movies and magazines portray woman as being stick skinny, it makes it hard not to start to feel bad about yourself.
Thank you so much for saying this. Really. You can never tell women stuff like this too often because we are so hyper-paranoid about our bodies.
Marvellous post, I must say.
As a former art/psychology student, I have always wondered where this ideology of the skeleton-with-skin originated, and how.
It's a thoroughly modern (and prominently Western) standard of beauty that simply doesn't follow biological or historical precepts. A little extra flesh on a lady used to mean that she was healthy (possibly wealthy, and thus able to afford regular meals) and, as a consequence, more attractive. I'm sure the turnaround has something to do with North American overabundance and overindulgence, but I just don't understand it.
Moreso, I don't know how the current trend has managed to hold up for so long. A conservative estimate among males I've known over the course of my 29 years has shown that maybe 1/6 prefer the skin and bones look. The rest have been avid appreciators of a more womanly build.
As much as I hate to say it, I'm fairly certain that we, ourselves, are largely responsible for upholding this ridiculous standard. By constantly buying into the media's perceptions of beauty, by striving to meet unhealthy and unreasonable goals, we're merely feeding the beast.
Standing all of 5'3" I've been both ridiculously thin (107 lbs.) and ridiculously chubby (167 lbs - thanks to a Freshman 40). Right now, I'd guess I'm sitting somewhere between 130-145, having chucked the scale ages ago. I look great, I feel incredible, and I have never once had a complaint from a bedmate.
You couldn't pay me enough to go back. I like having some weight to throw around ;)
~urbanmaenad
It's good to know I'm not the only one, but I still hate it.
I think we'll find that most men prefer a little something to hold onto. I havent met a man yet that likes their woman rail thin... I dont like seeing cellulite, thats for sure... but skin and bones is even more disgusting.
confidence can trump a lot. work it girls. thanks for saying that wombat.
:) sizz
Amen brother. The sexiest thing in the world is a self-confident woman, especially if she doesn't have the body of a crack addict. I love seeing a "larger" woman at the beach in a bikini that my wife would say she has no business wearing.
Keep up the good work.
Wombat - Thanks. This post kind of pulled together something I'd been thinking about for the last week.
It does make me wonder, though: have you always held this high level of cellulite acceptance, even as a teenager, or was it something you matured into, once you had more years of personal intimate experience viewing cellulite up close?
Wow. This is the best thing I have read all day. Thanks!
Oh, Wombat, you're definitely gonna git you some outta this post. *Raises glass* To Wombat!!
I'm just having a hard time buying this. Are you telling me that if you had two, more or less "equal" women except that one had cellulite and one didn't, you would choose the one with cellulite? Or is it just that you've matured over the years and softened your once more stringent standards? OR, is it that you've come to accept cellulite as part of the package, but would still rather have cellulite free thighs? Or, are you just trying to score some points with your female audience?? I'm just trying to understand and I want to belive you, but I noticed that there are very few comments from men supporting this view point.
Maybe tomorrow you could write about varicose veins!
Cinn, I can't remember cellulite ever being...anything, in my mind. I have always been so happy to be close (and naked) enough to notice, so it seemed churlish to nitpick. What guy would refuse a willing woman based on something as minor as this? It's like visiting the Grand Canyon and complaining that it's a bit dry; it rather misses the main event.
Oh, maybe that wasn't the best of comparisons, but you see what I mean.
Anon 2, I'm not sure what there is not to buy. My point is that cellulite is a part of most women's genetic make-up. In light of this fact, it seems to me that we should be more realistic about our ideas of how their bodies should look. Let's stop the fiction that cellulite is abnormal or somehow something to be hidden, banished, rubbed away or removed by surgery.
As with many such phenomena, it's all in the way we think about it. If we choose to believe that cellulite is bad, then we look for ways to rid the world of it. If we understand that it is completely normal, then we cease that search, and concentrate on more valuable efforts in women's health.
Dare I suggest that if all the money spent on useless anti-cellulite "cures" was spent on women obtaining more exercise or reducing stress or removing toxins from the household, we would all be better off.
This isn't about me or my preference. As many of the commenters have noted, it is the way women think about their body image that is (probably) the biggest obstacle to a more realistic view of themselves.
My instincts are generally pretty close to the middle of the road guy, and I re-state that, in general, this isn't something guys have any stake in. As I wrote, the confident women with or without cellulite, varicose veins or fallen arches will always be more attractive.
I do, however, draw the line at girls with three ears. Sorry.
Wombat
What are your feelings about women with three nipples, a la friends? LOL
I think you're right...it is an issue of body image, not how we actually look. I'm 40, and I've had several guys in their mid 20s hit on me, and dated a couple in that age group. Right after my divorce, at age 39, I dated hotter guys than I ever did when I was in my mid 20s.
But the guy I'm now seeing is slightly overweight, and used to be a lot more overweight, so he has some stretch marks on his stomach.
What kind of shallow person would I be to reject a guy who has such a minor imperfection considering that the rest of the package, brain, heart, character, etc. are so great? That would be stupid. And short-sighted, too. By 40, you realize that most guys are going to aquire a small spare tire and their hair may start thinning...should we then stop being attracted?
And he's amazing in the sack. So, I'd really have missed out if I'd have let 20 lbs. stand between me and him.
The other part of it is...It feels kind of good when he holds me, he's a nice big sturdy guy and I like his body.
I think men are alot more like that than we think...there are the idealized women that they're never going to be with, and then there are the real women that they have the opportunity to date and be close to and touch and make love to and fall for.
I think most guys know the difference.
Not to go on, but it's amazing how much more confident I am about my body at 40 than I was at 30. I wish I'd known how great i looked then and enjoyed it more instead of obsessing over minor details.
Yes, Trouble, self-knowledge and considered realism are huge advantages when looking for the right sig other.
Wombat
Yeah, I will continue to rock out, wear trashy lingerie and have no shame about a few little imperfections.
thank you
thank you
thank you
As no one has mentioned it yet, i'll do it. The fastest (usually a couple of hours to a day, sometimes just a few moments of a kinda epiphany), easiest (you already have everything you need), more efficient way to get rid of all the mental garbage a person has accumulated over the years about body image is naturism. Google it out (the phrase "body acceptance" is usually a good one to add, as it is to look about naturism and women) as i'm away from my bookmarks. This is SPECIALLY GOOD for women, who are normally the ones that have a harder time accepting their bodies because of all that stupid media image that not even the models in those pictures can achieve (or like a friend said once, "no one can look like the playboy bunnies, not even the playboy bunnies"). And girls, it's MUCH, MUCH easier and far more fun than you think it is, and since the whole idea is body acceptance you can get there with your body "as it is" and wonder at the acceptance. Plus the extra exposure to sunlight will do you loads of good.
You'll also get a great way to spend your free time :)
Ive just read these comments and as the last was february, I hope someones there!?
About the small percentage of guys liking skeletons with skin as apposed to buxom cellulite girls....lets just take a look at the girls from 'Playboy', most girls would love to have a body like that and the boys drool over, so...why aren't the celebrities going for THAT look, okay, not the bimbo bit, but the figure, surely this is more desirable to all? I dont understand the mentality of bones either....blame the press, theyre the ones advertising them as 'beautiful.trendy' whatever...its their fault that the media attention of the 'matchsticks' is contributing to teenage eating disorders
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