via Flickr’s h.koppdelaney

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We’re in slippery-slope territory today, with this new report on aging and sexuality published in the British Medical Journal, abstract with link. As you might expect, men think about sex more than women.

I have no idea what these people are talking about because my libido is rarely in low gear. I’ve read all the science, know the facts and figures, and continue to be a cheerleader for sexy older women.

Researchers Dr. Stacy Tessler Lindau and researcher Natalia Gavrilova of the University of Chicago studied two representative groups of aging Americans:

• 3032 adults aged 25 to 74 (1561 women, 1471 men) from the midlife cohort MIDUS — the national survey of midlife development in the United States, 1995-6), and

Roughly 80 percent of men and 65 percent of women in the study were married or living with a partner.

Part of a Victoria’s Secret threesome, my first reaction on seeing Ambrosio is that the other Victoria’s Secret models Doutzen Kroes and Brooklyn Decker look pretty hefty — translated gorgeously healthy but visibly curvier.

In women’s relentless body-image self-scrutiny, it all depends on who you’re standing next to — or the image in the photo.

Talking about Victoria’s Secret, the Brazilian Yummy Mummy said recently:  ‘I’m very lucky to work for a brand (Victoria’s Secret) that wants women to be healthy. You need to be able to fill out the bra and the panties, so yes, I’m a curvier girl.’

Vanity Fair Magazine, Feb. 2009

“I’m not here to be perfect, L. That’s a psychologically destructive word for an aging woman. What happens if there’s a day when I can’t afford Botox? No longer ‘perfect’, I’m really screwed. Talk about more needless anxiety!”

Unable to justify the amount of money I was spending on ‘moderate’ upkeep of my face in this horrific economy, I’ve been Botox and filler-free for over a year. Yes, I see some differences in my face, but people still smile at me on the street.

I’m not Botox ‘perfect’ but still pretty. And the self-affirmation of building an online voice is far more beneficial to my psyche than seeing a lineless face in the mirror. Make no mistake, I support looking our best and will probably go back to Botox again.

After five years of ‘fixing flaws’ I’m glad that I faced the woman in the mirror yet again.

V Magazine #64 | Mirror MIrror by Inez & VinoodhAmerica is obsessed with youth and fixing flaws. Self-improvement is big business. While the economy thrives, our psyches take a beating.

In need of perpetual makeovers, it’s impossible to love our natural beauty and idosyncracies. When natural lines of aging become flaws and imperfections, our minds are moving into challenging self-esteem territory.

A charity known as the Essex Women’s Advisory Group has been set up by local ladies Daphne Field and Elizabeth Hart, chairman of Essex County Council, who says the teasing is beyond a joke. I’m not certain, but the Essex women may be disproportionately blonde, based on the website, and we all know what ‘blond’ implies: no brain, loose morals.

Apparently Essex women often lie about their heritage, saying they come from Kent or East Anglia. With Climategate happening in East Anglia, they may be forced to choose a new hometown and there’s none better than Essex, say members of the new charity Essex Women’s Advisory Group.

Singer Pixie Lott, left, and TV presenter Denise Van Outen are two celebs being promoted as positive role models for Essex girlsHistorians confirm that the Homeric poems decribes Demeter as blonde and Apohrodite as golden-haired. Athena, goddess of wisdom, was described as ‘glaukopis’ and ‘xantha’, making Athena a blonde. As the patriarchy became stronger in its governance of women, blondes became the official temptresses — more or less ‘slut girls’. 

Before exchanging many robust ideas about nudity in art and on Christopher Streert, David asked if I knew about the New Jersey snow woman. A friend tipped me when I returned home.

Maria Conneran and brother Jack Shearing’s snowman prompted an anonymous complaint to local police. Their Snowlady was worthy of starring in a Dove ‘Real Woman’ campaign and not some skinny Barbie doll.

In fact, Snowlady was modeled after one of the greatest muses in world history Venus de Milo. Created at some time between 130 and 100 BC, it is believed to depict Aphrodite (Venus to the Romans) the Greek goddess of love and beauty.

While pudgy snowboys lined the streets of Rahway, NJ, Snowlady got a makeover. Mom Elisa Gonzalez admits that the snowbabe was “curvaceous, bodacious and booty-licious” - but not obscene.

After being photographed nude by Annie Leibovitz, sharing an infamous Vanity Fair Magazine cover with Scarlett Johansson and Tom Ford, Keira Knightley is comfortable being gloriously, beautifully naked.

American artist Spencer Tunick has been documenting the nude figure in public since 1992. The controversial photographer and videographer has hosted up to 100 installations involving thousands of naked people in countries around the world including the US, Britain, Brazil, Spain, Austria, Switzerland, France and Holland. His largest work to date involved 18,000 people posing in Mexico City in 2007. 

In America, Tunick has been arrested seven times.

Yesterday’s event brought 5,200 people to the Sydney Opera House for a shoot titled ‘Mardi Gras: The Base’, commissioned by Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras festival.

“I want all couples to embrace and kiss, all friends to kiss and all strangers to do whatever they want,” Tunick said as he directed the crowd.

Besides Kristof’s always excellent column, we located one other article on the study from early Feb. What does this tell us about the world’s interest in poor women?

Luckily the article New study shows sanitary protection for girls in developing countries may provide a route to raising their educational standards, is posted as a press release at ModernGhana.com. Please read it.

Searching for a visual at Flickr, I was stopped dead cold again. Fascinated with the sensuality of ancient Indian culture, I was beautifully ‘shocked’ to find the photo ‘The Menstruating Goddess’ on the exterior wall of the Kamakhya temple in Guwahati.

I’ll be writing on this topic in its entirety. What has happened in the history of women that we went from being ‘the menstruating goddess’ to dirty, filthy whores? I fear that certain religions are a big part of the answer. Anne