Olympians and Porn Stars
I noticed something rather odd recently. I'm not sure if I noticed it because we have rapidly growing children, or because I was in a more observant mood than usual.
The mannequins in clothes shops are universally modelled on either Olympic swimmers (the male ones), or porn stars (the female ones).
At first glance – and I'm sure I'm not the only guy to have thought this – I thought “crikey – that mannequin's nice” – but then cogs started turning. I noticed that all the girl mannequins were at least 36C, if not bigger – with tiny waists and hips Marilyn Monroe would have been proud of. All the male mannequins had the kind of body you only achieve after spending hours in the gym every day – the kind you see mounting the starting blocks for the 100 metres butterfly.
It's interesting, isn't it – everybody complains about printed media setting unfair expectations for children through the use of photo editing software, but in reality the false images are everywhere.
As we wandered further down the road I subconsciously began noticing the multitudinous body shapes walking past. Tall people, short people, fat people, thin people
I didn't see any Olympians or porn stars.