I agree with you on Benedict Cumberbatch.

Although he’s old enough to be my father (he’s 37, I’m 24), I’d definitely choose him over the young, muscular men who normally vie for my attention at the gym.

“The role of males has been denatured in Western societies since 1945.”

The fact that both men and women are moving away from their traditional gender roles is a positive, not a negative. Not to mention the fact the men were very much conditioned to act a certain way in the 1940s, which was just as unnatural.

The problem here is that we’ve become so obsessive about our looks. If you want to ‘fulfil your natural male instinct of violence and physical effort’, play a sport. An instinct for violence does not turn into preening.

I never claimed to be unable to stand you. In fact, I find you very entertaining and enjoy baiting you from time to time when you need to be corrected.

[Daphne – ‘When you need to be corrected’. I hope no woman is stupid enough to marry you.]

Funny that older comments got posted before mine – you must have been trying to find a way out of this one.

[Daphne – Yes, and how. The problem had me on tenterhooks all afternoon. Obviously older comments were uploaded before yours. They came in before yours did; that’s why they’re older.]

The fact is, as Drew said, and as mentioned in the link I posted, Daniel Craig achieved his look by spending hours at the gym and waxing, not by working on an oil rig.

[Daphne – This is about the look itself, and not about how it was achieved. That is the point. Two young women spend hours at the hairdresser and with the make-up woman. One emerges looking made-up and blow-dried; the other with a make-up ‘free’, natural and tousled look. They have both spent the same amount of time and trouble on their hair and make-up. Their looks are completely different. One look appeals to other women; the other looks appeals to men.]

The scene in the picture is a take on Ursula Andress’s bikini exit from the sea (Dr No) – can’t get any gayer than that.

[Daphne – It isn’t a take on Ursula Andress at all. Emerging from the waves is a mythological reference and is as old as time. The Dr No scene is itself a reference to Aphrodite rising from the sea: http://www.reading.ac.uk/ure/leaflets/Ure_Aphrodite_Cyrene.pdf . You need a better education. You can’t understand contemporary culture unless you are able to reference its roots.]

And your equally beloved Sean Connery was Mr Universe contestant in the 1950s, which is what attracted the Bond producer’s wife to recommend him for the role:
http://www.pinterest.com/SevenSpotGR/sean-connery/

The fact is that Daphne sees what she wants to see. She probably decided that the demigods in the top picture went to Natius Ola, whereas Daniel Craig’s torso is naturally smooth (or waxed by fellow oil workers).

[Daphne – I strongly suggest you spend time in the archaeology section of a good museum, looking at statues of demi-gods and working out their defining characteristics, and how very different they are to your two chaps on the beach. The fact is that most women (and probably most straight men, too) instantly recognise that there is something not quite masculine about those two. And notice that I said ‘masculine’ and not ‘straight’.]

[Daphne – People have different tastes, but it is a fact that men and women are wired differently, and on that basis it is possible to say what men tend to like and what women tend to like, and also what they tend not to like.]

Also, about this ‘gay aesthetic’ of which you speak… ever heard of bears? Otters?

[Daphne – We’re not talking about bears and otters, though, are we. We’re talking about those two men in the picture.]

It’s worse than that. The role of males has been denatured in Western societies since 1945.

Before that, you could expect to go off to war at some point in your life, or at least to carry out manual labour. Now you’re locked up in an office so you are unable to fulfil your natural male instinct of violence and physical effort (yes, violence).

So what do you do? You channel the physical effort into an effort to climb the career ladder and the violence into preening.

It’s not natural, and it’s no wonder so many of us are psychologically imbalanced.

But certainly not in the same way they are now. Women’s bodies were always more prominent and sexualised. The male gaze and all that. That’s beginning to happen now with men.

For example in the past there wasn’t such an emphasis on having ‘abs’ or anything of the sort, and in fact most male actors didn’t have them. Even Sean Connery.

It was about them being heartthrobs, being charming, and not about their perfect bodies. It’s an increase in vanity, which yeah, I agree looks a little odd on most men.

I notice Daphne did not post the following comment (methinks she does not like it when someone blows a hole through her hang-up driven arguments, as much as she does not like the fact that gay men lead where straight men follow):

What turned Daphne’s beloved Daniel Craig into the hot property that he is now is precisely the look she seems to be complaining about:
http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/entertainment/articles/2011-08/02/gq-sport-james-bond-daniel-craig-workout-fitness-file

[Daphne – Funny how some people claim to be unable to stand me and then hang around for hours anxiously waiting for their comment to be uploaded and imagining there are nefarious reasons why it hasn’t been. I’ve been out all day on photoshoots. If for some reason I don’t wish to upload a comment, you will get a delete message. If it says ‘awaiting moderation’, then believe it.

No, you are completely wrong. There is nothing in this photograph of Daniel Craig which is even remotely similar to the one I’ve uploaded of those two oiled men on the beach. The differences are not subtle. They are major. If girls/women saw this walking into the water, they would follow. If they were to see those two walking along the beach, they would assume they’re a couple. To be more specific: Daniel Craig looks like he got that way because of his work, i.e. a rig worker, while those other two look like they have made looking that way an end in itself. He looks properly masculine, and they look anything but. I really don’t know why these things have to be explained.]

People are more comfortable with the idea of a man being the object of desire, so much more than they were in the 80s and earlier.

[Daphne – Men have been treated as objects of desire since the 1960s at least. What’s different now is that women have been programmed into the gay aesthetic and led to think it’s normal. But from what I see, when it comes to choosing a mate, they choose what has always been the straight male aesthetic.]

[Daphne – Benedict Cumberbatch would have been attractive even in the 1970s. In fact, his particular charms are typical of what was popular in that era. Robert Plant, Marc Bolan – very ‘girly’, but at the same time, absolutely no gay aesthetic. In fact, men wanted to be them, whereas the reaction you would get from a normal man to a muscle-bound, oiled poser preening around would be scorn (privately). ]

What turned Daphne’s beloved Daniel Craig into the hot property that he is now is precisely the look she seems to be complaining about:
http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/entertainment/articles/2011-08/02/gq-sport-james-bond-daniel-craig-workout-fitness-file