Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Make them laugh till their knickers fall down

Sophie Cunningham had a terrific article in The Age over the weekend about sex, love and partnership, and one of the things she talks about there is the ridiculous equation in public/popular culture of sexiness with (in particular) skinniness and/or buffness.

Now, as I'm a rather traditionally built lady myself, the Mandy Rice-Davies argument ('Well, she would say that, wouldn't she?') might be said to apply, but my thinking here is actually to do with various well-padded blokes. Who among us would deny that Robbie Coltrane is sexy? Gerard Depardieu? John Howard the-actor-not-the-politician? Well, who with any brains, anyway. Who with any heart.

It's not about the voyeuristic, one-way effect of the still photograph; it's about the vitality and humanness and connective spark of the way that people talk and move and -- most of all -- interact. Which is, after all, what sex is supposed to be about, rather than onanistic drooling over a photo of some C-list celebrity's lumpy, surgically enhanced bazoombas.

It's not all good, of course; I've just been reading a novel in which the wife of a corpulent but enthusiastic husband says that having sex with him is like having the wardrobe fall on top of her, and I'm sure many a partner of many a porker will recognise the feeling. But as Sophie correctly points out, part of the appeal of the above-named and many other well-upholstered chaps is that they're funny:

'As Hollywood actor Will Smith put it, somewhat inelegantly, in Britain's Empire magazine: "Comedy is better than muscles, better than money, better than looks. It's like if you can make a girl laugh out loud, you're in. It's almost like the pressure of the laugh makes her underwear fall off."'




9 comments:

meggie said...

Totally agree!! Married a slightly chubby man- something to cuddle, bright wit, & gorgeously warm on bloody cold nights!!
Also how much more interesting to look at. As I once told my GP, muc more interested in what was between the ears, than what was between the legs!

Anonymous said...

"It's like if you can make a girl laugh out loud, you're in"

In my experience this is complete BS.

Humour may break the ice, but it soitenly doesn't seal the deal.

Anonymous said...

I confess, I'm with Will on this one.

If someone can make me laugh out loud, they're usually stuck with me for life.

(hence my habitual lurking on your blog, Pavlov).

Mindy said...

You are so right PC.

Anon, you aren't hanging with the right girls.

Black Knight said...

Eh, PC:

Fix yer flamin' link, luv.

Kerryn Goldsworthy said...

Oh bugger -- t'anks, BK. Fixed.

Moral: making a habit of checking all your links when you first put up a post will avail you nothing if you then change one of them and forget to check it again.

Anonymous said...

No. I'm sorry, ladies, but you're kidding yourselves.

I am incredibly funny and yet have no luck with chicks. Explain that!

Anonymous said...

You spend too much time reading weblogs?

Meredith Jones said...

Bazoombas - a much underused word - but excellent. Anyway, why do fat people have to be funny? Can't they be serious, even tragic? I think that connecting plumpness & funniness can be just another insult to the generously proportioned.