In praise of plump women

I have a confession to make. I really like plump women. Actually, I like all women, but I have a special fondness for those with curves.

This painting by E Phillips Fox, the Butterfly, is from the current New England Regional Art Museum exhibition, The Female Nude. She is not really plump, but she definitely has curves!

I'm not sure how many diets I have suffered from over the years in pursuit of health or, more often, some idealised weight. I know that there have been dozens and dozens.

I don't mind weight reduction for the purpose of health. I will support that whole-heartedly. But it's very difficult to explain to one's female friend or partner that you actually like them the way they are. Worse, dieting with the aim of bodily improvement creates pressure on me, wondering just how I might improve. to get rid of my imperfections, to match this new desired self demanded by the other.

Sitting on the couch having cooked for the non-dieting members of my family while the dieter eats her lean cuisine or whatever leaves me feeling inadequate and dissatisfied. Inadequate because my cooking is not good enough, dissatisfied because it is just so anti-social. Needless to say, perhaps, my interest in the other person is reduced.

It is a fact of life, I think, that women as they grow older and have children tend to add cellulite and curves. That doesn't stop them being physically attractive. In fact, some of the sexiest women I have known, those who make you want to make love to them, have been apparently overweight. There is a sparkle there that has nothing to do with weight. Or, perhaps, it does. Perhaps plump women are simply sexier. Who wants to make love to a skeleton?