All this time we thought THEY were the enemies

Hear, hear:

"...there is one little nuance that the marketers forgot (perhaps intentionally?). Women don't get thin for men. We get thin for other women. We know that men like a few lady lumps. And yet we pursue perfect thinness. Not because it makes us more sexually desirable - often it has the opposite effect -- but because it makes us the Alpha Female. We're competitive like that. "

So there you go. We as women are incorrectly perceived as being neurotic about our body image because of a desire to attract males. Yet it is more accurate to peg these neuroses as mostly coming from our need to keep the sharks at bay: Fellow women who are the first to nitpick, attack, and put down. Need we pretend anymore? Case in point numero two: Jessica Simpson shows up for some performance looking extra padded and then everyone on the internets goes nuts, and by everyone, I mean women. And a few men who are just dumb. Now Jessica Simpson is a bad example because there's so little love where she's concerned, and I think everyone just loves when she falls flat on her face. But still. Her only crime was the outfit:

She looks beautiful, and I'm sure the men would agree. Need she really be crucified? So ladies, lay off.