Vegetable legs

I could see when I was sitting down that my legs weren't fat, and never looked at myself sideways or from behind. I think it was down to lack of long mirrors when I grew up. I had three sisters, they used to say if something suited you, or didn't, and that was enough. I never had any angst about my appearance. The boys kept coming, and that was all that mattered!

Have never worried much about my legs (which kind DH describes as sturdy) until now! Over the last few years one leg has grown decidedly thicker than the other, making one trouser leg appear loose and the other tight, even had to make a cut down the back of one wellie and get used to having one sock up over my calf and the other barely above the ankle. I know I am somewhat unbalanced but now have physical proof of this

Petallus It was Soutra's parsnip legs that led me to that thought - I've sometimes got too vivid an imagination!

I've always had fat legs; even when I was young. Slimmed down to 7st at one time and still had fat legs. Was advised to actually put weight on so I'd be more in proportion which helped a bit, but I've still not worn short'ish skirts since I was in my teens and have never worn shorts. Annoyingly, using some of the exercise machines at the gym has toned up my legs, and I just wish I'd had access to such things when I was younger; the reason I'm doing it now is to develop muscle to protect my arthritic'y joints. I've never known anyone as basically tiny as me to have such huge, shapeless legs; they've been the bane of my life [only recently overtaken by my hair].

Hello Tegan watching the racing this p.m. Only AP has skinnier legs than me.... well from the knee down anyway!

Y'know, I've never been a McCoy fan, but I've been quite weepy since yesterday listening to him...I think he's being incredibly brave about retiring . As for legs and hair, I think I've got a share of everyone elses legs and everyone else got my share of my hair .

Are these peeled carrots and parsnips?

I do hope my legs don't look as though they've had an attack of root fly.

I think Sandi Toksvig once described her legs as being on upside down as she felt she had 'thick ankles'!

Merlot I suppose one could Epilady a carrot/parsnip? (Other dehairers are available)

I didn't mention displaying of flesh, janea. Wasn't even thinking of that though, since you mention it, women do tend to show more flesh than men on average. Think formal or office dressing. Women will tend to have expanses of shoulder and bosom showing when 'formally' dressed. Men will not. In both formal and office situations, many women have leg showing. Men do not. Sometimes in office situations women also have a fair expanse of chest showing. Men do not.

No. I was talking of biological display as in birds' feathers and lions' manes. As I explained.

And people, both male and female, comment on this, just as we comment on other animals' displays and why the displays are made and what they are for. We are just another species of animal, so it's not sexist to do the commenting. It just happens to be the female in our species who does most of the visual display stuff.

Making yourself look "nice" is a completely other ball game.

BTW, I told Minibags about the tweet. She thought it was very funny and not sexist. She is seriously 'feminist' about things that matter like whether girls get the same educational opportunities as boys, which they don't in many countries.

I think that is a bit too simple thatbags Humans are different from other species because we have language. Birds/lions etc respond to displays instinctively and the animal kingdom cannot be manipulated by others to look a certain way or to buy products etc to enhance appearance to 'please' the opposite sex.

I think it is absolutely OK to for male & female humans to to 'preen' themselves when looking for a mate. It is another thing entirely for your 'worth' be defined by your make up /clothes/weight /hairstyle/tattoos etc etc so that you feel pressured into doing something to change or feeling you have to conform to someone's definition of what you should look like.

I agree with all that, pen, except that I don't think we are so different from other animals as we like to think.

I don't see comparing leg shapes to vegetables as pressure to change anything. I see it as simply acknowledging that there are differences, that we are not all the same. I don't see it as a judgment.

I also don't think much of the effort some women put into enhancing their appearance is to please the other sex. I think it's to please themselves and their female peers.

I think this is vegetablist. An aubergine is a thing of beauty with not a knobbly knee in sight.

Of course it is.

I think you are right thatbags.

I notice that the most effort I make with my appearance (washing hair, dressing nicely and wearing a bit of slap) is when I meet my two women friends for our monthly coffee and catch-up.

absent If only my aubergine legs did not have knobbly knees!!

thatbags if it truly is just to describe different shapes that legs come in that is harmless enough. However once any term is used with a value judgement attached or as perjorative term I feel it changes it.

The shape of mine aren't too bad....Just a pity they look like they've been scribbled over with a blue biro.

I was explaining to a bloke at the sauna the other day that women dressed more for other women than men...he was most perplexed by it.

Tell him it's one of the things women* are competitive about, tegan, then he'll understand

*women as used there does not mean all women

It's still a thing though. Ask any fourteen year old female.

My legs are the only part of me that has stood the test of time no veins but they are and always have been too thin.

I WOULD like chubbier legs. Oh I forgot I do have a piece of leg missing from a Rodent Ulcer op., it's a sort of benign skin cancer but it's not too noticeable really.

My DIL gave me a back handed compliment leg wise.

"You have surprisingly nice legs for a woman of your age."

They only come out in summer and then I rarely wear a skirt and prefer cropped trousers.