Something happened this week that has seen my social media feeds be split 50/50 as to whether or not it was good or bad news. Front magazine got scrapped. Since it was first published, Front has received a lot of criticism (along with all the other lad mags) for it being degrading to women and focusing too much on boobies and not enough on music. Here's the thing, I LIKE Front magazine. If you laid out all the lad mags on a table, Front would 100% be the magazine I'd choose over any other. I like their content, I like their design and I won't scream at the site of a pair of tits, I just simply flick the page. Easy peasy.
Okay so it HAS influenced an 'alt girl' culture with many teenage girls wearing denim shorts that will at some point give them thrush, but Christ if that's all you have to worry about as a parent then you should be pretty happy.
We can't seem to go a week without some mother getting her knickers in a twist because lad mags are visible on magazine stands, or bush-growing feminists are protesting about the latest strip club in town. "Women are being objectified" they say, "it's disgusting" they cry. While I wouldn't choose the life of a pole-dancer myself, I've met girls before that are completely happy doing it. Models aren't FORCED into taking their tops off, they aren't FORCED into climbing that pole. Ever think that they want to? Huh? They might actually enjoy their jobs, and I salute them. If you're happy in your job, then frankly that is all that matters.
It's in our human nature to find certain body parts attractive on other people. I personally have a thing for blokes with a nice jawline and some stubble. I also won't deny the fact that I've drooled over band members and thrown jokes around with my female friends as to who gets first dibs on the hot guy from the bar. Girls objectify men just as much as men objectify girls. Fact. It just so happens that the bits of our bodies blokes tend to go gooey-eyed over are the bits underneath our clothes. I'll also raise my hand and say "yeah, I have a cracking pair of norks, I just don't feel comfortable getting them out." Not because I feel everyone will slam me as a slut, it's just because I don't have that level of body confidence to show it off.
That said, my whatsapp galleries with my closest girl mates are filled with pictures of us showing off our latest lingerie collections and I'm completely okay with that. New lingerie that makes me look and feel great is up there with pizza for things that cheer me up. Heaven forbid I might choose to show it off to a boy one day.
We're in a modern age where sex is not the off-limits subject it used to be. It's talked about freely and everyone is becoming a lot more comfortable with themselves and their bodies because of it, confidence like that is something we should be celebrating. We shouldn't be ashamed that we enjoy it, yet we still have middle-aged mums knocking us down for flashing a little more flesh than what used to be deemed acceptable.
Boys love boobs and that is never going to change. The sooner we get over that the better in my opinion. You don't see protests about Ryan Gosling taking his shirt off for us all to enjoy, so why kick up a fuss about Kelly Brook, (who's underwear collections are wonderful FYI).
