Sex, diets, and chicken breasts

If I were a visitor from outer space, or maybe even from another culture, and if I were asked what I thought Americans were most interested in, I would have to say sex, diets, and chicken breasts, in that order (these are intimately related). My data about sex, granted not at all scientific, comes mostly from TV, women's magazines, and even magazines about automobiles. I never read any of these magazines, I just see the covers at our local grocery store while I am checking out. Take auto magazines first as they are the simplest. It is very rare to see the cover of such a magazine that does not feature a nubile, semi-nude, provocatively posed young woman. Enough said about that. Women's magazines are worse as they don't just use the images of provocatively dressed women but come right out up front with their messages. You see covers that announce things like, fourteen ways to please your mate sexually, or great sex for all ages, or how to bring out your naughtiness for him, great things to do in bed, how to pep up your sex life, and so on and on.

On TV there are shows that of course trade on sexuality, like Desperate Housewives, for example (I have never seen any of these shows but I'm certain they exist and all feature sex above all else). Then there are the ubiquitous ads for male enhancement, viagra, cialis, and several others. These have now taken to featuring nubile young women clinging to the arms of their partners and extolling the virtues of these drugs or else standing around with idiotic expressions of sheer joy. One ad running all the time now features a handsome young woman who says, he doesn't need a prescription, he uses.....(the name of this magical potion escapes me at the moment). Whatever it is, she apparently thinks it works (do you think she ever actually saw the guy before they shot the commercial). Anyway, if you watch TV you must be aware of these products that exist only for the purpose of sexual gratification (you never hear them say anything about fertility, aiding pregnancy, or whatever - just sex).

Then there are all the diets. The most prominent diet ads at the moment come from something called Nutrisystem. You will notice that all of the men and women in these ads claim that they are now sexy, or sexier. They never say I feel healthier, or I believe I have helped my heart, or I just feel a lot better now. They all claim to be sexier. The male versions, featuring Dan Marino and other athletes, start off by asking if your sex life has slowed down or even stopped. None of them ever mention health or well-being other than being sexier. The female versions actually drip of sexy, my husband loves my body, I feel sexier now, I haven't had such a hot body since I was in school, and so on. I have nothing against sex. But when it appears to have become a cultural obsession I think perhaps it should be toned down a bit. After all, there are other things in life (well, maybe not these days).

This brings me to chicken breasts. My information on chicken breasts comes mostly from my perusing of my wife's cooking magazines and cook books. I believe it is true that the overwhelming majority of recipes for chicken nowadays (and there are thousands) call for skinless chicken breasts. In my opinion there is virtually nothing as tasteless as chicken breast, or turkey breast. When I see a recipe that starts out with the usual four skinless chicken breasts I immediately ignore it. Why this obsession with chicken breasts? Because they are not fattening, especially without the skin (which is the only part that might have any taste whatsoever if it was cooked crisply enough). In other words, chicken breasts are part of the diet business, which in turn is part of the look at me, I'm a forty year old grandmother and I still look sexy business.

I believe I can report that these obsessions do not seem to constitute part of our local culture. The majority of females here seem to have no interest either in their health or
looking sexy. There are exceptions, of course.

Someone (I can't remember who) once said, "the only way to true understanding is through an intellectual osmosis with a great-souled man" (or something to that effect). Would someone find me a great-souled man these days? Please.

I could comment on one or more of the dozens and dozens of Republican scandals but what would be the point? Everyone talks about them but no one does anything about them.