The Unknown Supermodel

Like any (straight) guy, I have a strong appreciation of uber-hot celebrity chicks. I tend to like the supermodel type—tall, long-legged, beautiful face—more than any other, and I’ve certainly had crushes on quite a few. From childhood to now, I’ve adored such models as Christie Brinkley, Paulina Porizkova, Linda Evangelista, Nadja Auermann, Adriana Sklenarikova, Rebecca Romijn, and Adriana Lima.

One model never quite made that list, and I think I just figured out why. Her name is Daniela Pestova. Sound familiar? No? Well, you may be surprised to learn that not only is she a top Victoria’s Secret Model, but also a regular on Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue and on catwalks on, well, wherever the hell they have fashion shows.

I’d seen her before and definitely noticed her beauty, but for whatever reason she never really registered with me. Recently, for whatever reason, I googled her and looked at her pictures and figured something out:

She’s perfect.

She’s too perfect, if that is possible. Every supermodel I have ever seen has some defining characteristic that is either unusual or perhaps even a “flaw”. Cindy Crawford’s mole is unusual. Evangelista’s knobby knees are a flaw (she’s even admitted she hates them). Any and every supermodel I’ve ever seen has one or many defining characteristics.

But not Daniela. She is, to my eyes, absolutely perfect. She looks to me like what God decided was going to be a woman, and the rest of women could genetically diversify from that.

Anyway, that is my excuse for slighting her all these years (she is 37 now and nearing the end of her career), but I am more than happy to make up for it by making her my first ever “Mr. Practical’s Babe of The Day”.

While she looks stunning (as usual) in this picture, take a moment and do a search for her using Google images and see all the photos of her you can. You will be amazed.

 

Why Guys Are Reluctant To Commit

Why are guys reluctant to commit (to marriage)?  I once heard a stand-up comic explain his answer with a memorable simile.  He said it was like you were taking a long car trip with your girlfriend and it was getting to be dinner time.  She said, “I’m getting hungry.  I just saw a sign for a restaurant that we like.  It’s two exits down.  Why don’t we pull off for dinner?”  He thought to himself – yeah, I like that restaurant just fine.  But maybe if we keep going down the freeway I’ll see one I like even better.  There may be some truth to that.  But let me supply a few other possible reasons. 

Marriage is a long-term commitment.  Yes, you can get divorced, but that is generally costly in many ways.   So the two people will be together for some time.  The guy may be wondering whether his wife will get fat or become disagreeable.  If she does, there is really nothing he can do, short of getting a divorce. 

A woman might respond, “What if the guy gets fat or becomes disagreeable?”  It’s certainly true that either of these might happen, but my gut feeling is they happen more often to women than to men (especially the becoming disagreeable part).   There’s an old saying: if mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy (in the family).”  This saying expresses the realization that an unhappy wife will make the entire family unhappy. 

Let me give another possible reason why guys are reluctant to commit to marriage.  If the marriage becomes deeply unhappy, he can leave, but leaving is often extremely expensive, because of the divorce laws.   Everyone knows the line from one of Eddie Murphy’s acts: “I want half.”  At least in some places in the country, giving up half is getting off easy.  Many ex-husbands have to give up half, or even more than half, then keep giving up half (or more)  of their income for years to come.   It doesn’t just happen with rich guys like Paul McCartney.  

Many guys hear about this and are reluctant to get married.  In this way the divorce laws create a disincentive for guys to get married.

Why Mr. Practical Won’t Date Fat Women

After reading his first post, you might wonder why Mr. Practical insists on dating slender women. The answer is because he can.

A study published in the journal “Evolution and Human Behavior” 26 (2005) 227, entitled “Hurry Date: Mate preferences in action” looked at speed dating events and found some interesting things about men’s and women’s preferences in speed dating.

For those of you who haven’t heard of speed dating, you get an equal number of men and women in a large room and rotate people every three minutes or so. At the end of the event each participant checks off the other participants with whom he or she would like to communicate further.

Astute readers would guess almost all of what the researchers found. Guys prefer young, attractive, slender women. Girls prefer big, tall, attractive guys with good personalities. No surprise there.

Guys have often debated whether a nice body or a pretty face is more important. This study provides an answer. “BMI (body mass index) dominated the analysis, alone accounting for a remarkable 25% or the variance in women’s desirability.” P. 234.

Participants generally recognized the speed dating event as a marketplace. The more appealing participants were more selective, excluding less desirable people. More selective men chose women who were “thinner, younger, and more attractive ….” P. 242. In short, Mr. Practical doesn’t date fat women because he doesn’t have to. He can date slim women.

And for those chubby women who want to date Mr. Practical: don’t loose hope. One of the study findings was that as people become less desirable, they become less selective. For example, participants who had been divorced or had gotten fat were less selective. If Mr. Practical gets married and divorced, or becomes fat, or goes broke, then you plumper girls might have a shot at him.