I Was Worried About My Sex Appeal Until I Read <i>Esquire</i>

There's a part of me that cannot even believe that we are having a conversation legitimizing the sex appeal of a particular age group. It's absurd. But we are, because when attractive celebrities that certain men want to have sex with reach a particular age, we need a piece like this one to justify desiring sex with said age group.
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This cover image provided by Esquire magazine shows actress Scarlett Johansson on the cover of the November 2013 issue. The magazine hits newsstands on Oct. 15. Johansson has earned the title of Esquire magazine's sexiest woman alive, for a second time. She also won in 2006. (AP Photo/Esquire)
This cover image provided by Esquire magazine shows actress Scarlett Johansson on the cover of the November 2013 issue. The magazine hits newsstands on Oct. 15. Johansson has earned the title of Esquire magazine's sexiest woman alive, for a second time. She also won in 2006. (AP Photo/Esquire)

Apparently, I still have a few more years of "hotness," according to Esquire writer, Tom Junod. Because, you know, I was worried. Really really worried.

Junod says:

There used to be something tragic about even the most beautiful forty-two-year-old woman.

Yes, because any purpose our life had (other than motherhood) was over. But have no fear, 41-year-olds, you're still free to strut your stuff without judgment because you have one year left. Now, obviously I'm not serious, I'm sarcastic. There's a part of me that cannot even believe that we are having a conversation legitimizing the sex appeal of a particular age group. It's absurd. But we are, because when attractive celebrities that certain men want to have sex with reach a particular age, we need a piece like this one to justify desiring sex with said age group.

And in essence, that's really what this article is about. It's about a man not wanting to be troubled by liking someone more mature in age than your average Playmate. This isn't about women. This is about male insecurity. Tom, it's okay to like women your own age. It's okay to like them older, too. It happens. (But truth be told, in this case, Tom is saying that he would like to screw women who are a decade or so younger than him. Tom is in his 50s.) Gee, a man being interested in a younger woman -- wow -- that sounds like a novel idea.

Junod offers lots of reasons why the 42-year-old female is suddenly desirous. One that I am particularly drawn to is:

No generation of American women has entered its forties as frank about sex...

Oh, Tom. Women have always been talking about sex. This is nothing new; you just haven't been listening. In recent history alone, the women who fought for contraception and abortion in the 1960s and early 1970s have long since passed the age 42. Were they not talking about sex?

Maybe it's time to start paying attention.

It's amusing to me that the majority of 42-year-old celebrities Junod talks about are comediennes with timing, wit, and sass. He says:

It is no accident that every woman mentioned here has comic as well as carnal appeal, and entices with the promise of lust with laughs.

I'm going to put it differently. The reason we love these women isn't because they are still hot. It's because they are smart. And sexiness, while some may think depends on Pilates and yoga and voluptuous curves, is really about what's going on in the mind.

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