The 'F' word: Good enough can be perfect

04 April 2016 - 02:18 By ©The Daily Telegraph

Look out ladies, there's a pejorative new "f-word" guaranteed to erode your self esteem. It's not "fat" or "fossilised" or even "fugly".It's "flawless" - the new benchmark by which women are being judged and found wanting. Especially in the bedroom. Research from the University of Kent shows a growing expectation among men that sex ought to be just like carefully orchestrated pornography is placing so much pressure on women to be perfect they are losing their libido because of stress.A recent study revealed that 96% of women felt guilty at least once a day. Almost half of those questioned owned up to feelings of out-and-out shame four times a day. The causes ranged from "not being good enough" to "not spending enough time with the family".Whereas men typically outsource personal failure, women readily blame themselves: "I just wasn't up to it".So why is it that gifted women flagellate themselves over their flaws and mediocre men don't? Because most men genuinely believe they are good enough already. And that's the message our daughters need to hear; good enough is perfect. ..

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