u/Landscape_712

My style and fashion tends to lean hyper feminine. Meaning a lot of clothes I like to wear are ones that fit near the waist to emphasize the hourglass shape. But I have my bloated days like everyone does or days where I want a bit more coverage. I tried the oversized T shirt look but I just don't like how it looks on me; it give me a boxy look. What clothes do you wear on days where you still want to look presentable but you want to cover up especially your torso and stomach area more?

My husband and I have a 5-year wedding anniversary coming up. I've always fancied the Waldorf Hotel and I know it recently opened after an 8-year renovation. Has anyone been there since it reopened? We don't normally spend nearly this much for a hotel stay but we thought about splurging for one night for a special occasion. We would mainly stay for the experience, the room, cocktails, and dinner. Not planning to add on extra amenities like the spa, etc. What was the experience like? And did you have dinner there at Lex Yard?

First time watcher and I am halfway through Season 7. I still enjoy the show, but lately some of the plots have started to feel noticeably more contrived.

For example, Susan needs a kidney donor. While she is at the hospital one day, she happens to run into an old high school classmate whom she hasn’t seen in over twenty years. He recognizes her, decides to give her his kidney, and then it turns out that he has been in love with her for decades and has kept an entire binder of Susan-related mementos. I know stalkers like that can exist, but the whole situation felt so tacked on while also creating a temporary creepy-admirer plot.

Then there is Gaby’s therapy storyline. She initially resists talking about her childhood because it is so painful, particularly because her stepfather molested her. But after a single conversation with Carlos, she tells her therapist everything during only her second session: “My stepfather molested me.”

I realize that survivors sometimes do reveal trauma suddenly or very bluntly, so that moment alone isn’t necessarily unrealistic. But it’s the linear neatness of the entire progression. Gaby goes from resisting therapy, to disclosing her deepest childhood trauma, to returning to her hometown in Texas and then happens to bump into the nun who accused her of lying and made her feel ashamed. The exact person who failed her is still there, giving Gaby the opportunity to confront and say everything she has apparently carried for decades.

In real life, it is incredibly difficult to confront someone you haven’t seen in decades and explain exactly how much pain they caused you. It felt arranged to give her a dramatic confrontation and a fairly tidy moment of closure.

Earlier seasons obviously had some very dramatic plots too, the entire show is an outrageous nighttime soap, and that’s part of the fun. But I think the stronger seasons gave the characters and storylines enough development that the absurdity still felt emotionally earned. In Season 7, it feels like the writing is increasingly forcing characters into a convenient position for a twist, confession, or dramatic speech.

Shera constantly talks about “freestyling” and going out in affluent areas to meet wealthy men. But then Shera makes it sound like practically every time she leaves the house, men are falling over themselves to give her things. She claims that she gets into places for free. Someone picks up her tab. Men buy her things. She is allowed to skip lines. She gets special treatment everywhere. And the implication is that this happens constantly because she just looks THAT good.

Give me a freaking break.

I’m not saying attractive women never get free drinks, upgrades, special treatment, etc. Of course they do. But there are literal supermodels who probably don’t experience this stuff with the level of frequency Shera claims she does.

It also bothers me because I think exaggerating like this can actually undermine a woman’s self-esteem who listens to her. A woman could follow Shera’s advice, get dressed up, go to an upscale restaurant or bar by herself, have nobody approach her or offer to pay for anything, and walk away thinking, “What’s wrong with me? Am I not attractive enough?”

When in reality, that is a completely normal night out, even for a very attractive woman.

And honestly, the more I hear these stories, the more they come across as desperate for male validation rather than genuinely confident. So many of her stories seem designed to prove that men find her irresistible: men give her free things, men pay for her, men let her skip lines, men supposedly abandon other women when they see her, married men stare at her while their wives get jealous, etc. If your message is supposed to be about women knowing their worth, why is male attention constantly being used as proof of your own? To me, real confidence doesn’t require being the woman every man wants or the woman other women are supposedly threatened by.

So a pretty core part of Red Pill talking points is how women will inevitably lose their beauty, hence 'hitting the wall'. This is often pushed to not only belittle women but encourage women to marry as soon as possible, lock in a man, and keep their standards for dating/marriage low. I'm not going to make the counter argument here that women can still maintain attractiveness and data shows women still date and marry past mid age. Let's just accept the premise for a moment.

If you actually analyze this logic through a risk-management lens, it points to the exact opposite conclusion. If an asset is guaranteed to depreciate and your partner's attraction is allegedly transactional and fleeting, why on earth would you center your entire survival, identity, and future around that asset?

If your looks have an expiration date and a woman's greatest asset is supposedly her youth and beauty, isn't that all the more reason for women to NOT center their lives around men? By this logic, your man will tire of you and choose to replace you with a younger woman eventually. So the notion that 'beauty fades' is all the more reason that a woman should pursue avenues like education, career, friendships, hobbies, and personal growth; things that don't have an expiration date and allow you to derive self-worth from internal validation rather than external approval.

If youth and beauty are temporary, putting all your eggs in the basket of male validation is a recipe for vulnerability. The idea that looks fade isn't a reason to panic and settle; it's the ultimate argument for financial independence and self-reliance.

Just wondering, what are your thoughts on women who claim they "dress for themselves" but still participate in more dramatic beauty practices like wearing high heels, very tight uncomfortable clothes, spending hours on hair and makeup, and then getting cosmetic surgery like implants, lip fillers, etc or even botox. Do you think they are truly dressing only for themselves or its also partially for male attention?

I honestly have a hard time believing it's 100% for themselves because even if you want to look good, all those practices are rooted in getting male attention. For instance, wearing padded bras was popular in the 2000s and 2010s. During covid when everyone was at home, the sales of padded bras plunged while the sales of comfortable clothing splurged. Why wear an uncomfortable bra if you are at home alone? Why go through uncomfortable surgery like breast implants, BBL, if it's truly just for yourself and not because you care how others see you?

Note - I don't fault women for doing this, we were brought up in a patriarchal world where our "value" was almost dependent on being chosen by a man. From a young age, women are socialized in a society that disproportionately values female youth, beauty, and specific body proportions.

I actually liked Mike and Susan better divorced.

I just finished Season 5 and literally GROANED when the mystery bride turned out to be Susan

After all the back-and-forth between these two, I genuinely thought their divorce was finally the end of it. And honestly? I liked them better apart. Mike actually seemed to have more personality when he wasn’t just functioning as Susan’s on-again/off-again love interest.

They’ve already dated, broken up, gotten back together, gotten married, had a kid, gotten divorced, dated other people… and now we’re doing Mike and Susan AGAIN?!

I feel sorry for Katherine, because she sensed it in her gut that they weren’t over each other, but she gave Mike the benefit of the doubt. Only for this to happen

I’m honestly so sick of the way women are constantly scrutinized. And yes I know this topic is nothing new but it’s inspired by the recent obsession with Shakira‘s appearance. Yes, she looks amazing at 49. That’s not my issue.

My issue is that the internet immediately turns it into a forensic investigation. There are literal doctors and plastic surgeons posting frame-by-frame breakdowns of her face, analyzing every angle, speculating about fillers, facelifts, lasers, genetics, skincare, diet, sleep… as if a woman simply existing is an invitation for the world to dissect her.

It’s exasperating.

I understand wanting to age well. I do too. But why are women treated like public property the second they look attractive or happen to age well? or when they don’t age well? Why does every line on a woman’s face become a topic for debate? every part of her body people feel so entitled to comment on?

And yes I know Shakira is a public figure, but this happens to all kinds of women every single day. Post a selfie, and strangers suddenly think they’re qualified to comment on your age, your skin, your weight, whether you’ve “had work done,” or what they think you should change.

Meanwhile, men are overwhelmingly allowed to just… exist. They age. They get wrinkles. They go gray. Most people move on and talk about other traits about them. Women are put under a microscope and picked apart piece by piece like so forensic experiment.

It’s exhausting, it’s invasive, and frankly it’s dehumanizing.

At some point, can women just be allowed to exist and fucking breathe without everyone feeling entitled to publicly analyze every square inch of their appearance? Admire someone’s beauty if you want. But this constant obsession with dissecting women’s faces and bodies is getting ridiculous.

I got the Redken Acidic Bonding Concentrate Hair Bandage Balm this week because I wanted softer, silkier hair. I noticed after one use my hair is lighter, fluffier, and bouncier. Even other people noticed the change.

I used regular shampoo and conditioner when I washed my hair, and then instead of the usual leave-in conditioner I used this bandage balm. My question is - is this balm meant to replace a leave in conditioner? Or should I use both at once? Or alternate? Would appreciate any feedback

He has the personality of a boiled potato yet two women fight over him like horny cats. And they manage to make him even more boring when he woke up from his coma. Susan’s endless obsession with him annoys me

First-time watcher on season 3. Susan was head over heels obsessed with Mike since she first saw him. The poor guy is now in a coma, and she asks him while he’s comatose and can’t refuse her if she can go on a date with another man? that didn’t sit right with me and seems odd for her character

What has always struck me about the "hitting the wall" narrative is how much emotional energy RP men spend on imagining women's downfall.

Instead of these guys focusing on making their own lives better, they spend a huge portion of time and effort imagining and telling women one they will be ugly, alone, and no one will want them.

Aside from the fact that if you walk outside and see how real people interact, it is largely BS. But the fact they even spend this much time dwelling on their revenge fantasies is very telling to me. It's not about trying to spread some "truth" or improve relationships or anything. They just want to diminish women

I’m watching Desperate Housewives for the first time and I’m starting to get really irritated with Lynette in season 2. Bree absolutely should not have passed out while watching the kids, but Lynette also showed up unannounced with her chaotic brats and basically expected Bree to handle it, even though Bree was clearly not in a good place. Then afterward, Bree is already dealing with Andrew being an absolute monster, including falsely implying SA allegations against his own mother just to get his trust fund early. so when Bree asks Lynette for reassurance that she won’t throw her under the bus, it felt understandable to me. Instead, Lynette makes it about her pride and pulls the whole “is that the only reason you apologized?” angle and threatens to tell everything. It just felt like Bree needed compassion and support in that moment, and Lynette really didn’t have her back at all