In my mum's day, you needed to be beautiful for a very short time to catch your man. It didn't start at six and go on until you're 75, right?

Beauty has been democratised. No longer the preserve of movie stars and models but available to all. But while the invitation to beauty is welcomed, it has become not so much an option as an imperative.

Skinny is only one body type.

Boys, young men, men of all ages are being captivated by the new visual grammar which pushes men to pout and posture.

When I was growing up, one or two girls were beautiful, but it was not an aspiration, right?

Celebrity culture is something that pains me.

Many young girls are constantly consumed by controlling and managing their body image to the extent that they are much more involved in the production of the self than in living.