Virginia Blackburn

IT IS a very strange fact of life that in an age when women have freedom, choice and the opportunity to have fulfilling careers as never before, whenever a group of them wish to make a point, they get their kit off. The latest is the Loose Women panel who have at least mercifully kept their bathing suits on (although it is noticeable that the ones with better figures are sporting bikinis), but still. The Women’s Institute, which started all this nonsense, has a lot to answer for. Because what these stupid, deluded, publicity-seeking women do not seem to understand is that every time they bare all, they are setting the cause of women’s rights back – men who wish to be taken seriously would never, ever do the same.

Can you imagine chaps posing for an all-nude calendar with just, say, a spanner to protect their modesty? Some of course do so and end up a laughing stock. But for some reason women think that if they perch behind a couple of strategically placed cupcakes with a cherry on top, ho ho, it’s some sort of force for good. No it’s not. It’s just highlighting the fact that men and women are still miles apart.

These women sometimes say it’s for “charidee”. Here’s an idea: if you want to raise money for people less well off than yourself, why not pursue a career, earn lots of money and donate some of that instead?

The Loose Women crew say they are de-kitting to draw attention to the fact that normal women’s bodies look nothing like the airbrushed representations we see everywhere. I