What is sexy?

I watch way too much TV. It's true and I'm willing to admit it. But one of the reasons I do it (well, the reasons Sweetie and I do it) is because it gives us a look into what society says about things. Society tells us that anyone can be a cop (see Law and Order [any of them], CSI [any of them], SouthLAnd, etc.), that dating sucks (see anything in the world) and that anyone can be a hero (mainly Heroes, but a lot of other things as well).

But what does society tell us is sexy? Surely that's an easy one, you might think. But I'm not so sure.

Looking at what is on TV (and granted, I can only comment on what I watch), sexy is skinny, smart, driven women. You have the incredible female leads on Law and Orders, the strong characters on Lie to Me and House M.D., the creative ones on Dollhouse (haven't seen the finale yet, so don't ruin it), the heroic ones on Heroes, etc. etc. And I love that society is allowing for these women to exist on television. Such a wonderful change from Leave it to Beaver's mom and Father Knows Best's mom.

However

Sexy is always understood to be skinny. Any character that is remotely overweight (that is FEMALE) is rarely if ever seen. She's the best friend (see Samantha Who) or the comic relief (see Gilmore Girls) [oddly enough, I just gave you the same actress]. She's the one who is the butt of all the jokes (see Family Guy) or she's the third or fourth story line that leads back to the first story line and that's the only reason they exist (see Dollhouse).

Why is that? We have seen a plethora of men who are overweight on TV. Drew Carey, George Wendt, Jason Alexander, Anthony Anderson, Dann Florek, etc. And while they might not all play the best of characters (a drunk might not be the most glamorous person to play on TV), there are many who play incredible roles.

Why can't America understand that curves are sexy? That women who eat are healthy and women who starve themselves are not? This article (thank you Feministing), while happily bringing issues to light about eating disorders, only brings them about because the sex life is having problems. Not because the issue is unhealthy nor because it is trying to combat "the 'thin is in' campaign we’ve been subjected to for decades."

Please tell me I'm not the only one who sees a problem with this!

We need to teach our children (you know, my nonexistant pretend ones that I keep under my desk at work) better. We need to imbue them with much better self-esteem. We need to be sure to keep it all in our minds eye so that they don't go through what most of us went through. And I know we all say it, but I'm hoping we'll all do it.