Sergey’s from Russia. Not sure if there are the same type of places there. With the same cultural backdrop.

“Capitalism relies on the cultivation and proliferation of desires, through the invention of artificial “needs”, such as the “need” to correct sagging earlobes.”

This is a standard Marxist interpretation but like so much of Marxist analysis is not accurate. What makes these products sell isn’t that the seller creates an “artificial need.” Sellers (or more accurately, marketers) tap into an existing psychological need, in this case the desire to be attractive to our fellow human beings. This is much easier to do than creating false needs. It is also much more effective to tap into existing needs than creating new/false ones.

Sergey writes:

“[V]ery long nails is a signal that she is wealthy enough to do no handy work at all – not in office, not in home.”

You evidently are not from the “hood.” I grew up in the hood and let me tell you, plenty of poor folks have long nails.

Thus – I asked the question did they wear solid brass ear rings their whole life? (solid brass being quite heavy)

I figure since *all* of the women I know do not use a similar product, nor do they have such ear lobes, then the problem isn’t that great. Skin stretches if you add weight – this those really large heavy ear rings should be the culprits (and I even notice that nearly all the photo’s have them).

Then again, none of them wear ear rings with anywhere close to that mass. I may be a male, but even I am aware of what wearing that heavy an ear ring would do – in fact I would assume that a full day of that would cause some neck pain (I know from carrying concealed firearms that less then a pound where it normally doesn’t sit can cause back pain and your back is MUCH stronger).

Women have traditionally been discouraged from competing with each other in sports, academia, or business, so they compete for men- and most of the time it’s not about things that are really attractive to men, but about competing with each other to meet a collective standard of attractiveness. Things have changed somewhat in sports, academics, and business, but old habits die hard. And I doubt it will ever die down completely.

Put any bunch of social primates together and they’ll find SOMETHING to settle status with.

Let me guess, sergey – you’re single?

Also note that just about all of those women have free rather than attached earlobes (that is, the lobes hang lower than the attachment of the ear to the face — which I think is a dominant genetic trait.) I’m a woman with free earlobes who loves to wear earrings, and if I put on a particularly heavy pair, I suspect my ears might look a little bit like some of those pictures. There’s an easier solution than ear lifts, though: just wear smaller earrings!

However, I can not think of a single woman I have ever met that has earlobe that hang that much. Did they wear nothing but solid brass large dangling ear-rings for their whole lives? I have to wonder how long they searched for such pictures or if there is some, hmm, manipulation going on there.

I guess they figure they would show some extreme cases, imply that *all* women were in that situation, and sell like crazy as the self obsessed people (and if you figure I think females are the only ones ask me about the “axe effect” and their commercials) go to the mirror and notice some small thing that no one else in the world would even if told about it and asked to look.