By Mark Atteberry
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Published July 2009 (Paperback) Standard Publishing
Put me in an LBD and I am happy. The cover of So Much More Than Sexy grabbed me for that very reason. And there is that nuanced nod to what I have been working on lately.
That is: rejecting myself following interaction with males who have known me a very, very long time. Read: one man. Read: ex. The automatic shift to wanting to please, and if I piss him off by telling the Truth – read: enable — I lose. So what he says about me — when he is angry because I don’t agree with him — is the Truth?
Say no. My therapist says. Say no when you feel no.
The author of So Much More Than Sexy, Mark Atteberry, is a pastor, and as such, he spouts Biblical phrases. Okay, here I am walking cautiously. Some of what he writes doesn’t fit for me. While the book is easy to read, it’s not completely easy to swallow. Depends on your religiosity. I like his friendly tone, and I listened to his every word. He wants women to value themselves. Totally. I am with you on that, Mark.
His bottom line message for women of any age is to not dress trashy. It’s not like all guys just want One Thing, but it is the wrong signal to be sending. Instead, be godly. Instead of amplifying your breasts, amp up your brain power. Read good books.
Little sidebar: Maybe that’s what saved my life. The life-long reading I began as a toddler, elevated my spirit from being completely convinced that I was a sex-toy when I was a kid. And, actually, up until not that long ago.
Desperate. Are you? Thinking your clock is ticking, you’ll never find the right guy, you’ll take what you can get. Hike up the skirts, lower the cleavage, squeeze into tighter jeans. Hey, that’s not fair to the guys, either.
And what about that millionaire for whom thousands of girls will flip their tops to be caught on Girls Gone Wild. What do they get? A tee-shirt. He gets millions. They each get a tee-shirt for baring their breasts, for their ten-seconds of fame. Atteberry says it all started to go downhill when women burned their bras in the 70′s. Those are the women now in their fifties, who, he says, should wear Red Hats instead of mini-skirts. I’m in that group, but I can’t buy into frumpy.
I dance, instead. Keeps my body young and lithe, keeps my spirit joyous. And I read.
