Buying into the idea of a 'perfect woman' sets a dangerous precedent

Yes, it is 2015, and this is the headline: Blondes fade from favour. What? Yes, that old saw again – but this time with a different punchline. Gentlemen now prefer brunettes, apparently. According to the latest survey by the dating website match.com, to be the “perfect woman” you have to have the following: blue eyes, a tattoo and an enjoyment of swimming. Of course you do; that list ticks all of the boxes, when you think about it. Blue eyes – a bit rarer than brown, but a lot less scary than green. The tattoo that reveals you have a racy, sexy dark sider and that you are daring. A bit of a hellraiser, perhaps. But there’s a sporty side, too; swimming – wow, you are wholesome, healthy and (crucially) thin. And the brunette – we never say brown – locks suggest a bit of a serious side too, bookish even. Bar the fact that the perfect woman is also apparently gainfully employed as a doctor (this indicates a caring quality, apparently), this description could describe Yvette Cooper, although I fear that even the perfect woman can’t hold a candle to men, with grey beards, in vests.