Sometimes, appearance factors intrude. It’s hard to overlook neglect of grooming, or a serious case of overweight. But then, can you really be healthy if you’re dirty and unkempt? Can you really be vital if you’re dragging around an extra forty or fifty pounds?

Clothing? It counts, to a degree; it’s hard to take much interest in a woman in a burq’a. Makeup? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. A great deal of makeup always suggests that the wearer is hiding something.

A woman in good health who possesses abundant life energy can’t help but know it. It makes her confident and poised. She doesn’t succumb to the run-and-hide reaction a lot of women do when a single man lets her know he finds her attractive.

The sine qua non, for this Curmudgeon, is a sincere, sustained interest in me. I married the last two women who thought I was handsome and witty. One of them has yet to unlearn her mistake. Watch this space!

Not that the cheekbones, makeup and clothes would detract from the intelligence and humor…

I know several people who argue that the female attractiveness sweepstakes is mostly conducted for other females’ benefits…I suppose it’s not unlike male deer growing big sets of antlers, it’s an intimidation tactic.

And frankly, it works, a lot of the time. Considering all the probably decent-looking women who can immediately point out fifteen things “wrong” with how they look.