On taut and tense

I just read an interesting op-ed in the NY times - recommended by my most excellent friend - about the possibility of a female Viagra. It's a longish article and all very fascinating (No sex please, we're middle class), but the part that truly stuck out to me was about how American actresses have "desexualized" themselves. Rather than having voluptuous bodies, (think Beyonce), they chose 'efficient....sterilized athleticism" instead. As the author cites, Madonna has become scrawny and bourgeois, versus her more curvy look back in the '80's. What also struck me was the description of these women as "taut and over tense". I got to wondering....why would you want to look like that? (Why do I worry that I don't?) I mean, we all apparently feel taut and over tense, but not because our Pilate's instructor got us so lean or our private chef prepared so much grilled fish and bok choy. No, I am tense and taut because I think our lives are on speed. I keep trying to work out if all women have felt like this for years and years....or if we are truly trading achievement for ourselves (and our children, if we have them), for enjoyment, pleasure, and time spent soaking up the world, instead of trying to bend it to fit our busy schedules. I want to stop. I want to get out of that rat race. I want my family to be able to. But I don't know what the alternative is. Not taking up pilates and elimating all fun foods apparently. All that would happen then is what I felt inside would be written all over me...! Oh, just without the boob job.