I’m about to turn 40 and I’ve reached a stage where I’m really happy with myself and my body. It’s taken me a long time and a lot of pain and angst and anxiety to accept my body and its flaws because I think ultimately we all want to look perfect for men, but men actually love us exactly as we are and I think that’s been a wonderful lesson for me to just love myself. I think there definitely are different standards of beauty. I think there’s definitely an African standard and a European standard. I’m very happy that I’m an African woman. I think that when I started to put on weight, I realised how much that is valued in African society because suddenly I was bigger and fatter with giant boobs and a big bum and I’ve never gotten so much male attention in my life. So, it was a real positive, who knew. I think that bodies and beauty and what the ideals are, are very limited and there’s a set standard of beauty, but I personally think that there is something so incredibly beautiful about a woman who is really happy with herself and okay with her body and so sexy about a woman like that as compared to women who are stick thin and obviously know that they are hot and are sort of prancing around with their bellies exposed. For me, personally, perhaps it’s just my age, but I do find something incredibly alluring about women who are obviously not in their 20’s or even their early 30’s, but who are so comfortable in their skins, who look good and who feel good irrespective of their bellies protruding or their bum. I think big bums are beautiful. I personally have an obsession with bums, I think they gorgeous, the bigger the better. I’m a bit of a pervert actually." - Gail