Delicate flowers

I sometimes get lost in contemplation as my metaphorical sisters are vociferously expressing their disappointment with men not being considerate and respectful. It is impressive to see so much energy emerging from such small, sensitive and yet so powerful creatures. Sometimes the energy is pure rage, and for good reason; many men are just unable to fathom their beauty and delicacy and fail to appreciate it accordingly. If I had the talent (and budget) I'd like to make a movie to make people aware of their painful struggle. It would be my token of appreciation and empathy, my protest against this plague which taints our so-called "modern and evolved" society.
So far I have a title for it and a basic narrative. In order to gather more information about what women are looking for in a man, I went on Tinder. I thought of this little app to be a trove of sincere and unbiased openness, a channel where women can freely express what they want from a man, a lover, a potential partner to spend their entire lives with. Indeed, it was.

And what better starting point than the description in the profile? You're not one to judge a book by the pictures, are you?
Most of the profiles that have words in the description (more on this a bit later) are mentioning interest for relaxed conversations over a glass of wine, but intelligent and meaningful at the same time. Such descriptions are accompanied by pictures of ample décolletages and mashing bras in more or less provoking positions and tattoos depicting tribal symbols or deep philosophical quotes from Facebook. Often in Chinese characters, for emphasis.

There are some descriptions where the author was too busy to use words (yes, this is the later bit mentioned earlier). She opted for various sets of emoticons instead. Usually including a party hat, a glass of red wine, a smiling sun, a pair of lips, ice-cream, cigarette and smoke, 3 wiggly lines (probably waves, the phone set on vibrate or drunken cocaine lines), a cat's head and an umbrella tilted to 45º, which is not how you'd normally hold an umbrella.
Others -probably the more avid Shakespeare readers- take brevity to the next level of wit and have blank descriptions or brief statements such as "5.7 ft min." or "love 2 get p*ssed". An asterisk is proof that foul language does not belong in a well-educated woman's vocabulary.
And -to close the circle- there are some descriptions that contain painfully long stories about a child being afraid of the dark and a man being afraid of the light, an injured deer or cat finding shelter from the storm, a storm, the soul reflecting from a tree in a lake at midnight under the moon and above the clouds, the warmth of kindness, being present and/ or connected, a drop of water in the ocean, crossroads and so on. Usually combined.

I'm not one to generalize, every woman is unique -of course- but some common traits have emerged. The ideal man should be usually taller, considerate, without tattoos, well-mannered, educated, loyal, attentive and funny. No pictures without a t-shirt, please. They like Hawking and Chopra, Dawkins and Osho. And they're also quite religious. Some have pictures wearing a wedding dress. And at least one with a small cat or dog. Many think the eyes are the path to the soul, usually the ones wearing sunglasses the size of manholes. It's rather hard to strike the right balance. But the treasure awaiting those who go all the way is worth any effort. This is true. Some even remember to remind it to the potentially lucky ones. Just in case.

As an homage to Mr. Scorsese's masterpiece Raging bull, I'd name mine Raging cow.