I care about my looks- does that make me a bimbo?

Of course there are more important things going on in the world than my eyelashes, many of which I have strong and informed (I hope) opinions on, but one does not cancel out the other.

Years of stereotypical depictions associating beauty with bimbos, has resulted in anyone taking care of their looks, automatically being written off as an airhead.

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I care about my appearance because it impacts my self-confidence.

You wouldn’t go to an interview in a tracksuit- if you look your best, you feel your best and in turn do your best. What’s wrong with trying your hardest in every aspect of your life?

Society appears to prefer women who bathe in self-loathing, frowning on our continental cousins who are not ashamed to parade around the house in their full naked glory.

Research shows that women spend an average of 91 hours a year- that's 43 weeks of our lives, applying make-up, moisturiser and blow-drying our hair each day.

While I too tire of the constant influx of celebrity selfies, and sexist double acts such as Bruce Forsyth and Tess Daly or Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby (who came under attack for being a ‘talentless bimbo’), there is a difference between pride and obsessive vanity.

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In Jane Austen’s words: “Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us.”

Just because society sexualises women, I am not going to avoid skirts and make up.

I find the pooh poohing of feminists and intellectuals all the more insulting, as I share many of their beliefs. Yet to me, a mark of intelligence is the ability not to pigeonhole a person.

Everyone has many layers to them, and if some of my layers are deemed shallow so be it. As they say, don’t hate- appreciate.