How to do Stuff: Being Sexy!

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

The Hard Shoulder, with Ciara Kelly and Shane Colman, on Newstalk, with Ciara.

Shane Colman (0:08)

Now, as always, at this time of the week, we are joined by Simon Tierney, who has gone a little bit left field, I think it's fair to say, with his How To series. Simon, you've gone on how to be sexy.

Simon Tierney (0:20)

Yeah, this is my specialist subject.

Ciara Kelly (0:23)

You're bringing sexy back.

Simon Tierney (0:24)

Bringing it back.

How to be sexy, there's two reasons why I'm discussing this. First of all, I'm reading Michael Douglas' fantastic memoir at the moment, which just came out, and it's striking. That period where he was at the height of his powers in the late 80s, early 90s, was really the zenith of the sexy Hollywood thriller. You've got your fatal attraction, your basic instinct, your disclosure with Demi Moore, these sort of movies. That's what got me thinking about it first, about how our perceptions of sexiness have perhaps evolved since that time. And the second thing is that People magazine have very recently issued their new title holder for World's Sexiest Man.

Ciara Kelly (1:14)

WSM.

Simon Tierney (1:16)

World's Sexiest Man, indeed. Yeah. So that is Noah Wiley. Are you familiar with this guy?

Shane Colman (1:21)

I had to look him up, but when I looked him up, I knew who he was.

Ciara Kelly (1:24)

I knew exactly who he was without ever having to look him up.

Simon Tierney (1:27)

Yeah, and I was just going to say this with...

Shane Colman (1:28)

He said it in a peculiar voice.

Simon Tierney (1:30)

You said that in a rather husky voice. I did, actually. Which we'll get to in a moment.

Ciara Kelly (1:34)

And I didn't intend to.

Simon Tierney (1:35)

But myself and Shane were chatting about this earlier, and we were saying that it's kind of ironic because his co-star on ER has been the object of so many women's affections for so long.

Ciara Kelly (1:46)

You're talking about George Clooney.

Simon Tierney (1:47)

George Clooney, but now, of course, Noah Wiley has got that interesting a win for middle aged men. He is 55 years of age, not the oldest winner of World Sexiest Man, but certainly up there. Just by four years, the oldest was actually Sean Connery.

Ciara Kelly (2:07)

Do we know what makes someone sexy? And also because of the name of the slot that we're in. How can someone become sexy if they suspect that they're not very sexy?

Simon Tierney (2:18)

Yeah, I mean, it's unfortunate that this is radio because it would just be so much easier for me to answer that question.

Ciara Kelly (2:25)

Just smolder down the camera at somebody.

Simon Tierney (2:28)

No, voice is really important.

Ciara Kelly (2:30)

Voice is really important. Voice is really important.

Simon Tierney (2:33)

Really important.

Shane Colman (2:34)

You both just sound weird.

Ciara Kelly (2:36)

Shane is going red.

Simon Tierney (2:37)

I was kind of asking myself earlier, like, what is the difference between if someone says that that person is good looking and that person is sexy? I think there's a really key difference.

Ciara Kelly (2:45)

I think someone can see someone is good looking, but not fancy them. But if you think they're sexy, it's because you want them in some way or you see you get that thing.

Simon Tierney (2:58)

Yeah, I think that's that's really important. There has to be a sexual attraction. But also, I think what's key is that sexy is a mix of attractiveness. And there has to be some level of charm. There has to be something about their personality as well. I think that is getting you on board.

Shane Colman (3:15)

So, is age a factor then? I mean, if you're older, does it give you a certain cache?

Simon Tierney (3:22)

I think it certainly dictates what our kind of general perception of sexiness is, right? So the average age in the last 38 years that People magazine has been running this, World Sexiest Man, the average age is 39, right? But when Esquire magazine ran their World Sexiest Woman or Sexiest Woman Alive, which they no longer run, but when they were running that, the average age was 30 So there's almost a decade in the difference in kind of the perceived notion of what sexiness is for men and women. And I think this is best exemplified actually by Dustin Hoffman, whose memoir is also right at the moment. In The Graduate, of course, he's talking about The Graduate during the press tour at the moment, Anne Bancroft, who plays this kind of very sultry, very sexy, in inverted commas, older woman.