Blandsome men of the world take note: It's time for your Diet Coke break Then there's Ryan Gosling, an actor who, it seems increasingly likely, is not an actual living, breathing human male but in fact an elaborate satire on the laughably predictable sexuality of straight women. If he was papped tomorrow doing the washing up in a Mr Darcy costume while talking about how much he loves his cat, we'd have no reason to be surprised. The blandsome man is on the rise. Are they handsome? Sure. But in such a symmetrical, samey way that your visual cortex will often shut down from boredom before your brain has time to distinguish between them (see the picture of Ben Affleck and Hugh Jackman standing side-by-side at this year's SAG Awards. Spot the difference.). Not only does can this make it difficult to follow the plots of films and TV shows, it also puts pressure on ordinary, everyday sort of men, by bombarding them with images of unobtainable masculine perfection. I sympathise, I do. But not that much. Firstly because I'm a member of the traditionally bombarded gender and secondly because this is a situation that also insults straight women, by assuming we all have the same, rather obvious tastes. So I won't relate a reassuring anecdote about my friend who prefers shorter men because "they are more portable and take up less room in bed," although I could. Nor will I be listing stats on women who associate baldness with virility, though I have them by the bucket-load. Like the women's mag features "celebrating" curves or the ads featuring "real women" (the same models, but chubbier) this would probably just come off as patronising. The media that targets teenagers (ahem, Nuts magazine) should take responsibility for the messages they plant in impressionable minds. If you're a fully-matured adult, however, the glaring mis-match between what the media deems sexy (tragically limited) and what real people find sexy (infinitely varied) will have long ago become obvious . In short, it takes all sorts. This is a theory I'd love to expand on, but unfortunately it's coming up to 11.30 and I've got a got a sudden craving for Diet Coke...