Does size matter?  

With the digital deadline looming, I thought it about time I replaced my old boxy television set. For someone who still can't decide what type of smart phone to buy and is making do with an inadequate $29.95 job, this was a comparatively quick decision. So armed with a list of the differences between LCD, LED and Plasma televisions from a friend with a technical bent, off I went to get a good deal.

Now let me explain myself, in case you haven't guessed, I'm a woman and a single one at that. You've probably already sussed that I don't watch rugby unless there is a bloke about. I live in a small, perfectly formed townhouse where you step into the front door straight into the lounge. By New Zealand standards my dwelling is small though considered spacious by Japanese visitors. The only place for the television is opposite the front door on a wall that supports the stairs. So you can see where I am coming from. I didn't want my lounge room to be all about the television. It was about balance and aesthetics which never really bother men when it comes to interior design, but it does me as I suspect it does any woman who possesses an ounce of creativity.

My potential purchase caused a great deal of consternation to the male sales assistants in the stores I visited. As I only wanted a 32” television it was assumed that this must be for a bedroom or the study. No, I insisted it was for my lounge room. Are you sure Madam, you'd be far happier with something bigger, especially when you are watching rugby or motor racing. Well, I recall I did watch Bathurst once so was I being a little too hasty?

There was genuine concern for my future happiness and satisfaction here, it wasn't all about increasing sales I'm certain, and in the eyes of the sales assistants one thing was clear, inches matter and the more the better. Clearly size is everything in the testosterone driven realm of males and encompasses not only matters related to sexual prowess but infiltrates other markers of masculinity as well. I must admit I paused to gaze wistfully at a high definition set the size of a table tennis table costing thousands of dollars, wondering if I should up size and up price. It was possible that was more to do with Chris Hemsworth being displayed in high definition glory at that precise moment, so I stuck to my guns. The nice young man gave me a discount on the wall bracket, possibly out of pity.

It's all set up and working now and I am quite satisfied with my small and perfectly formed choice, with or without Chris Hemsworth. The number of inches is irrelevant; pleasure can come in any size.