Each Tuesday, The Upshot’s newsletter will feature a selection of comments from an article that resonated with our readers in the past week.

An article on women’s alleged new attraction to the soft, doughy “dad bod” brought many incisive comments from readers, including some heaping scorn on the very notion. As N.M. of N.Y.C. put it: “Only a man would believe that women like men with a beer gut, rather than a body like a (young) Brad Pitt.”

Karen of Phoenix, Ariz.:

My husband and I aren’t parents. Do I prefer the dadbod? Does my husband prefer the mombod? The answer to both questions is no. I am 10 pounds heavier, and my husband 20 pounds, than we were when we married nine years ago. Both of us want for ourselves and each other to lose the weight so that we can maintain our health and strength as we enter our 50s. Our weight gain has largely been about less regular exercise due to work schedules, long commutes and other commitments. The weight is easier to gain and harder to lose with age; luckily for us we have the commitment in our marriage and love and caring for each other to see past the unwanted physical changes. I find the whole dadbod discussion rather silly because I think it flies in the face of a new human (and certainly Western) obsession with youth and beauty. I don’t buy that anyone prefers the dadbod any more than I do the mombod. Maybe the issue is that men now feel the same pressure that women have long experienced to be physically attractive at whatever cost. Maybe instead of women acknowledging that they do wish their husbands and boyfriends were slim and toned they are really communicating that their priority is a reliable man, who loves them as much as they day they married despite gray hair, a few wrinkles and some new stretch marks. It’s about women having realistic expectations, perspective that comes from experience and a modicum of maturity.