[c0achmcguirk]

It's a woman on a pedestal, like the expression: "women should be placed upon a pedestal." The phrase is usually understood to mean that men should treat women with respect, treating them as if they are more important than themselves.

[abz10]

I also thought pedastal. I guess it has been a long time since I've seen a woman wear a skirt. But I think your interpretation of why is off. I was looking for something sexist (as per OP) so the pedestal fit that for me. I presumed it was an inside joke amoung guys. But since someone pointed out the skirt I know know I was reading into it incorrectly

[c0achmcguirk]

Wow, that's a lot of downvotes. Mind telling me why?

[jnicholasp]

I didn't down vote you, and I have no special insight into why others have, but my guess would be that at least some of those votes were meant to indicate disagreement with your interpretation: I think more people see the equal sign as representing legs, rather than a pedestal.

If I were to speculate further, I would suspect that some people are wary of interpretations of ambiguous texts that unnecessarily imply sexist/culturally fraught meanings.

[c0achmcguirk]

Thanks for taking the time to share that.

[hueving]

Well first, that's not an expression that anyone uses. If there is one, it's the opposite of that. Also, your interpretation of that is incorrect.

Putting something on a pedestal is bad. It's pretending that it's perfect. If you put a person on a pedestal, you remove their humanity and flaws and aren't treating them like a person.

[godshatter]

I'm in my 50's, and it was a common expression when I was a growing up.

[c0achmcguirk]

Thanks for the insights, I've must have understood the expression differently.

I did find references to the contrary like [1] where the interpretation I've always had is expressed. Why are you so certain?

[1] http://www.city-data.com/forum/relationships/1064051-what-do...

[hueving]

Those references all seem to be negative as well. Which one do you think agrees with you?