I think patriarchy still has such a hold on this society that there are an awful lot of men out there who prefer women cute and breakable and easily controlled, and women who have benefited from these preferences enough to be willing to defend them as "natural." I think we've collectively thrown off the aesthetic preference for skinny bodies, but sexuality is still treated as a realm where politics don't exist and cannot be critiqued. In reality, our desires are sculpted in part by cultural norms and pop culture--and in patriarchal society, men's sexual desires shape our lived reality in countless ways, from who gets hired to who gets promoted.