FINALLY! A SANE article about women's lust and sexuality

[Triana]

A call to ban topless bathing on NSW beaches may have been overwhelmingly rejected by the Australian state's politicians, but plenty of women I know think it's not such a bad idea.

Not that any of these women would advocate making toplessness a crime, only that they acknowledge a naked chest can be mightily distracting. Oh, and they're talking pecs, not breasts.

Supporters of the ban want the law to state that "exposure of women's breasts on beaches will be prohibited" but the ladies I talked to would be happy with a simple health warning: "Exposure to finely toned, lightly oiled male torsos may cause dizziness, confusion and excessive sweating."

These symptoms were in evidence when pictures of the US president-elect, Barack Obama, strolling topless on a Hawaiian beach were beamed around the world last week.

Women from across the political spectrum were, for a moment, united in their glassy-eyed appreciation of the soon to be Babe-in-Chief. (Representative comment on one female-targeted website that published the pics: "Those swimming trunks leave too much to the imagination. Buy that man a Speedo!")

The tiresome myth that women are not as visually aroused as men is used to justify everything from sexual assault to double standards about public toplessness, and it's time to kill it dead.

If the oceans of female drool spilt over Obama (and Daniel Craig and Jude Law and Roger Federer et al) isn't enough to convince you, consider the fact that women continue to have sex with men despite not being legally or economically or in any other way compelled to do so.

Sometimes women even have sex with men for no other reason than - shock horror - physical attraction.

The should-be-obvious truth is that straight women love men's bodies. That it sometimes seems otherwise is only because pervy men are more acceptable in our culture than pervy women.

Think of that classic teen rite of passage - getting busted with a porn mag stashed under the bed. Now imagine the pictures are of naked men and the bed belongs to a teenage girl. Guffaws and mumbles about healthy curiosity are replaced by disgust and dismay.

MORE...

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4808139a19716.html

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Great article!

I especially appreciate these last paragraphs:

Just as teenage girls learn to express their desire in culturally acceptable terms, most women learn to not impose their desire on the unwitting (or not) person who triggered it.

They know, for example, that no matter how gorgeous a passing man is, it's not OK to scream out an invitation for sex from across the street (although a polite, situation-appropriate compliment is almost always appreciated).

[Triana]

3. Exactly! n/t

[snot]

2. I've long believed

the initial litmus test of any proposed religious or other restriction on the dress or exposure of women should be, is the same restriction applied by its proponents to men? E.g., I've got nothing against hijab, if men have to wear it, too . . . but they don't (I don't mean to single out Islam; that just happens to be pretty good example).

[Triana]

4. I agree. Totally. n/t

[Lorien]

5. This pervy woman agrees.

;-)

[MADem]

6. So, are you saying that Michael Jackson was ahead of his time...fashion wise, at any rate?

Can't get the ladies too excited....

That's Michael to the left...

[Triana]

11. Michael Jackson wears a burka? (and makes the kid wear one too?) n/t

[MADem]

12. He did, while he was over there.

Nothwithstanding that the culture takes a dim view of men wearing women's clothing. The view is often so dim that it can result in jail time or worse, in fact.

I guess they make exceptions for people with wads of cash, or maybe, like the joke goes, they actually believed he was an ugly white woman....though, wads of cash notwithstanding, I had heard he's in financial distress, yet again.

He may have to have a yard sale. I also heard he was ill...don't recall the particulars, though....

[Captain Hilts]

14. That's a good one!

[meowomon]

7. Wow, you mean women have sexual feelings?

So that's what all that excess moisture is! I thought I was just leaking.

[Triana]

8. Bwah!

=^..^= :D

[aquart]

9. Yes, yes, YES to chest and neck and shoulders!...but...

that penis men worship so...I've always felt that if it's out where I can see it, then it ain't doing me a damn bit of good.

[lightningandsnow]

10. LOVE THIS.

(And yes, it was warranting of all caps.)

I'm a pervy woman. :D Kidding aside, I think it's ridiculous how, in our culture, women thought of to never be sexual on their own terms.

I think there are more natural similarities between men and women than people give credit for. For example, it kind of boggles me how most straight, non-feminist cisgender people obsess about gender (sex really, since many believe that sex and gender are the same). Like, many of them seem stuck in "man" and "woman", and constantly categorize people based on whether they're a "man" or "woman". The gender of the people I hang around with doesn't really occur to me, on a conscious level, half the time. I love men, women, and people in-between, and until I'm prompted with a "but aren't you a lesbian?", (I identified as a lesbian for a while, but now consider myself pansexual), I don't really differentiate between them that much.

Funny how some people obsess over gender more than people who are into gender theory do.

[Triana]

13. I LOVE it too. Nice to see a realistic, NORMAL view of womens sexuality for once...

...I've emailed it to a passel of friends already - every one of them cheering.