Gays Find Strippers Sexy; Women Don’t?
Male strippers have beautiful bodies. And women find them sexy. But probably not sexy in a way that gets them too aroused.
Last week I considered the lack of excitement. Turns out, women don’t get too turned on by male nudity, at all. When sex researcher, Meredith Chivers, wired women up and showed them sexual images, straight women experienced no arousal — physically or subjectively — when looking at fit naked guys working out. Another time women watched a nude man walking and the only thing that aroused them less were bonobos, an ape species, having sex.
Is it because the male body simply isn’t sexually exciting?
Probably not, since gay men did get aroused looking at nude men.
Why are gay men turned on by male nudity when straight women aren’t? There are various possibilities. And it’s not that women just aren’t visual, after all, women were more aroused by a nude woman exercising than by a nude man. And, some women enjoy porn.
The fact that gay culture celebrates and eroticizes the male body in a way that straight culture does not could play a role.
And then there’s repression. Men are rarely slut-shamed for being sexual. On the other hand, gays are too often taunted as fags or queers. Still, research on men and women who have lived in repressive cultures, like Victorian England, find men less affected (perhaps because they are also less repressed). But even gay men are less affected than lesbians by homophobia-induced repression (even though homophobia is more strongly directed at gay men). Maybe because the male sex drive is stronger, due in part to higher levels of testosterone, while twice as much of their brain is taken up with sex.
Meanwhile, men’s bodies give them better feedback than women’s do. When blood rushes to the penis a man knows it. He feels very excited. But when blood rushes to a woman’s vagina, she can be clueless. Again, this difference may be biological, or due to greater female repression, or because men are less affected by repression, or all of the above. Indiana University researchers believe that women are less responsive for both anatomical and psychosocial reasons.
We don’t have the definitive answer on why gay men get aroused by male strippers when straight women don’t so much, but here’s a little food for thought to munch on.
Popular Posts on BroadBlogs
Why Aren’t Male Strippers Sexy?
Men: Erotic Objects of Women’s Gaze
Men, Women React to Male/Female Nudity
Posted on July 16, 2012, in feminism, gender, objectification, pornography, psychology, sex, sexism, women and tagged feminism, gender, Magic Mike, objectification, pornography, psychology, sex, sexism, women. Bookmark the permalink. 9 Comments.
I’m writing about this subject this week as well, and I’m wondering: does the research ever show women reacting to men with erections? It seems like reactions might be a bit different then, but I haven’t read the data.
I haven’t seen data on this in terms of blood rush to the vagina, but in terms of women’s emotional reactions consider that the way women respond to sexted penises or flashers with erections is typically repulsion, nausa or laughter.
Good point! But often that is unwanted attention, even sexual harassment. And you make an excellent point about slut-shaming and women not being comfortable feeling desire. I was just curious if women were presented with a picture of an aroused man in a way that took the female gaze into account–like the photographer was a heterosexual woman and the man was just being himself, not necessarily trying to get her attention, so that the woman viewing the picture doesn’t feel harassed or shamed–the data would be different. It seems to me that a “flipped world” would have to see things from this perspective.
Haven’t seen any data on that.
I do know that Cosmo and Playgirl both kept the male member under wraps for years and that few women seem to do a penis search to get aroused, although that’s certainly available to them. See Ogi Ogas’ book “A Billion Wicked Thoughts” on male/female/straight/gay-lesbian searches.
A Billion Wicked Thoughts: What the Internet Tells Us About Sexual Relationships
Thanks for the resource! I’ll check it out!
I’m also more aroused by images of women than men and knew for the longest time that it’s been *conditioned* out of me… oddly though I’ve found that I’m more aroused by men with their shirts on than off!
Yeah, me too. And I think that’s common. In fact, I have a post coming up on the topic.
I am surprised at the research. I remember doing research on Nudism and Nude Beaches and many women responded in a study that they enjoyed and got a little aroused at looking at nude men and their genitals on the beach. But apparently quite a few woman admitted to getting aroused at some nude men on the beach.Here is a link I found that could help.
http://www.hipforums.com/newforums/showthread.php?t=330423
As far as the strippers study, I am somewhat suprised as well. I remember Chippendales being very popular with loud aggressive women some years ago.
Also I have a cousin (female) who lives in London who went to a Bachelorette party (called hen party in England) called” Loverboys USA,” (google it) where there were male strippers. My cousin said the women were just as aggressive to the male strippers as any man would be in a all female strip club.
These examples maybe exceptional or maybe not but they may exemplify that women can get aroused at a male nude body as a man does to a female nude body.
Women who are comfortable enough with nudity to do nude beaches may be a different, and more unusual demographic.
Also, just because women are screaming, it doesn’t mean that they’re sexually turned on. When I’m turned on I don’t scream the way they do (maybe “Oh, god! but that’s different). It’s more like they’re “having fun” objectifying men for a change.
Don’t recall if I sent this, but in one study hetero women said in survey that they found nude men more arousing than nude women, but their bodies said something different when wired up. When they put on glasses that tracked eye movement and looked at a nude couple in foreplay, they pretty much ignored the male body, spending half their time looking at the man’s face and the other half looking at the female’s body.
Women Learn the Breast Fetish, Too
http://broadblogs.com/2010/11/29/women-learn-the-breast-fetish-too/
More on the topic, trying to explain why:
Women Seeing Women as Sexier than Men
http://broadblogs.com/2011/01/10/women-seeing-women-as-sexier-than-men/