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Why Aren’t Men Objectified?
Playgirl went bankrupt
Women do find men sexy. But we don’t objectify and fetishize their body parts. Not too many of us, anyway.
And so Playgirl goes bankrupt while a plethora of “girlie” magazines thrive.
Yet in some places women’s bodies aren’t fetishized, either. Like in tribal societies where women walk around wearing the equivalent of a G-string. And no one cares.
That clues us in to why male body parts aren’t fetishized. Read the rest of this entry
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When Gods Were Mothers
Gaia, mother earth goddess
There was a time when motherhood was so sacred that deity was The Goddess.
Even after patriarchy arose, complete with gods defeating goddesses, motherhood remained so valued that male gods sometimes became mothers.
Womb envy? Read the rest of this entry
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Evolutionary Psych’s Double Standard
The double standard.
Evolutionary psychology says the sexual double standard dwells within our genes: men are naturally polygamous and women are naturally monogamous.
It can’t be helped.
Unfortunately, the theory harms women’s sexuality. And unnecessarily, because the theory has some problems. Read the rest of this entry
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Women Crave Sex Less Than Men?
Do women crave sex less than men?
Is it sexist to say that women crave sex less than men?
Some think so. Like this woman:
Why do people still believe this crap? It makes you feel abnormal if you are a woman with a high sex drive or a man with a lower one.
She’s got a point: some women do have a higher sex drive than some men.
But crunch the numbers and men are generally more interested: Read the rest of this entry
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A World Before Male Dominance
Early, more egalitarian societies had goddesses
Think the world has always been male-dominated? It hasn’t.
The earliest societies worshiped the great mother goddess. In some early Middle Eastern cultures women’s graves were central and richly decorated. New Guinea’s Arapesh and Tchambuli, ancient Crete, the !Kung of Africa and many American Indian tribes all tell us that patriarchy is not inevitable.
Take, for instance, the Iroquois of North America. We know of them from the French Jesuit missionaries who arrived in the 17th and 18th centuries, along with some later observers. Read the rest of this entry
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Modesty Objectifies Me
Her body is all about sex.
You’re not going out dressed like that!
With those words, parents seek to protect their daughters from objectification: being seen as one-dimensional “things” that exist to titillate men.
But the attitude could help to create objectification.
A conservative Christian who calls herself Sierra says that a preoccupation with modesty had once objectified her. Read the rest of this entry
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You Don’t Have to Give It All Away
Colbie Caillat
Some guys think girls flaunt skin to gain power and superiority over men.
But most do it because “hotness” so often measures a woman’s worth. And a girl likes to feel good about herself.
So plenty of young women feel pressed to put on the act, even if it feels awkward and overexposed.
I’ve created a string of thoughts that come from my women students, Colbie Caillat’s “Try” and Ashley Judd’s response to chiding over her “puffy” face:
* * *
An old boyfriend told me that I wasn’t as attractive as other girls. I asked him why he didn’t think so. He said,
I don’t know. You’re always all covered up. Maybe you’d look more attractive in a cocktail dress. You don’t open your clothes and let men in.
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Jesus Was a Feminist
Jesus, a feminist
Looking at mainstream Christianity today, few would guess that Jesus was a feminist.
Jesus’ life story is found in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. And there is no sexism in any of them.
Instead, Jesus recognized the worth and dignity of everyone, regardless of gender, ethnicity or class (feminism is concerned with all of these). Read the rest of this entry
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Girls Can Be Tomboys, Boys Can’t Be Sissies
No sissies. Just tough guise.
Every quarter I ask my women students if any of them had been tomboys when they were little. Many hands enthusiastically shoot into the air. The women often have fond memories of their time climbing trees and digging in the dirt.
Then I ask the men students if any of them had been sissies. The class bursts out laughing. One hand might sheepishly creep up.
One man claimed the question was unfair since the word “sissy” is stigmatized but “tomboy” is not.
Actually, there isn’t a non-stigmatizing word for a boy who acts like a girl. And there’s a reason for that. Read the rest of this entry
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Should Women Give Men The Porn Star Experience?
The porn star experience?
A lot of guys have come to expect P.S.E. [the “Porn-Star Experience”] … and plenty of women are more than happy to oblige. A few might enjoy it, but for most it’s harrowing. I think there’s a fear that if they can’t make it happen, their boyfriend will retreat online.
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