Objectifying men; objectifying women
I found this at Instapundit:
It indicates that although gaping at and admiring male athletes’ bodies is perfectly okay, doing the same to women athletes’ bodies isn’t. That’s in line with the left’s new puritanism. But it’s also a denial of the sexual reality of human beings, which is that we are attracted to the way beautiful bodies look (depending, of course, on the standards of beauty in a particular society). And another part of that reality is that men are more visual creatures than women. To try to stop this impulse, even in the relatively harmless form it takes here, is to discourage sexuality itself, which is not a purely lofty and entirely spiritual impulse, although in its highest form (love) it partakes of those things.
This doesn’t mean that women are immune to the way men look. It matters, but it’s usually not definitive (not that it’s all that matters when men evaluate women, either). I remember, for example, being asked out by an extraordinarily handsome man in college. I spent the entire date listening to him talk and thinking over and over, “Please say something witty or funny or interesting so I can go out with you again!” He never did, and that was the end of that attraction for me. On the other hand, when I met my husband-to-be I was immediately smitten with two things at once: the way he looked and how entertainingly funny he was. He turned out to have many other sterling characteristics of the non-physical variety, but it certainly didn’t hurt that he looked good.
There’s no need to apologize for it. We’re not all attracted to the same thing or even the same looks, but for most of us – male or female or whatever other sexes are listed these days – looks enter into it. That’s reality, folks. But the left wants to alter reality as it suits them. Be careful what you wish for; it may have unintended consequences.
NOTE: In the comments at that Instapundit link, I found this ad, which I’d never seen before but which amuses me greatly. I don’t know how old it is:
Leftists are at war, hysterically and incessantly, with facts, evidence, logic and reason, as well as with truth and nature. The great Roman poet Horace wrote that “one may drive nature out with a pitchfork, but she persists in returning.” The chimerical quest by “progressives” for some unattainable parity of either natural endowments (intelligence, charm, athleticism, attractiveness) or of outcomes (the current utterly anti-rational obsession with so-called “equity”), combined with cultural and moral relativism, has brought our decaying culture to a point at which Melania Trump was never on the cover of Vogue, but the rather less pulchritudinous Lizzo was considered a suitable choice.
I’ve always been fascinated by the left’s unthinking assumption of dualism. Either the body is evil, and we must disassociate from it entirely, as when they expect men not to notice that some women are more physically attractive to them than others; or else it is spiritually and emotionally irrelevant, so we can do anything we like with it with no moral or spiritual consequences. Like much of the left’s ideas, it is much older than they think, and almost completely unexamined by them.
You get the impression the entire media is run by a secret cabal of male homosexuals.
Ha! It was worth checking in here this afternoon just to see that Old Spice ad. I am chuckling as I write this.
Telling the Truth is now a crazy revolutionary act, neo. Thank you for reminding sports fans of the Left’s endemic hypocrisy.
Upon first meeting someone and however fleeting, appearance is the first impression.
“Leftists are at war, hysterically and incessantly, with facts, evidence, logic and reason, as well as with truth and nature.” j e
An ancient, filled with truth, saying still applies;
“Those the gods would destroy, they first make mad”
Any ideology at war with reality will eventually self-destruct. How much harm it will do before collapsing only future history will reveal.
The left also wants to change our desires. Commercials are now usually of mixed race couples-most recently seeing Asian males with Black females (currently never seen in nature-at least not by me). Which is fine as it occurs organically but obnoxious when it is pushed on us “subliminally”- or not so subliminally.
The current Woke phase of culture has been a godsend to light skinned black actors and actresses. It also occurs to me that black conservatives tend to be dark skinned. I have several theories about why.
That Old Spice ad is wonderful fun.
If leftists think they can stop men from looking at attractive women, they will be sorely disappointed.
Gina–
Apropos of “woke” commercials with interracial “families,” the latest fad is the depiction of black gay couples cuddling a white infant.
Prog skews gay.
Skew/Skewer. This is crying out for a variation on the popular Gab/Chans Vlad the Impaler Meme.
You get the impression the entire media is run by a secret cabal of male homosexuals.
I don’t think there’s anything secret about it…
@PA+Cat:
In these woke commercials (are there any not woke?) you will almost never see a White Male / White Female couple. You will almost never see a White Male / X Female couple. It’s nearly always X Male / White Female. Sorry, White Males… you’re to be cuckolded and you’re to grin a big gaping glory hole soy grin of submission or it’s the Soylent plant for you!
None of this is by accident. There is deliberate intent to humiliate and demoralize the defeated.
PA+CAT:
Regarding woke Madison Ave. as if there are abundant non-BIPOC infants available for adoption, IIRC the situation is opposite. But that is the world of the woke?
Neo-
The Old Spice commercial is pretty new, judging both by the product’s packaging (I use it because it’s cheap!) and because the male model is black.
More than half the commercials I now see have black actors, and I mostly see Fox at my lady friend’s. No TV for me, none.
The MegaCorps and their ad agencies are assuredly not selling to blacks, 13% of the population with much lower median incomes; they are propagandizing us.
I look just like the guy in that Old Spice ad, with a few adjustments. 🙂
@Steve Walsh:
We all look like him with a few adjustments, depending on your definition of “adjustments” of course. 🙂
Mass media today is by women and nu-males for women. So of course it is full of female hypocrisy about male sins whilst parading every kind of female depravity imaginable and glorifying it — their depravities are presented as self-actualisation, of course.
To get the other side of the picture, you need to join Instagram — that’s where women go to whore themselves out and advertise their OnlyFans accounts in the Current Year. FaceBook is BoomerTown + for keeping up with your kids’ school’s instructions on when and where they should attend this or that extra-curricular activity. Not where the action is at all.
Cicero:
You may be correct that the ad is new because of the packaging. But not because they use a black male model. Black male or female models have been used for decades, just not as much as lately. What IS somewhat new in ads are interracial couples, and now they are prevalent.
They’re not just prevalent, they dominate as far as I can tell – but I hardly watch TV so it’s a small statistical sampling.
I’ve been told that Old Spice ad was shot in a single continuous take, the old-fashioned way, no computers, just using stage craft.
The Old Spice ad is 11 years old, released Feb 4, 2010. The actor is Isaiah Mustafa, born Feb 11, 1974.
I remember seeing, and laughing with, the Old Spice ad – my Dad was a fan of the brand, but he never looked that good when I knew him. Old pictures indicate my Mom may have once had a different perception.
Didn’t realize it was 11 years old, but I probably only saw it on the internet, as I had given up network TV by 2010.
The ad was as funny as anything I’ve seen in a while.
@geoffb: yes indeed! I have a good friend who likes to say, “I’ve got six pack abs, I’m just hiding them under a keg.”. 😉
What makes men attractive on a visceral level is, say the evpsych folks, demonstrative of the capacity(ies) to survive and prevail in a tough world.
Height. Muscle. Strong bone structure. Assertive eye contact.
There are references to studies–replication not guaranteed–that women find more masculine faces preferable in the more fertile area of their period, and less so in the less fertile days.
IOW, traditional masculinity.
Which we just can’t have. at least for straight white men. Not allowed.
It’s hard to believe that the urban hipster, he of the man bun and pathetic effort at facial hair, and the upspeak and……was born to be that way. Some of them must have had, let us say, reasonable genetics for athletics. But it’s not apparent. Is ir required to be demasculinized? Do some guys have to work at it?
I’m bigger than average, competed in lax and judo (iow in reasonable shape and can walk and chew gum at the same time) in college and am nobody’s idea of Santa Claus. Even going on sixty years ago, I would occasionally get snarky remarks from the campus left.
My father played football for UConn, last season 42, and said that also happened back then.
And now….the left has the reins.
However, an observation Maybe ten years ago, got to see a dozen young wives of guys who were Going Places–and have since done so in a number of ways most especially financially. I figured almost all of them would have qualified for Homecoming Court not too many years before. (They were casually dressed for errands, not gotten up for the prom) Point is, they got married before the tangible results of Going Places had shown up.
Their husbands are not pencil-necked geeks with man buns.
Don’t know what the left plans to do about that, but i suspect they’d like to.
I started the second season of “Counterpart” (2018) — part sci-fi, part spy thriller, part character study. One of the best shows IMO of the past few years.
They introduced a new character, Naya, at the start of season two, who was a pure “Mary Sue” / “Magic Negro.” I almost stopped watching.
_______________________________
A Mary Sue is a type of fictional character, usually a young woman, who is portrayed as unrealistically free of weaknesses. –wiki
_______________________________
Naya is female, black and Muslim. She enters the plot as a “super spycatcher.” When asked what makes her so good at the task, she explains that because she is black, she understands what it’s like to be an outsider, so she understands spies. [eye roll] Her other hint to the camera, after ostentatiously showing her kneeling on a special rug to pray, is that she prays to Allah for “clarity.” [another eye roll]
She sticks out like a sore thumb/plot device because all the other characters are mixtures of weakness and strength with conflicts, regrets and secrets.
Fortunately, the rest of the show continued on its twisty, intriguing path.
I’m waiting for a TV show with a white, evangelical Christian male, who is portrayed like Naya.
The first thing that came to mind when looking at those two articles was Sailer’s Law of Female Journalism: “The most heartfelt articles by female journalists tend to be demands that social values be overturned in order that, Come the Revolution, the journalist herself will be considered hotter-looking.”
Clearly, the writer of the second article doesn’t want you looking at a more attractive woman.
The mathematical average of facial dimensions is supposed to look beautiful or handsome.
I wonder if the average of personalities or humor–if these could be measured–are also supposed to be ideal?
@ Eric – “Clearly, the writer of the second article doesn’t want you looking at a more attractive woman.”
Girlfriend Meme Template
https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi.imgflip.com%2F1ujewh.jpg&f=1&nofb=1
I’m sure you’ve all seen it with the blanks filled in.
I kind of liked this one.
https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse1.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP.2JMu-MOezmw69Nk5fB-VFgHaE7%26pid%3DApi&f=1
Saw the strangest thing on YouTube the other day: Women running a 4×400, who all, including the winners, actually looked like females [or such as I have been “culturally conditioned” to think of them] rather than Alien Predator clones with completely flat chests and narrow hips.
In an effort to be less negative generally, then, and as there are a couple of people commenting on Neo’s site who have announced that they are of Polish heritage – didn’t one guy live in Slovakia? – I offer the two following links in a hands across the ethnic sea gesture..
It occurred to me that they might find these two videos uplifting; especially considering the population of that country, and the potential pool of athletes available.
Women’s 4×400 Europe:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xufPMGf86Uw
Olympic mixed 4×400 for the Gold
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O44CJVQFCPU
@DNW:
Now don’t go triggering anyone with those Blonde Blue-eyed Beastesses 🙂
(Autists who point out that they are Slavs go to the back of the class and pay more attention please.)
Ah, the Amazon women of volleyball. The objectification is just terrible. And they are not even attractive. The waist is too thick, body fat too low, and talk about freakishly tall!
Look.
https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/latvias-tina-graudina-talks-to-partner-anastasija-kravcenoka-in-their-picture-id1234430736
https://www.theartofcoachingvolleyball.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/USAsAlexandraKlineman-1-577×770.jpg
You can stop looking now.
Got a friend in the Indiana Guard. I gather being forward deployed to eastern Europe is a pretty popular gig for the young guys.
@Richard Aubrey:
I’m sure it is… until they learn all about the Duluth Model.
I had to thank Vice for that. I had no idea there was such a sub-reddit dedicated to attractive Olympic athletes. So I joined!
Great job, Vice!!!
@Zaphod – Instagram is where they peddle their PG rated wares. Reddit is where the real action is.
@deadrody:
Reddit has some cesspits sure. But Reddit is more about green-haired weirdo degenerates looking for validation from other degenerates.
Instagram is many things to many people depending age, location, inclination, morals, hobbies.
As far as Women Free to Express Themselves in Current Year are concerned: IG is the Sales Funnel for OnlyFans and/or finding that elusive Saudi who will pay serious money to poop on them.
It’s quite hilarious when you see some famous female ‘Influencer’ posing in the marina in Dubai on some big yacht. Soon as you see that, you know Ahmed been done taking a dump on her in his penthouse.
What one also observes is that many of these ‘Influencers’ pre-Covid seemed to endlessly rotate through Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau, Shanghai, and then rinse/repeat. Whoring on Tourist Visas Circuit. One of the casualties of Covid has been the long-legged pouting Blonde Eastern European 20 Year Old ‘Models’ heading through Hong Kong Station in both arrival and departure directions with their carry-on roller luggage. All Instagram-driven — it’s been the genesis of entire industries and subcultures.
It makes sense when you realise the one objectifying men is written by a gay man.