Bikinis and mini skirts: are woman causing their own demise? Are they partially to blame for sexualising themselves? (Barthes, 84)
Self-sexualisation is a dominant theme in contemporary culture. Following media tropes and beauty standards, a desire mounts to be validated by sexuality. Yet it may also be self-defeating in male reaction further harming the problem.
Men do act viciously concerning women but the desire for the woman is not out of nowhere. It is spawned by her beauty. Her beauty enshrines his mind. Capturing him in a psychotic hypnosis. He feels connected to her. He wishes to have her. Her beauty is overwhelming. His lust increases with each passing second. Her image pleases his neurotic foundation. He ponders the fun. Fantasising of the jolly endeavour. He is deeply attracted to her appearance. It tingles his body and his body reacts. Urges creep into his mind. He musters up the confidence and heads her way. He wishes to chat her up and charm her. Hoping she’ll reciprocate his infatuation with her. A surface level feeling fleeting as he converses with her. Rejection angers him breaking his expectation. Acceptance mellows his heart. Her beauty applauds the direction of the hall.
Her beauty is contagious. Her epidermis showing. Her curves potent and dress tight around her waist. Her depiction to the crowd alarms the spectators. Her beauty gleans through. A ray of light seducing the crowd. An unintentional consequence but one that occurs. A display of planned innocence is corrupted into devilish lust. Her image is the same as billboards. The slogans have male pleasing fulfilment. She is dressed like those posters. She is sending lustful energy. A sexualising effort to attract mates. She is calling to me. Her movements are all too clear. Her messages are easy interpreted. She hasn’t turned my way but she is looking at me with eyes behind her head. The back of her head is ridiculous. Her ponytail shines under the purple light show. Swaying her hips to the music as she attempts to sing out of tune. Her smile is genuine and her laugh irresistible. The male gaze is only apprehending the situation, not stalking. Enjoying the show. She is performing for me. A spectacle for my taste.
Look at her clothes she is asking for it. She is giving me those fuck me eyes. Is liberation really a form of undress? Free the nipple is only refuted by the religious. Return to the pre-sin paradise. Nudity in public is the lustful man’s dream. Yet its false medium between dress and undress is overtly appealing to the eye. More skin showing. The outline of cleavage is pronounced but it is still behind closed doors. Her boobs are covered, her nipples not shown but her indent is revealed. A striptease spectacle. She has decided to undress just slightly. She has decided to display her body openly yet with some restrictions. She refuses to permit the rest of her body to be unveiled. The tightness of her dress does make out her figure. Her butt is only fattened by her high heels. The observer sees this spectacle of undress. She is dressed but at the same time undressed. Unlike the stripper, she is not intending to put on a show. She does not begin dressed and slowly remove articles of clothing but enters the scene in such garb. Her openness does give off an aura of teasing. Look at my body but only what I permit you.
The perspective of the male and the female is different. Is she wearing this dress to say something or does it feel good to wear less clothing. The feministic liberation point may have some truth to it but their taint of patriarchal exodus is misused in the context of heightened libido areas. To dress in such attire under the guise of liberation yet attending a promiscuous dance scene seems to be a little hypocritical and an idiotic tactic. Though the beach may be different. A bikini is fitting for the hot sun. Men go shirtless and wear swim trunks. If men are maximising their epidermis to the hot sun women may as well. The same can be said of joggers or at the gym. A sports bra is akin to shirtless. It is implementing the best clothing for a workout. Hell I workout in my underpants because I find it to be the most liberating and the easiest to manoeuvre (I also then do less laundry, everything is less smelly—it’s all about productivity). To avoid problematic male stares, the sexes could be divided up but that is not easy in the park or on a beach. People just need to behave themselves. The option is either to force women to cover themselves up and endure the vibrant heat or men just keep it in their pants. Staring is not the biggest problem it is the advances made afterwards.
Men may stare more than women but the staring should not be overblown. Beauty is contagious. It can’t be helped. It is hard to avoid the luscious skin and figure of the opposite sex. Women stare at men with jaw dropping consistency. Men like the attention. Though unwanted advances are made frequently and society cares little. Potentially because of the lacking negative consequences or because male issues elicit unconcern. The imbalance works one way. Nevertheless, the former conclusion is a dangerous one. A man may be able to fend off a few stares and even unwanted advances. He is stronger and faster. He can be emotionless and ignore them. Women on the other hand can feel threatened and afraid to escape. Their emotional outbursts are credibly disastrous. The glances may be equal but the advances not. The ego may also play a detrimental role. As a rejected advance may result in an assault. Rejection isn’t a problem it is the frustration that builds up from the expectation. The social phenomenons of deathly male glances are a product of the tragic cases of egoism gone awry.
To differentiate the club scene and the beach scene is to recognise a difference in methodology. The function of less clothing on in an intoxicating atmospheric dance floor may be of patriarchal liberation but also may be to swoon men. To look sexy on the dance floor for the observers. While they may not want unwanted attention they may indeed desire wanted attention. If a hot guy approaches them no big deal. It is the other ninety percent. The statistics are blurry but look like a stripper is to intentionally do so. The scene calls for objectifying oneself in a colosseum. A spectacle on display. Modest clothing veils the prized objects observers wish to glance at. It is a tease. Swaying to the music with cleavage showing is an indicator to onlookers to engage. Look at my body sexualise it from afar. It is a subconscious expression. It isn’t about liberation nor dance clothing but to exhibit in an image of sexiness. It is in this type of scenery that such dress is pounced upon. Whether the intent is simply for boggling there is an exposure for attention though selective.
The beach scene is to undress in the heat. To be comfortable in the blazing sun. It isn’t to arouse attention but to enjoy the moment. Applying this to everyday wear may also be of enjoyment. Dressing openly for the breeze of its simplicity. There is a certain modelling to it. Yet there is also a strata of desiring that others look. Why put on makeup to look presentable? For self esteem as well as complimentary looks from others. Attempting to enjoin respect from others. Whether wearing a button down or a t shirt. Looking at oneself in the mirror before heading out, making sure hair looks clean and the outfit fits right. Comfortable and ready to seize the day. Feeling good but also wishing for positive gazes. Both sexes strive for admiration and acknowledgement. Dressing in a particular way to evoke desire. Desiring gaze but solely a glance of approval. Though there is an aspect of the beach body that is aspired. Going to the beach undressed to show off the body. The abs the curves the butt. It is not all in hopes for fawning attention but there is an interest in attention grabbing eye popping suckle blinking. The extent of desire is limited but is warranted.
Absent the advances the gazes may not be too problematic. The staring is the issue not the temporary glance. Catcalling and hollering at women is disturbing. The catcalling suggests lewd intentions. It isn’t harmless and cute, it is with grave intent. Catcalling in a club may feel good but not on the way to work. It is annoying and bothersome. The situational element is instructive. Its frequency in the wrong setting is cruel and tedious. It also depends on the terminology. Yelling nice tits versus you eyes shine are two different things. There is an enjoyable Key and Peele skit on this. Yet even the simple neutral compliment can come off as derogatory. While this is entirely subjective, the sexual innuendos do hold up to scrutiny. As well as the whistling followed by the intimidating technique. Their harassing aspect is where it goes too far. Speech may not be violence but it is hurtful. It is demeaning and may precede a physical encounter. At the heart of the hurtful comment is the hurtful rejection. A catcaller ought not to be offended when he has offended her. If you give it you got to take it. There is a way to swoon if it is in good faith or if can be backed up and taken like a man.
The catcalling issue speaks to itself. Catcallers may frequent those women with more cleavage showing but that isn’t always the case. A favourite barista may be hounded or a businesswomen in a pant suit. It isn’t always about the exposure. It may be more likely with more cleavage showing but necessarily so. The arousal higher shooting darts through the neural framework. Horniness spits out in a conjugated rhyme that is ignored in disgust. Catcallers may be themselves victims of a seductive society. The free porn, the half naked models. Women walking the streets in tight clothes. Film has them believe that women will prey to their needs. With one call they will be possessed. Hypnotised by their charm. It isn’t necessarily about power but about expectation. It is about self esteem and acknowledgement. No wonder they take rejection so hard. In their minds, this was the female’s intent. She was seducing him with her clothes. The fictional character was able to do the same. Men are also victims of a sexual matrix. A hyperreal mantra that attempts to feature film as reality. Translating those techniques ends in failure. There is malicious intent in certain circumstances but also may be a psychosis that believes in a predestined outcome.
There is an imbalance between men and women. Missed communication and thus misinterpretation. The catcaller is paying a compliment but the female feels objectified and belittled. The harassment is unidentified in the catcaller’s mind. The same can be said of clothing. Are women wearing it to say something to men? Is their intent to tease them? Who knows. The issue is the assumption in the affirmative. Maybe she is so take the chance. Yet the passivity is not an admission of activity. Her clothing is not an admission of approach. Yet it is luring and seductive. The social apparatus condones the dress but not the verbalism that follows. The self-objectification is to be dismissed. Feminists have argued that men need just keep it in their pants. They need to shut down their libido, female autonomy is the most important. Yet this also works on the other side. Women ought not catcall they ought not to approach men in the same lewd manner but they do and nobody says anything. The imbalance is also a model of power. The equality heuristic must be applied evenly. Just because the threat is less frightening does not make the action equitable. Their male indent is scary yet the fault ought not to be the seduced alone but the seductress as well.
The hope is reach a point where this is unnecessary. Women need not cover up because men can’t keep it in their paints. Their arrogance seeks to win the female over by domineering. Yet she has made herself vulnerable but wearing such desirable attire. The fact it happens out on street in average gym clothes is parcel of the issue as well. Meaning that catcalling is greater than just a change of dress. The nudist colony may be the sole solution to habituate to the nude. To be desensitised to the vulgar. The tight dresses with a low cut pressing the breasts and butt out are intoxicating. It is a message to observers to look. Even if that isn’t the intent, the flawed deduction does so. Maybe some women are intending this but it would be misguided to group all women into such a group. To some degree it is just the style. Yet the frequent exposure of the sexualised areas does spell otherwise. Harassment must be voided. Rejection must be taken stoically. There is fault on both sides of the aisle. Responsibility must be applied. Knowing that this is the male response whether it be biological or sociological. Erasing such behaviour is implausible. Instead, compromise and protection is necessary. Yet accountability cannot be denied for some so-called liberation.
Beauty is the hallmark of this problem. The cognitive function sees the beauty and responds lustfully. His neural network is seduced and he acts in a desirable manner. The psycho-sexual matrix is magnified by the societal tease. To want and be wanted is a dialectical binary that each is reflective. Both sexes wish simultaneously. They wish to be noticed festively. To be acknowledged purely positively periodically. Beauty is the seductress. The hypnotic label that is embedded in the ontology of a person. A spellbound locative presence. A flirtatious design to strangle the autonomy of neural function. The aesthetic is enticing and compelling. The subjectivity of beauty does arouse the endorphins by more sexual action than others. It is the pleasure seeking enjoyment that raises the emotional high. Dostoevsky proclaimed through the Prince that Beauty will save the world and there is a certain acknowledgement that raises self esteem. Yet beauty is also the riding dimension to hell. It is beauty that is prized and grasped with force. Beauty is desired. Verbal assault is either the first step or the cathartic attempt to shut up. A desire so powerful and so difficult to close. How to end this abhorrent harassment.
Looking ugly wouldn’t change. Beauty is subjective but it is also relative. Modest clothing works when immodest clothing is in fashion. Yet for those sucked into the modest world, the hint of an ankle showing is seductive. Beauty is dangerous since it is desired. This desire becomes objectified and thus grasped. The mind has shamed man to struggle. A sin of the unalterable. Yet for all this disaster is the illumination of being. Beauty is an acknowledgment of the self. While the ogling and sexual innuendos are burdensome it is an acknowledgment of the other even if inverted. Beauty is contagious and it is difficult to suspend the compliment from the critique. The better version is to marvel from afar. To perceive beauty like a painting. The painting is to be observed complimented but not touched. The same with a queen. Women need to reclaim this regal charm. Does this occur in the feminine worldview? It remains to be seen. Yet the queen exists in a masculine society. A strong-willed women at the top of the food chain. It isn’t about strength or character but status. It is a respect. The sexualised comments became beauty assessments.
The shift is not in dress or censorship but in attitude. Does the dress prompt less respectful attitudes? Potentially. They are perceived as a piece of meat because they are exposing their sexuality to the world. Yet there is also a sexualised matrix that doesn’t care for the dress insofar as the social attitude cultivates it. Whether in antiquity or medieval or modern. The libido is heightened not so much by beauty but by the aura of sexualised motif. A mass hypnosis of psychotic entrapment. To see beauty for its genuine purity, men need to break the spell and rise from the slumber to soak in the sublime beauty. The dress isn’t helping and only feeds into the struggling libido but it isn’t at total fault nor should it be the objectification. Instead of subjecting is the real need. Encountering the beautiful experience in affirmation. A respect for the tantalising appearance in complimentary form. It is not a legal but social outburst. A need for a new societal realisation for routine.
No comments:
Post a Comment