This comment by Lisa on the post Dealing With My Own Male Gaze
Let’s all be less wrapped up in ourselves for a second…
This nonsense about ‘male gaze’ and ‘male biological instinct’ is completely contrived from mainstream, first-world culture. The author himself states that every image of a woman that he has experienced since childhood has perpetuated the ‘woman as objects to be looked at’ creation.
This is all marketing. All of the gender roles, myths on sexuality, ‘men as predators’ are ingrained in us by this culture and society from birth.
There is a bigger picture for us as humans.
Did you ever read about indigenous cultures or tribal people in National Geographic? Have you read anything about the history of humanity before the last 2,000 years?
The men and women of these cultures share daily tasks and functions. Both sexes hunt and care for children. They (all ages, I might add) often all mingle nude without focusing on whose breasts or penis or ass is bare. These body parts can be sexual, but are not exclusively sexualized. Breasts are body parts that, oh yeah, also happen to nourish life, we forget.
In summary, they haven’t had these weird preassigned concepts of sexuality projected onto them by society. It has nothing to do with ‘men being biologically programmed’ to be visually stimulated or barely being able to control that urge. Not to mention that we are taught to ignore the fact that women have a strong sexual urge as well, which BIOLOGICALLY helped in the survival of the species. This urge is only generally surpassed by the urge to protect young. Please give this a little thought and evolve some.
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Question of the Day:
Are we humans naturally built to look, touch, smell and taste each other for comfort, sex, closeness and love?
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The author makes a valid point. Our society is the one who perpetuates gender roles and has made men objectify women. She uses history to prove that humans have not always differentiated men and women within culture, until the last 2,000 years as she noted. The “male gaze” is most definitely a result of our societal norms and how we look at women as a whole.
Healthy looking and communicating attraction should be encouraged. This is how we connect and build relationships. Ogling and unwanted attention should be, obviously, discouraged. Learning the difference is not theoretical but requires observation, education and experimentation.