john recently pointed out a post from Craigslist, which he was kind enough to save for posterity.
Go read it.
Back now? Ok.
As a card-carrying Modern Feminist my inital reaction reading that post was a fervent "Amen, Sister!" She, and any other woman, should have the right to go about her day without being a sexualized if she chooses.
By the end, though, jealousy overcame my support. Not once have I ever had an experience like any of those. Not once has a man treated me sexually just because of how I look. The hard truth of the matter is that being given no sexuality is just as dehumanizing as being treated only as a sex object. There are indeed moments when I am grateful for my position on the spectrum.
And then there's all the other moments of my life, in which I am very, very, not grateful.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Girl Watching
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2 comments:
I'm enough of a fleshly creature to enjoy looking at attractive females and males. I like beauty. And the beauty of face and body seem as legitimate as good prose and music.
But I reject the idea that sexual attractiveness is simply a matter of a comely surface. I had a wonderful moment of erotic satori when I found myself admiring a middle-aged woman with a big worry crease across her forehead as she was looking at the poetry section of my bookshop. The intelligence and intensity - possibly undeserved - was very potent.
As self-aware being we do have the power to direct our sexuality to human qualities without pretending that we aren't deeply appreciative of the exterior gloss.
richard,
thanks for stopping by :)
I don't think sexual attractiveness is *only* in the body, but my sadness/frustration stems from the fact that people so rarely bother to look any deeper for it. Especially in regards to myself.
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