GotSteel
Posts: 5871
Joined: 2/19/2008 Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: GotSteel It's not just a fundamentalist thing, even in the 50's shame of female sexuality was the dominant cultural standard. Today those sentiments that a woman should be ashamed of her sexuality still linger in US culture. I came across this post in another thread which I think does a really good job of explaining what I'm trying to express: quote:
ORIGINAL: Lynnxz I found this theory on reddit, and I rather like it. The op was discussing why women tend to be more subtle than men while flirting or dating. Here's the thing: it's not logic. It's not like we're given a formula at age 5 that says "Meekness+batting eyelashes=Ideal woman/Romantic success." It's a long series of social cues and observations that you pick up on over YEARS. Every time we saw a girl who was outspoken be insulted as "bossy" in kindergarten (Deborah Tannin has a great article on the use of the word "bossy" as directed towards little girls). Every time we see a woman who is outwardly angry or sad be called "crazy", "bitchy", or "PMSing". Every time I log onto Reddit and see pictures or videos of drunk flirtatious girls (Jersey Shore is a great example) called "sluts", "skanks" or "whores" for going out and being available sexually. Every time someone inevitably in those same threads says "Why can't we have REAL women, classy ones like Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly?", two women who (as much as I love them) were renowned for being demure and elegant and yes, SUBTLE. Any time someone says a woman who was flirting openly or wearing a short skirt deserved to be raped. Any time you're at a party and see a woman hooking up with a man be called, "disgusting" and "desperate", while the man doesn't get called anything. It's a message we receive OVER and OVER and OVER and OVER again, and you're right that it isn't logic. It is intense cultural conditioning which gets layered into our brains and drilled in there over decades. If you flirt too much and make yourself sexually available, you are a desperate slut. If you are loud and outspoken, you are a bossy bitch. If you are overly emotional, you are crazy and irrational. Real women are Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly. They had class. And YES, there is a line between Jersey Shore and Audrey Hepburn. But to most women, that line? That comfort zone? Is going out and flirting with men in what they feel is a safe and subtle manner. Reading a lot into glances and texts and missed phone calls. Most of us don't even recognize that's why we're doing it. We just think it's a "men/women" thing. And there you go. Men don't get called skanks and whores for flashing a bit of flesh, and men are MEN! Have to be BIG and BOLD, and LOOK AT MY DICK!
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