Objectifying women

[Scented Nectar]

I frankly think it is as spontaneously decided upon as most thefts or decisions to buy those lovely shades for only 5.95$ when one goes grocery shopping In fact... I believe that most things we do are, rape not excluded. Why does it seem that rapists are treated as something vile or inhuman by some of my fellow forum goers? :S Am I misinterpreting them?

It's only vile when a harmful desire is acted on. Everyone has some sort of harmful desires, such as many have wished they could murder someone who doesn't deserve it. Some people are unfortunate in that they get horny over things that would be very harmful if carried out, such as rape. In the case of rape, the harm of course, is that the other person hates that it's happening, it causes them long lasting emotional pain, and sometimes physical pain, as well as possible death from AIDS ('stay still a moment will you, I need both hands to properly put this condom on' - haha, yeah I know, I'm twisted to even think of that!). The AIDS factor makes it as bad as murder in my opinion.

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No matter how much visual stimulus is needed along with the stimulus of the violence, not every man is turned on by provocative clothing.

No. But a lot of men are. And I don't see why this doesn't include rapists?

Showing an attractive body off more with more revealing clothing is attractive to a lot of men, both good and bad men, both rapists and non-rapists I would think.

Unless you have evidence that rapists are not attracted to revealing clothing as much as a lot of men?

Probably, but since they are also probably attracted to other equally optional decisions (on the victim's part) besides clothing, why is only clothing the thing always picked on? There are other things like makeup, hair length, the weight one keeps oneself at, level of hygiene/grooming, etc. All these things factor highly into sexual arousal just as much as attractive clothing. Would most men watch porn where the woman has no makeup, or has man-style hair, or is fat, or looks dirty with unshaven legs/armpits? Seriously, why is clothing always getting picked on as a choice the victim should have known better about? It boils down to 'maybe you should have made yourself more ugly, and only in this way but not that and that'.

Many men find sleazy clothing to be distasteful and cheap.

Yes, and many don't. Or many say they find them distasteful but they are actually still attracted I would think.

There are some heterosexual men that find women that look more masculine than average and that don't reveal their body at all attractive - I doubt that's the majority though.

I'm not talking about looking masculine or hiding ones body. I mean that many men prefer a tasteful, yet often thought of as attractive look, such as, a nice dress, panty hose, tasteful low heels, pretty long hair, a bit of makeup, etc. Nothing that could be thought of as looking slutty or provocative. Lots and lots of men's heads get turned by that sort of quite respectable look.

Those ones often find a nicely dressed, more modest manner of clothing to be far more attractive.

Yes there are plenty who do. But I think there's a reason why so many women who are "objectified" are seen to be having very revealing clothing. Because there are an awful lot of men who are attracted to the female body and like it when more of it is on show.

I think both genders objectify both themselves and the other genders quite often and it isn't always some sort of problem. I'm starting to dislike that word.

So, the percentage of how many men find which different types of clothing arousing would also have to come into play if trying to analyse any possible correlation between clothing style and rape vulnerability.

Yes. So seen as we can't know that for sure I don't see how we can claim that rapists aren't attracted to what's on show either. Rape may indeed be about power, but I don't know of any evidence that rapists aren't attracted to the same sorts of visual stimuli.

Probably, but I think that includes way more things than clothing. It's just that society is used to all the other ones like weight and grooming, etc. Now lots of women wear lipstick and no one shrieks in horror that they are trying to look like a slut and might be asking for trouble. We are currently in an age where freedom of body exposure/style is emerging in a big way. As soon as people are more used to things from 'sexy' clothing to full blown toplessness on hot days, the better. It won't be made an issue of blame anymore, since it will lose the stigma of immorally attractive and become acceptably attractive.