Laughter at the sight of nude women

[Mudhammam]

I'm curious to know if anyone can illuminate the meaning of laughter at the sight of a naked woman's body in ancient literature. I have come across a few examples of this and do not understand what it means.

First example:
In the Egyptian myth of the contest between Horus and Seth for ruling authority, found on Papyrus Chester Beatty I and dated to the 12th century B.C., "Hat-Hor, the Lady of the Southern Sycamore, came, and stood before her father, the All-Lord, and she uncovered her private parts before his face. Then the great god laughed at her."

Second example:
In the famous biblical story of Joseph and his master Potiphar's wife (as a side note, there is an interesting parallel in the much older Egyptian Story of Two Brothers), the wife tries to seduce Joseph and when he refuses, she exclaims to the men of her household and her husband that "the Hebrew servant, whom you have brought among us, came in to me to laugh at me." Perhaps I'm reading too much into this instance of laughter but furthermore...

Third example:
In Plato's Republic, the following scene is recorded: "The women then must strip for their physical training, since they will be clothed in excellence. They must share in war and the other duties of the guardians about the city, and have no other occupation; the lighter duties will be assigned to them because of the weakness of their sex. The man who laughs at the sight of naked women exercising for the best of reasons is 'plucking the unripe fruit of laughter' he understands nothing of what he is laughing at, it seems, nor what he is doing. For it is and always will be a fine saying that what is beneficial is beautiful, what is harmful is ugly. — Very definitely."

Is it just me or was there some joke about the female form in patriarchal societies?

[FatAndFaithless]

Could it be that it's simply laughing out of pleasure, and the translations just kind of skew the meaning with our current words?

[Mudhammam]

That was my first thought but I'm not really sure, since they're all translated from different times and languages.

[FatAndFaithless]

Yeah, even something as simple a word for "smile" could be skewed to something like laughter through enough translations. There may very well be a historical reason for actual laughter at the female body, I just have no idea what it would be.

[Minimalist]

They're laughing cuz, no dick.

[Mudhammam]

Third example:
In Plato's Republic, the following scene is recorded: "The women then must strip for their physical training, since they will be clothed in excellence. They must share in war and the other duties of the guardians about the city, and have no other occupation; the lighter duties will be assigned to them because of the weakness of their sex. The man who laughs at the sight of naked women exercising for the best of reasons is 'plucking the unripe fruit of laughter' he understands nothing of what he is laughing at, it seems, nor what he is doing. For it is and always will be a fine saying that what is beneficial is beautiful, what is harmful is ugly. — Very definitely."

Is it just me or was there some joke about the female form in patriarchal societies?

So I came upon this passage a moment ago while reading the Republic from the beginning, and it appears that in context the nudity is not the butt of the joke. Socrates is laying out his plan for the hypothetical perfectly good polis, and the discussion arrives to the role of men and women in his city. He basically runs through the different classes he has already assigned and decides that men and women should be able to partake in all of the same activities, even in matters of physical training and warfare.

I guess in Greek society men, exclusively, would train at gymnasiums and be naked doing so, and Socrates is basically saying---in refutation that watching a woman strip and compete in such an exercise would be like watching a wrinkly old man or woman wrestle---it's good for certain woman who have the ability to train like men do, even if to more vulgar minds it invites mockery and laughter.

[abaris]

Could it be that it's simply laughing out of pleasure, and the translations just kind of skew the meaning with our current words?

I'm pretty sure that's meant with that phrase.

[psychoslice]

Well there are some weird bodies out there that make me laugh.

[Pyrrho]

Third example:
In Plato's Republic, the following scene is recorded: "The women then must strip for their physical training, since they will be clothed in excellence. They must share in war and the other duties of the guardians about the city, and have no other occupation; the lighter duties will be assigned to them because of the weakness of their sex. The man who laughs at the sight of naked women exercising for the best of reasons is 'plucking the unripe fruit of laughter' he understands nothing of what he is laughing at, it seems, nor what he is doing. For it is and always will be a fine saying that what is beneficial is beautiful, what is harmful is ugly. — Very definitely."

Is it just me or was there some joke about the female form in patriarchal societies?

So I came upon this passage a moment ago while reading the Republic from the beginning, and it appears that in context the nudity is not the butt of the joke. Socrates is laying out his plan for the hypothetical perfectly good polis, and the discussion arrives to the role of men and women in his city. He basically runs through the different classes he has already assigned and decides that men and women should be able to partake in all of the same activities, even in matters of physical training and warfare.

I guess in Greek society men, exclusively, would train at gymnasiums and be naked doing so, and Socrates is basically saying---in refutation that watching a woman strip and compete in such an exercise would be like watching a wrinkly old man or woman wrestle---it's good for certain woman who have the ability to train like men do, even if to more vulgar minds it invites mockery and laughter.

This.

[Sterben]

Well there are some weird bodies out there that make me laugh.

There are some funny looking people out there, male and female alike. Look at people like John Goodman with his double chin, Nick Cage with his chicken neck, or Rosanne with her funny face and big body; her face reminds me of something out of the Charlie and chocolate factory. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APj2ArUy6v4