Maggie's Farm

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Friday, November 28. 2008

Are women sex objects?

Of course we are.

Most of us want to be desirable and desired, and feel terrible if we are not. Obviously, the human species would be long gone if that were not the case. I don't mean just physically, but I do mean at least partly physically. A good lady has many more sources of charm than boobs.

It seems to me that guys tend to outgrow their sexual narcissism - their desire to look physically appealing to females - sooner in life than do ladies. (However, they do not outgrow their interest in females.) On the other hand, guys have, perhaps, more ways of being attractive than ladies have, and they do not have menopause to make them look and feel old.

Why does the subject come up? Because of this report, Why Do Women Have Breasts? That anthropological essay (on pdf) claims that breasts (which are largely absent in the other great apes except while nursing) confer an evolutionary advantage that has nothing to do with sex appeal.

I do not know the answer. I do know that in societies like ours, men love to look at, and to play with, breasties. I have no idea whether that is equally true in the jungle where nobody wears tops.

Posted by Dr. Joy Bliss in Our Essays, Psychology, and Dr. Bliss at 12:21 | Comments (35) | Trackbacks (0)

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That woman has a scary bellybutton.

Hunh? What tits?
`
#1 Meta on 2008-11-28 12:44 (Reply)
uhhh, Meta ... I don't think most of the male readers here have gotten to her belly button yet. But maybe they will get to her face, eventually, and, as the Brits say, in my opinion she's no oil painting. I readily admit, however, those are great boobs. For those folks who like boobs ...

Marianne
#2 Marianne Matthews on 2008-11-28 12:57 (Reply)
Haha... how decorous of you MM. '... no oil painting.', indeed, and my thought exactly. But then, in the dark of night, many a less than desirable attribute can remain out of sight, out of mind. Though the sun always rises. :)
#2.1 Luther McLeod on 2008-11-28 14:21 (Reply)
ITT: Favorite names for breasts.

Tetas
TiggleBiddies
and
Melon-heavies.
#3 Gurk on 2008-11-28 13:01 (Reply)
I'd like to know more about this "jungle" place, perhaps a junket is in order, a fact finding mission as it were....
#4 Phil on 2008-11-28 13:29 (Reply)
When I was 17 I bought a bathing suit that had a low-cut front. My mother said I might want to sew it up a little bit because it was better to keep the boys wondering instead of letting them know I didn't have any. (She was much too much the lady to say 'tits')

As to going topless all the time, yuk. Nothing like familiarity and exposure to send a guy out to the local bar. Half of desire is the unknowing, the mystery and the fantasy. If there's no bodice to rip, who wants to play?
`
#5 Meta on 2008-11-28 13:33 (Reply)
I believe it was BD who voiced my view that they're all perfect when you're with the one you love. Or, in a much cruder form... anything more than a mouthful is no more than icing on an already delicious cake.

As to the article itself and the question Dr. B. poses... I'll go with the authors summation, though not sexy at all. Fat storage. And its obvious benefits of survival for mother and infant.
#5.1 Luther McLeod on 2008-11-28 15:22 (Reply)
They're BOOBS, fercristsakes! If you've seen one, you probably want to see as many of the rest of them as time will allow.

I remember back to the Summer of Peace, Love and Rock-n-Roll, when the fairer sex was burning brazires and going topless and such, when as a youth of few years, I longed for the chance to see free-range boobies in their natural state. I ended up married instead. Thirty-four years of fondling the same set of mammaries, but I still like to look at the competition.
#6 Mike(AZ) on 2008-11-28 13:52 (Reply)
I've found, as a 8k mile a year bike rider with time to observe stuff, that I can determine the sex of a pedestrian from unbelievably far away, even dressed in winter clothing.

I think the chief feature is hips; and if they're walking towards me, the lighting change on breasts. Or not, of course, if it's a male.

Maybe it's a distant evolutionary cue that a weapon won't be needed.
#7 Ron Hardin (Link) on 2008-11-28 14:23 (Reply)
Karen L Kleinfelder, in The Artist, His Model, Her Image, His Gaze on Picasso's obsession with his model, remarks that all at once around age 80 his interest stopped, as if some question had been resolved.

Being a woman, she said it was probably that he finally came to terms with his mortality.

Being a guy, I'm can say I'm pretty confident that a neuron finally stopped firing, and that was the end of it.

That the interest is there owing to wiring, and that it therefore makes no sense to this creature who is driven to make sense of things, is what makes it all happen. (Paglia: the guy in the adult book store looking at porn isn't looking for gratification, he's looking for an answer.)

When that neuron stops, that's the end of the matter. He's no longer curious. Look at about age 80.
#8 Ron Hardin (Link) on 2008-11-28 14:29 (Reply)
Look at the word "look" --right there in the middle between the L and the K --boobs !
#9 buddy larsen on 2008-11-28 14:55 (Reply)
Buddy, I like lookin. I look all the time. Pretty girl, looks Dago to me. Nice hair, eyes, lips, moles in all the right places, and of course great cleavage. I sure hope she shaves her arm pits.

Dr. Joy, your posts are always interesting. But for God's sakes, you've got to stop showing pictures of yourself. You are somebody's mother. Have you no shame? : )
#9.1 jappy on 2008-11-28 16:18 (Reply)
I think the lady pictured is beautiful.
#10 BD on 2008-11-28 16:23 (Reply)
I guess you and Jappy are in the majority... ah well, the world is full of different tastes.
#10.1 Luther McLeod on 2008-11-28 16:50 (Reply)
yeh --i gotta go with BD on that --she's a beauty --exotic Mediterranean style. look at that long neck --an antelope with cantalopes
#10.1.1 buddy larsen on 2008-11-28 17:42 (Reply)
All right, all right. I give.

I guess it was the big lips, possible overbite and some something in the eyes that didn't appeal. Plus, and please forgive but I live by details, notice how her left eye and the left side of her mouth are scrunched up, the effect actually extends further down than that. But really... I wouldn't throw her out of bed for eating crackers... okay.
#10.1.1.1 Luther McLeod on 2008-11-28 17:56 (Reply)
jeez --crackers in bed --i dunno --that'd be a close call --
#10.1.1.1.1 buddy larsen on 2008-11-28 17:59 (Reply)
Intresting
#10.1.1.1.1.1 nazeer (Link) on 2010-01-27 07:14 (Reply)
an antelope with cantalopes

Call her Penelope.
#10.1.1.2 Ron Hardin (Link) on 2008-11-28 19:10 (Reply)
The neck is what bothers me. Second to the bellybutton. Her neck is wider than her face. ick.

Notice some of the beauties on Fox News. They all work out, something I do with amazing grace when I walk upstairs, and whoever their trainers are, have not shown them how to keep their necks from becoming muscular. I don't think it's very feminine to have a football player's neck on a woman.
`
#10.1.1.3 Meta on 2008-11-28 19:16 (Reply)
well i don't know how our necks would compare, but i'd put my belly up against hers anytime

ta-boOM !
#10.1.1.3.1 buddy larsen on 2008-11-28 21:32 (Reply)
Hey Buddy.... If your belly were pressed up against hers, would those luscious orbs of hers reach your chest?

haw...
`
#10.1.1.3.1.1 Meta on 2008-11-28 22:49 (Reply)
reminds of when i was running my dairy --one day a lady came by and wanted to buy "enough milk to take a milk bath" --i asked her, "want it pasturized?" She said "Naw, just up to my tits'll do."
#10.1.1.3.1.1.1 buddy larsen on 2008-11-28 23:24 (Reply)
Buddy ..I've read that 'Want it pasturized? three times and cracked up every time !
#10.1.1.3.1.1.1.1 ron on 2008-11-29 22:58 (Reply)
:-)
#10.1.1.3.1.1.1.1.1 buddy larsen on 2008-11-30 09:51 (Reply)
Ron Hardin ... I showed your comment about 'the neuron' to my husband. He's 83, and still lookin', with a little, sweet smile on his face. But like the dog who chases cars, nowadays he might not do much if he catches one.

Marianne
#11 Marianne Matthews on 2008-11-28 16:27 (Reply)
MM, i think one could safely surmise that being married to a lively, interesting lady is likely what has allowed your hub to have beaten that mean number.

("mean" number --haw --Groucho woulda said "and i do mean "mean"!)
#11.1 buddy larsen on 2008-11-28 17:39 (Reply)
It's a good thing men (most of them, anyway) don't have boobs; we'd be playing with them all the time, and never get out of the house to go to work.
#12 Steve on 2008-11-29 07:53 (Reply)
That works both ways, you know. Shew! I'd love to be a man for a day.... just to get a feel for what it's like to have two heads with minds of their own.
`
#12.1 Meta on 2008-11-29 12:47 (Reply)
oh, it's too much trouble, meta --i for instance am always tripping over mine or absentmindedly closing a door on it. i have to be reel careful
#12.1.1 buddy larsen on 2008-11-29 14:34 (Reply)
oh.

Let's trade places for a few days, Buddy. You be me and I'll be you. I'm sure you as me will surely catch you in your trawl net, but you as me won't be throwing you back.

That took me a long time to write. You as you better appreciate it because it makes sense to me as me. I think. :}
`
#12.1.1.1 Meta on 2008-11-29 18:44 (Reply)
(My right and left brain think they're on acid. I fried my corpus callosum. Can you just come over, Buddy? :)
`
#12.1.1.1.1 Meta on 2008-11-29 18:48 (Reply)
Jeez --shades of the Krazy Daze --acid counselor needed proto --

"Okay, the first thing is, you took a drug. It is just a mild drug except for your imagination is in control of your mind for a few hours. You WILL come down. You WILL be just fine before you know it. I will be here with you. I have already rifled your belongings and have all your cash and credit cards. As soon as you pass out, LowBoy Kool and his posse are waiting outside to "do" you, but i'll leave 10% of the fee on your kitchen counter. now, think pink and blue unicorns...."
#12.1.1.1.1.1 buddy larsen on 2008-11-29 20:31 (Reply)
ugh --that was spose to be funny but it's too raw --scratch that --bad effort --can't all work right (but as old Tevye would ask, "how bout just one once in awhile?")
#12.1.1.1.1.1.1 buddy larsen on 2008-11-29 20:38 (Reply)
Dr. Joy, I have told women exactly what you said in the first paragraph, almost verbatim, and they just get mad and refuse to believe it. As a corollary(?) to your post, there is also this thing about women dressing and applying makeup to make themselves as appealing as possible to men, but then not wanting to have sex with them. It's especially confusing for teenage males. Ah, the female mind. I will never understand it if I live to be 1000.
#13 feeblemind on 2008-11-29 13:46 (Reply)
Feeblemind, they can't very well ''ugly up'' for every passerby guy who doesn't interest them --not and keep attractive for that man of their dreams who might appear at any moment. Look at the beauty techniques as a trawl net --when it drags up on deck there's always a bunch of trash fish (often bottom-feeding Bone fish) that need tossing back into the sea. Having raised three daughters, still raising 'em, i can sympathize with the females --they spend a lot of energy trying to toss them trash fish gently and humanely off the boat. As far as us trash fish getting our feelings hurt, well, just look at that as having swum into the wrong net. The right net is still out there --tho it may be at the bottom of the Tasmanian Sea ((sigh)).
#13.1 buddy larsen on 2008-11-29 14:24 (Reply)

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