Friday, August 10, 2012

Women Athletes As Sexual Objects


Well, gag me with a spoon. Erin Gloria Ryan is about to barf.

What could have sent her delicate digestive tract into turmoil: why, beautiful sexy women athletes.

Most people, male and female, appreciate the delicate and even indelicate curves of the female body. A healthy female body bears an unmistakable sensuality. Suggestively attired, it is a joy to behold, for both men and women.

Ryan looks at a series of images of beautiful and sexy female Olympians and wants to throw up. Is it something about the women or something about her feminist ideology?

You can watch the offending images in Ryan's article at Jezebel. Here is a link.

Ryan explains that someone at NBC put together a montage of female athletes doing what they do best: competing. Many of the women are scantily dressed, though beach volleyball players seem normally to be wearing less than other women.

A normal individual might notice that when young women go to the beach they wear swimwear, even bikinis that show off feminine curves.

These women are happy to be women, are happy to have the bodies they have, are comfortable with their sensuality and are willing to show it off on the beach. It's not a crime against nature.

It makes Erin Gloria Ryan sick. Apparently, she has lived a sheltered life because she calls it “creepy” and “porny.”

In her words:

Have you barfed yet today? Get thee to a drain of some kind before watching this video the pervs over at NBC have put together in order to show their appreciation for Olympic bodies of the 2012 London Games. Unfortunately, to NBC, showcasing the "Bodies in Motion" of the XXX Olympiad means taking footage of conventionally attractive female athletes competing in sports that require them to be scantily clad, slowing it way down as the camera lovingly caresses their butts, breasts, and bouncing ponytails, and playing some soft core porn music over it. Apparently NBC is too busy focusing on jiggling ladies' asses to notice ladies kicking ass.

OMFG! Bouncing ponytails… will the sexual stimuli never stop!

Apparently, Ryan did not notice that all of the women in these pictures are participating in athletic contests. Nor does she mention that NBC covered many of the matches where these women kicked ass.

Anyway, Ryan wants to kick a little ass herself so she trots out the shopworn feminist complaint. She denounces NBC for objectifying women and presenting them as sexual objects.

In her words:

The abject inability of some Olympic photographers to refrain from objectifying female beach volleyball players is well-documented…. And seeing a TV network treating world-class athletes as little more than tributes to boners is incredibly dismaying.

OMFG… “tributes to boners.” Whatever does that mean? Will someone please teach the woman how to write. Why not say that this was a paean to female beauty? While you were watching all of those beach volleyball matches you might not have noticed that these women are beautiful or that they look fit and healthy, not skeletal and anorexic.

Besides, did it ever cross anyone’s mind that the women in question like being seen as beautiful and sexy? Not all women have tossed their feminine mystique in the dustbin.

What does Ryan have against female beauty, or even, female booty? Have you noticed how closely the words resemble each other?

Would she prefer that these women cover up, as the sole female athlete from Saudi Arabia did? Would she be happier to live in Saudi Arabia where women are not allowed to walk around town in tight jeans and Daisy Dukes? Does she want to work for the morals police?

And, did you notice that these women are participating in what are called spectator sports. They are there to compete but also to be looked at. And, being as they are women, their bodies maintain a sexual quality that the male body, in most cases, does not have.

Male attire is based on the military uniform; it denotes membership in a status hierarchy. Female attire is based on more aesthetic considerations. It allows women to manifest their beauty, to assert their femininity and to exercise control over the way they appear in public.

Besides, many women like to be looked at. They dress to be looked at, and not just for their career success.

More than a few women will tell you that it is not a happy day when men no longer notice them when they walk by.

And, of course, women also dress to be looked at by other women. You don’t think that it was all men in the stands looking at women’s beach volleyball, do you?

Ryan’s delicate sensibility notwithstanding, the pictures that NBC chose are not pornography. They are not even close. If she thinks that they are porny she has been living a very sheltered life.

Why does feminism maintain such a visceral contempt for healthy young female bodies? Does the sisterhood believes that if young women are too sexy it will inhibit their career progress?

Most likely, this is nonsense, but, what did you expect?

More significantly, feminists suffer from a maniacal belief in the absolute sameness of men and women. If a woman looks like a sexually attractive woman she is contributing to what feminism sees as stereotypes. Thus, she must come to think of her beauty as repulsive, the better to contribute to the cause.

Consider this: what if the feminist contempt for healthy young female bodies leads some young women to hate their curvy bodies and to try to erase their feminine curves by starving themselves.

How much is the dieting craze a wish to be attractive and thin and how much is it a wish to be unsexed?

Ryan does not propose any such thing, but still, the mind of an adolescent female, hearing the typical feminist rant about objectification might end up hating her body and trying to change it in ways that Ryan would surely not countenance.

The notion of women being sexual objects began several decades ago. Feminists of that time complained about men who use women only for their own sexual gratification. One must admit that they had a valid point.

But, that was then; this is now. Today’s feminism is down with telling women to allow themselves to be used for male sexual gratification, as long as they consent to their degradation.

Tufts professor Nancy Bauer wrote in the New York Times that a woman could liberate herself by dropping to her knees to render a sexual service to a man. And sex positive Jaclyn Friedman told young women to get in touch with their inner slut because sluttiness is a patriarchal concept designed to deprive women of their quota of orgasms.

Feminism has gotten beyond its initial definition of sexual objectification. Now, it believes that women are objectified by the leering male gaze. It’s no longer about what men to do women; it’s how they look at women, especially if they see women as sexual beings.

They do not consider that a woman might also be objectified by an “evil eye,” an envious gaze cast by another woman. Actually she is more likely to be frozen by an evil eye than she is by an admiring male look.

Many women watched beach volleyball and appreciated that the players looked beautiful and played well. Other women, I imagine, were sickened by the sight of lithe, athletic, sexual female bodies.

As every sentient adult knows sometimes women want to be looked at as sexual beings and sometimes they do not. They can exercise some control over the way they are looked at by the way they dress.

So, the feminist morals police are up in arms about the vision of Misti May-Treanor’s gluteal region. And yet, Katie Roiphe explained recently, they are more than down with the word: Vagina.

They shout it from the rooftops. They attend performances of a play called The Vagina Monologues because they think it’s a feminist bonding ritual. Now, to cap it off, feminist icon Naomi Wolf has a new book coming out soon, called The Vagina: A Biography.

The book is not out yet, so I cannot tell you whether it is about Wolf’s vagina, the vagina as bodily organ, the essence of vagina-ness or the Platonic idea of Vagina.

The publisher does promise that Wolf will explain the new scientific research that shows the following:  the vagina is not merely flesh, but an intrinsic component of the female brain.

If you or I ever claimed that women think with their vaginas we would be run out of town on a rail. Only a feminist could get away with such misogyny.

Anyway, Roiphe is correct to say that it’s about time feminists stopped shouting this word over and over again.

The act is shameless and it is not good to throw away your sense of shame.

When women force themselves to say the word they are saying that they can only assert their womanhood by symbolically flashing their nether, nether regions.

Whatever you think of the politics, it is a vulgar gesture. It does something that even Maria Sharpaova's short skirt does not do: it forces you to conjure up a pornographic representation of the female body.

Apparently, feminists think that pornifying the female body will make women love themselves and men respect them more. 

Feminists think that beach volleyball is porny and pervy but that  the word vagina, with all of the images that it calls up is politically radical.

Whatever they are thinking with, they are not thinking with their minds.

16 comments:

vanderleun said...

I think Erin's bitter because the last "Boner Jam" she attended was the one where she had to say, "Daddy, are you sure this is the right thing to do?"

Dennis said...

This must really drive the feminists over the edge:
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/08/we-thought-female-athletes-were-catching-up-to-men-but-theyre-not/260927/

It would seem that the radical feminist would make the Puritans appear liberal. It goes along with the study that suggests that women aren't happy unless a male is upset. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/relationships/9126265/Research-finds-women-feel-happy-when-their-husband-or-partner-is-upset.html

n.n said...

So, there is no reasonable compromise, ever?

Correction: women as sexual objects and, hopefully, they consider men as sexual objects, too. Contrary to popular opinion, normal people can differentiate between their perceptions and responses. I would have assumed most people are normal, but then Ryan reminds me of the extraordinary diversity which pervades our society.

I thought it was Conservatives who were prudes. Perhaps, we simply exhibits better judgment, which enables us to escape fanatical responses. It is an enduring irony that Conservatives, but especially religious Conservatives, exhibits a behavior with a superior correlation to reality. It is not Conservatives who favor denigration of individual dignity or normalizing behaviors which constitute evolutionary dysfunction.

Anyway, when I see the female athletes in swimsuits, I think she was wobbly on the board, or she should have spiked that ball. I also think what an attractive woman with a well-toned body... put a burka on to protect your dignity, because context does not matter.

Has anyone else noticed that left-wing ideologues are predisposed to fanaticism? They denigrate individual dignity, devalue human life, and selectively reject the natural order when it suits their purposes. Their perceptions of reality are constructed on an unstable paradox.

Dennis:

Just because we do not define ourselves by our baser appetites, does not mean we do not have them, at the appropriate time, appropriate place, but without the deviant proclivities. The numbers do not lie, but are, unfortunately, diminishing with each succeeding generation. Conservatives, on average, still have more children than their liberal counterparts.

Mark said...

Last time I looked women are sexual objects. That's a good thing.

Anonymous said...

Also,

http://ozconservative.blogspot.ca/2012/08/have-olympics-become-toxic.html


Have the Olympics become toxic?

Therapy sites said...

Well, women are very conscious in their body. Mostly, they want to show up when they have good-looking body to everyone, and I am impressed. This post is nice and informative. Thank you!

Dennis said...

n.n Not sure what caused the comment. Least of all I would never deny we all have our baser appitites. We are all human beings who are imperfect. I just think that in many of the more progressive groups those baser appetites are what does define them.
I had to laugh at the fact that Code Pink is going to send pictures of their vaginas to the GOP Convention. There is a schizophrenia to much of the Left and especially feminists. One minute they act as Puritans and the next they are "sluts."
There is a reason why left-wing ideologues should be considered the Dark Side. Note that almost all of their philosophy is underpinned by Death or the almost total control of what people do or think. The death of the human soul.
As a male I enjoy the attributes of the female body, but that does not keep me from enjoying the skill, abilities and talent that they have as part of who they are as a person. To try and deny their basic femininity is to be anti-woman and to hate who one is. I am not ashamed of being a man and love women who are not ashamed of being women. It is good to be both. Both are needed for us to grow as a species.
Again, I am increasingly interested in the machinations, and the humor I derive from it, of the radical Feminists. It is becoming fun to watch.

Anonymous said...

Laura has a good post regarding women in the O

http://www.thinkinghousewife.com/wp/2012/08/turkish-columnist-speaks-the-truth/

A man who dares to say what every normal person has been thinking when confronted with the muscle-bound female gladiators at the games and what soft, effeminate Western men would not dare articulate, Aytug has been attacked for his remarks throughout the Western world. He is tiresomely accused of misogyny. In fact, judging from these words, he is an admirer of women, a courageous defender of them. The Olympic Games are anti-woman. They require female athletes to ape men in grotesque ways. They compromise female fertility and modesty. They promote the idea that aggression and competitiveness in women are normal and healthy. They debase not just women athletes but womanhood throughout the world.

David Foster said...

"the vagina is not merely flesh, but an intrinsic component of the female brain"...well, the idea that the human mind is *necessarily embodied* is intellectually respectable. In his recent book The Hour Between Dog and Wolf, trader-turned-neuroscientist John Coates agues that feedback loops through non-brain parts of the body are an inherent part of brain functioning. Philosopher Hubert Dreyfus has made similar arguments in his critiques of artificial intelligence research.

The thing is, you can't logically argue that female or male bodily attributes are inherent parts of their thinking processes AND simultaneously argue that there should be statistically-similar representation of the genders in all occupational fields.

Gwendolyn said...

They want it both ways always, these women could be like the muslim women and be out there buried in cotton where knowone can see them, or know who they are, only the rest of the worlds women want all to see their beauty and strength, everyday in mens they hone in on the men with their speedo's, and now the women who more of won gold and more were sent from America for the first time, now they are again upset the other way, always saying they do not get as much respect or coverage as men! Shut up and be proud of these women as we are! If they do not want us seeing the butts or what ever cover them UP! Respect to our Ladies that praise God the whole world wants to see.... For evidence the Lord God of the American Woman comes to retake His earth go to the website now mentioned...

Our Lord's science has proved His mystery and instead His children of Science deny Him while reaping the benefits of His delivered Knowledge! For evidence that He and He alone brought forth Science go to the about us page, the Adam the first researcher page, and Proof in the news and science page, and the Targum page and the Proof of His healing in painting and verse page on the website at google search of Adam and Eve seed gathering Ministry!

Also on the Prophecy and the Signs page are the prewritten news events of this day prewritten three years ago and some more, { as evidence the Minister of the site is a Righteous man who has been given the keys/code Rev:10:7/1:17-18 giving him the ability to figure and deduce when events will accure } these signs are now falling each week, such as the Japan quake and tidal wave, and the DC/Virginia Beach Virginia quake our Lord Jesus the Great scientist/physician brought on the same day as the unveiling of the martin luther king statue { with as we speak more quakes are coming to DC/V.Beach } also the record disturbances on the Suns surface all prophecy before their taking place so all of Science and Theology will know the Minister of the site is sent John 13:20 and a Righteous man! Many other signs listed there have come and are coming for this sounding to Science of God's Mystery being now finished by Science Revelation 10:7 for other proofs contact the minister for questions or more answers!

Also go to the site at Adam and Eve in Action blog at google search, and therein are videos and links and pages of undeniable evidence that our Lord now prepares His earth for His retaking of it Matthew 5:5 and 25:34 Rev:5:10 and 21:3-4.... Respect to all scientists of Adam/God's seed/of Science/Nasa http://www.adamandeveseedgatheringministry.com/prophecy_and_the_signs

Gwendolyn said...

They want it both ways always, these women could be like the muslim women and be out there buried in cotton where knowone can see them, or know who they are, only the rest of the worlds women want all to see their beauty and strength, everyday in mens they hone in on the men with their speedo's, and now the women who more of won gold and more were sent from America for the first time, now they are again upset the other way, always saying they do not get as much respect or coverage as men! Shut up and be proud of these women as we are! If they do not want us seeing the butts or what ever cover them UP! Respect to our Ladies that praise God the whole world wants to see.... For evidence the Lord God of the American Woman comes to retake His earth go to the website now mentioned...

Our Lord's science has proved His mystery and instead His children of Science deny Him while reaping the benefits of His delivered Knowledge! For evidence that He and He alone brought forth Science go to the about us page, the Adam the first researcher page, and Proof in the news and science page, and the Targum page and the Proof of His healing in painting and verse page on the website at google search of Adam and Eve seed gathering Ministry!

Also on the Prophecy and the Signs page are the prewritten news events of this day prewritten three years ago and some more, { as evidence the Minister of the site is a Righteous man who has been given the keys/code Rev:10:7/1:17-18 giving him the ability to figure and deduce when events will accure } these signs are now falling each week, such as the Japan quake and tidal wave, and the DC/Virginia Beach Virginia quake our Lord Jesus the Great scientist/physician brought on the same day as the unveiling of the martin luther king statue { with as we speak more quakes are coming to DC/V.Beach } also the record disturbances on the Suns surface all prophecy before their taking place so all of Science and Theology will know the Minister of the site is sent John 13:20 and a Righteous man! Many other signs listed there have come and are coming for this sounding to Science of God's Mystery being now finished by Science Revelation 10:7 for other proofs contact the minister for questions or more answers!

Also go to the site at Adam and Eve in Action blog at google search, and therein are videos and links and pages of undeniable evidence that our Lord now prepares His earth for His retaking of it Matthew 5:5 and 25:34 Rev:5:10 and 21:3-4.... Respect to all scientists of Adam/God's seed/of Science/Nasa http://www.adamandeveseedgatheringministry.com/prophecy_and_the_signs

Stuart Schneiderman said...

I find David's point very well taken. If you start saying that women think with their vaginas, that sex organs play a decisive role in the way people think, then you cannot also say that men and women should be equally represented in all professions.

I would add that they will probably do it anyway-- something about a will to self-contradict or a disregard for serious thought.

n.n said...

Dennis:

I was not criticizing but agreeing with you... and Puritans. Although, I will call into question the results of the study you cited. Sometimes they do and other times they don't, which would suggest that it is, at the very least, neither a primary motivation nor a prerequisite for happiness. Perhaps that behavior derives from an individual personality flaw.

Dennis said...

n.n

To me it was just a little poke at radical feminism. I would be just as guilty as the Feminists for using stereotypes to define a specific group of people. I suspect that we are both too much of an individualist to think other wise.

n.n said...

Dennis:

Agreed.

I still wasn't criticizing you, and from what little I know of you, my impression is that you place the trees before the forest, principles (and principals) before a collective.

Feminism has become the problem it was addressing, but from a slightly different perspective. They should have focused on promoting individual dignity instead of special or exclusive dignity. In fact, that is the problem with most human and civil rights movements. They have become, or perhaps they always were, the equivalent of the problem they were addressing. These are not competing interests. They are corrupting interests.

Dennis said...

n.n

Agreed,

I have stated much the same thing in a slightly different manner.