Response to "Sincerely one of many girls who care"

Okay, I’ll admit it, I’ve been on a bit of a feminist mood lately. I’m not a feminist, but there are a few things that I do agree with them on. A few of my guy friends posted this article on facebook: http://bemalleable.wordpress.com/2013/12/31/sincerely-one-of-many-girls-who-care/ . It does have some really good points, but it is pretty much completely one side—oh, guys, you poor things for having to deal with this culture we live in!

Ummm, news flash, girls struggle too! So here is my response to some of the things she says:

“I’m sorry that you see hundreds of advertisements every week showing half-dressed women.”

I’m sorry us women have to see those. They never cause body image issues at all… Oh, wait. They do. And she goes on to talk about how all the reporters and sports announcers are pretty too. We are surrounded by images of young, attractive women.

And what about those ads with half naked men portrayed as sex objects? Yeah, there aren’t as many of those, but aren’t they stumbling blocks for women (And might cause guys to have body image issues)?

“I’m sorry every time you go to the beach or your neighborhood pool you can’t look in any direction without seeing a girl basically in her underwear.”

I could go to a neighborhood park and see plenty of guys without shirts playing sports or exercising. Do they ever have to worry about a girl making a move on them or calling them immodest? I’ve had to get over the fact that guys have bodies. Maybe it’s harder for guys to get over the fact that women have bodies? I don’t know.

It’d be really great if we could all just be modest and cover up. But, I’ll admit, I’m not always great at that. I wear tank tops under every shirt, but sometimes the tank tops aren’t made with much higher of a neck line. I am immensely glad that long shirts are in style, but they still sometimes ride up. As long as I’m trying to be modest, is that good enough? Why don’t guys ever have to worry about that sort of thing?

“Not only are you surrounded with a world that’s obsessed with worthless, cheap sex and relationships that mean nothing outside of sexual appeal, you’re encouraged to take part in seeing women as only objects of sex and instant pleasure.”

Women are taught to not take risks—always watch your drink, don’t go down dark allies or anywhere alone, always be on guard. Women have been degraded and taught to fear. But where in the public sphere are we teaching guys to try to control themselves? It’s taught in churches, maybe a mention of it in a class or two, but never as much as the need for women to protect themselves. Why?

I’m afraid that more women are falling prey to the idea of “meaningless” and “cheap sex”. Not enough places are talking about sex being more than just pleasure. Even outside of churches, doesn’t anybody realize sex without love doesn’t bring any good? One night stands might bring pleasure for that one night, but does it really change anything later? Best case scenario: nothing comes of it. Worst case scenario: an unplanned pregnancy or STD. Middle case scenario: regret or you just not finding what you really wanted. Am I wrong?

Porn.

Probably more men are addicted to porn or have at least seen it. But women have more temptation when it comes to books. There’s all sorts of romance novels (with sex scenes or not, I’m not sure it matters). Plus, I’ve read war novels for college that had some pretty hot scenes in them. It doesn’t really matter what genre you go for, there will probably be a mention of romance if not sex.

So, to sum it up: both sexes have to deal with temptation and body image.