Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site rayssd.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!rayssd!hxe
From: hxe@rayssd.UUCP (Heather Emanuel)
Newsgroups: net.women,net.singles,net.rec.nude
Subject: Re: Turn about is fair play -- update.
Message-ID: <2024@rayssd.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 1-Mar-86 16:16:41 EST
Article-I.D.: rayssd.2024
Posted: Sat Mar  1 16:16:41 1986
Date-Received: Sun, 2-Mar-86 02:46:12 EST
References: <185@ttidcc.UUCP>
Sender: hxe@rayssd.UUCP (Heather Emanuel @ Raytheon Co., Portsmouth RI)
Organization: Raytheon Co., Portsmouth RI
Lines: 45
Xref: watmath net.women:9455 net.singles:10589 net.rec.nude:400

Jerry writes:
> I sent in a set of photos as my application to  be  part  of  "The  Men  of
> Mensa"  last week...
> 
> Net response has been surprising.  So far, my mail has been 100%  positive.
> The  few  net  postings  I've  seen  have  been mostly neutral or positive.
> Hardly a flame in the bunch.
> 
> I'm a little disappointed.  After the general hullabaloo  over  _Playboy's_
> "The  Women  of  Mensa" I thought there'd be _some_ controversy attached to
> the _Playgirl_ equivalent.  Apparently no one's much  concerned  about  men
> posing in the nude.  How's that for sexism?

There are, to me, two reasons for the difference in reaction here.
One is that it is simply not as common, and thus much more of a
novelty for a man to pose nude.  After all, for years it seemed as
though nobody wanted to see them.  Now they're everywhere, in bars
and in magazines, etc., and it's turning into a hip, pseudo-liberal
thing for women to ogle too.  So people are applauding the men as
'brave pioneers' who are doing it much more for the challenge of it
than out of some desire to display their bodies for others'
prurient interests.

The other reason (in *my* opinion, but borne out by research and
literature) is much more subtle.  Take a look at the women's poses
in Playboy.  They're passive, submissive; they frighten me when I
think of myself in that situation.  They're asking to be dominated.
Now look at the men in Playgirl.  They're as comically macho as you
can get.  They climb mountains, fix cars, you name it -- all in the
buff.  They're *telling* you what you can expect from them.   It's a
completely non-threatening situation from the poser's point of view,
and I can certainly see why it would be a tremendous ego boost.  The
issue is control -- even in soft-porn magazines, men have it and women
don't.  So that's why, although I would hope that someday all this
garbage will be laughed out of existence, I'm not upset over a man
posing for Playgirl nearly as much as I am over a women posing for
Playboy.  It's only sexist on the surface.
-- 
--Heather Emanuel {allegra, decvax!brunix, linus, raybed2} rayssd!hxe
--------------------------------------------------------------------
   I don't think my company *has* an opinion, so the ones in this
                  article are obviously my own.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
"Ain't life a brook...
 Sometimes I feel just like a polished stone"  -Ferron