I recently read an article that said, “The European Journal of Social Psychology says that all our brains, regardless of our gender, view men as ‘people’ but see women cumulatively as their body parts.” Well, duh.
The study had volunteers look at photos of both men and women and then had the subjects look at isolated images of their body parts. The result was women’s isolated body parts were easier for the participants to remember. So, we could look at this and say “women are always objectified,” and I was prepared to write that argument but then I remembered (again) DUH! Of course we are! I’m going to take a different road on this, ready?
Women are prettier than men and that is why our body parts are easier to remember. Think about it—breasts are better than no breasts. Rather, feminine breasts are better than masculine breasts. Give me a picture of boobs or a man’s chest and I’m staring at boobs. Even our butts are better—they’re generally perky and almost always round, and male butts are square with sometimes-harsh angles. Women are round and soft and we have curves and stick out in all the right places, while men are straight, and angular and hairy. I don’t want to remember that! Do you?
I don’t think this is a bad thing, and I don’t necessarily think that we should look at this in an “objectified way.” No, I think we should look at this as art. We are art. Paintings, sculptures, muses; some are males but most are female. We’re just better to look at and that’s not a bad thing. Can we just agree on that?
