Okay, here's a legitimate question from a confused, middle-aged male - Can I look at boobs or not? I mean, is it politically correct to do so in this day and age, or should I keep doing what men have been doing since humans have been walking upright, and that's sneaking glimpses whenever I get a chance?
I ask this question only because I was watching a women's beach volley ball tournament on ESPN yesterday, and these girls (Is it okay to call them "girls" now? They call themselves "girls". Maybe beings with penises still have to call them "women" though. Again, I'm not sure.) were wearing mere strings for clothing. (I quickly switched the channel every time my wife walked into the room...I'm good at doing things like that.)
Is there an athletic reason for such attire? Does wearing next to nothing give you a more powerful serve? Do clothes that show every body crack and dimple allow a person to dive more aggressively after the ball? Or is it simply eye candy?
In my lifetime, we have gone from seeing women, and women seeing themselves, as June Cleavers and Betty Crockers to Billie Jean Kings and Gloria Steinems. Women, through much courageous struggle, have morphed from smiling housewives and sex objects to business people and equals. (At least in public.)
Now, I think I see the trend reversing. And it's being spearheaded by women! I was on a college campus recently with a woman friend of mine, and we passed a young female student wearing a tight, pink tee-shirt that said, "I'm proud to be a c..k-teaser!" My friend, who is anything but a prude, shook her head and said, "My God! All of the Women's Liberation fighting of the sixties and seventies has come to this!"
I pretended to be appalled also, but I have to admit, I kind of liked it.
Everywhere I go now, I see breasts and other parts of the female anatomy prominently displayed, and that makes me glad I was born a man. (I watched that volley ball match on ESPN for over two hours. I was glued to the set, and I couldn't tell you what the score was, who won the match, or who was playing. I could, however, tell you exactly what they were wearing!)
And young women are defending themselves by saying things like "There is absolutely nothing wrong with sexuality! Why do older folks get so uptight about it?"
Well, this is an "older folk" who agrees with the new trend, but still, I am a bit perplexed. Suddenly, it's worse to be considered a prude than a sexual deviant? Is not looking worse than looking? (I don't think so, judging from some of the disgusted looks that come back to me from the very wearers of such clothing when I embarrassingly get caught looking...I almost said, "when I get caught with my pants down" there, but, somehow, the picture those words paint don't fit in this context.)
So, again, here's my question - Is it okay to look or not? Is it okay for me to like what I see? Is it okay that I'm a heterosexual male? If I get caught looking, will I be scowled at and thought of as a pervert or a sexist pig? Will the woman wearing the high-beam enhancing tube top be offended by my noticing? If so, why is she wearing those clothes in the first place?
I don't know. Life is confusing to me.