"Cultures that endorse modesty and cultures that endorse hypersexualization are the *same* thing. Both define female sexuality by how it relates to the male gaze. In both cases the female body exists as an ornament either to be kept carefully hidden or put on display. Neither is an empowering feminist achievement. "
I ran across this post yesterday by tumblr user egyptiansoapbox. An interesting thought. And I find it, depressingly, very true.
Last issue Torch ran two editorials on feminism, one by Mary Mathis, defending, and one by Michael Abramson, against. One of Abramsons reasonings (on the argument of the difference between the sexual habits of men and women, which I have previously written about). Abramson, depressingly, used the cliche and sexist bullshit metaphor of the locks. " 'If a key opens a lot of locks, it's a master key. If a lock is opened by a lot of keys, it's a bad lock." Everytime a man uses that saying, God kills a kitten.
Anyway, I'll save my criticism on Abramson's editorial for another day. What is important, however, is that this argument helps prove that the male gaze does have impact on how cultures endorse women's sexuality
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