Shaming Women For Catering To The "male Gaze" Is A Form Of Conservative Slut-shaming Masquerading As

Shaming women for catering to the "male gaze" is a form of conservative slut-shaming masquerading as feminism.

There's a trend I've seen of people looking at female characters in media who look sexually attractive and saying that the creators of this media are bad or the enemies of feminists because they created something to "cater to the male gaze."

For example, video games with female characters who have big boobs are criticized for "sexualizing women" for the sake of male consumers.

I've also seen a post which made a comparison between the old and new Harley Quinn, claiming that the one who had "choppy and fun" bangs rather than "seductively framing her face" was much better because it showed female rather than male gaze.

The issue with these criticisms is that well-meaning feminists start to generalize them to real women. We tell women not to look seductive or sexually attractive because those traits cater to men. We feel pity for them for having become victims to men's lust.

Do you see why this is bad? If you look closely enough at these claims about the male gaze, you see that modern feminist language is being used to repeat the same conservative slut-shaming bullshit our society should have overcome by now.

How different are these claims, really, from the teacher at my high school who followed her presentation about the dress code by saying that girls who have been victims of sexual harassment have invited it upon themselves with the way that they were dressed?

Some things that are bad:

Telling women how they can and can't dress

Saying that if men are attracted to a woman, she is not safe or not respectable

Telling women to dress modestly

Shaming women for wanting to be attractive to men

To be clear, the opposite is true too. It's bad to force women into sex of course, or to make them wear something "attractive" that they aren't comfortable with. But telling women that they are "catering to the male gaze" if they want to look attractive disempowers women by taking away our choice to be sexually liberated, choose how we dress, or look attractive for our own sakes.

In addition, when feminists consider the male gaze their enemy, they also start to consider women who dress attractively or are purposely seductive or engage in sexual acts as their enemies. We end up with women yelling at women, enforcing the patriarchy on ourselves. It's fucked up, and we can do better.

Sexual tension really do be more fun than the sex itself sometimes. I said what I said 🫣

Same😭

I’m such a slut when I’m sad lmao

i have a good take

you shouldnt feel ashamed if youre sexually sensitive nor should you feel bad if youre not sensitive enough.

nobody should feel bad about the rate they cum at bc its not a set in stone time and not something you can fully control

your body is perfect as it was, as it is, and as it will be and i think you should be celebrated and cherished for anything you have and supported in the things you choose to change. no part of your body should be mocked and that should include what you cant control.

talk with your partner\partners about it and work out with them about what satisfaction is to them and how you both can work towards it and remember that sex isnt the only way to show love but it is a way of showing love you shouldnt be afraid of doing or shamed for if you have it differently

I had a break between classes and I found out that my roommate was going home for the day.

So I did my readings while masturbating my brains out and cumming four times.

(I didn't get very far in the readings....)

Passed out and when I woke up, found out I had to take a major exam I hadn't studied for. (I thought it was on wednesday!)

Whoops!

My throat hurts. Can't tell if it's from drinking my region's shitty tap water or from sucking cock.