Monday, December 3, 2007

Random Thoughts #2

Am I Supposed To Look?
I do indeed understand that I grew up in a time when less flesh was on view, and the only way to see women's body parts was either in Playboy or in an anatomy textbook. Times have changed and I know that. But I'm unclear about whether I'm supposed to look at cleavage, at boobs escaping out of a blouse, at navels winking at me above waistlines of jeans that seem to have 1" zippers. Case in point---on my recent trip overseas, while flying from Bangkok to London, I moved to the very front of the plane so that I could make a quick (as quick as possible) connection in London. A fellow traveler with a similar need also moved, and sat down next to me, with most of her breasts exposed over the top of a scoopnecked shirt, enough exposed and open to view so that I could see most of her bra (white, shelf, wide separation, front closure), and I was having a hard time not conversing with her breasts, which were great looking. This past Thanksgiving, my nephew and his wife and new baby came to dinner, among others, she nursing and with a similar amount of exposure as my traveling friend. And she's family, well sort of. Am I supposed to stare, or am I supposed to ignore what I'm seeing? Ladies, ya have to help me out with this one.

Cell Phone Use
I spent 15 minutes this afternoon on a bus, caught between (among??) three cell phone talkers, all in different languages, all talking at much less than sotto voce. And being in New York, I tolerated the intrusion into the time that I wanted to spend reading. In Berlin, almost nobody is using cellphones for the amount of time used here in NYC. Nobody is walking down the street having conversations out loud, as if they need to be committed. I can't know if it was just Berlin, or whether New Yorkers are just out of control with wireless communication, and much more out of control than Europeans. But someone's blackberry went off on the subway last week, and that person had a conversation while riding on the subway underground.

4 comments:

Emma Kelly said...

Hey Bud,

You think that's bad? Here in my Tokyo neighborhood, junior high school girls dressed in school uniforms, short enough to see their twats, coast by on bicycles oblivious to all around them as they text message their friends.

Garbage trucks sing little jingles and otherwise distinguished senior business men, drunk on cheap sake, tumble down the train station stairs, puking all over themselves.

It's a wacky world.

Best,

scott
Mrs. Kelly's Playhouse

Joy, Shared said...

Are you supposed to look? I think so.

I mean, I don't. Or, at least, I try not to. But, I think that somewhere in the subconscious mind, the woman dressing that way wants you to look even if she doesn't want you to look.

And, science is on my side in this one.

There've been various studies done that show that women (often without conscious attention to it) dress 'to attract attention' when they're most fertile.

There's been a study done recently that women are turned on by the scent of breast-feeding, as if it's some sort of natural aphrodisiac, telling the woman that's it time to try for a baby (or, you know, another baby).

So, while their 'higher mind' might be upset with you staring at them, there's a subconscious part of them that is sending out 'I want you to bone me' signals that's behind their decision to dress more revealingly.

swordfish155 said...

Thanks Scott and joy-shared for the comments. I do know that there are several women who periodically check my blog, and was hoping for insight from them about looking.

Spring, Ph.D. said...

Hell, I'm not into women, but I can't help but look. It's like a train wreck, when you can't turn away. But if they catch you watching, they'll probably publicly embarrass you, the bytches.

The whole cell phone thing is totally out of control. I had students who thought it was perfectly ok to answer their phone IN MY CLASS! Needless to say, I nipped that in the bud quickly, said the professor.