A
male
age
41-50,
anonymous
writes:I sometimes admire the female shape in nude pictures...mostly artistic photography but sometimes more erotic glamour pics. The elegant lines and curves are beautiful and endlessly fascinating. Usually I'd rather look at an excellent body than at people having raunchy sex. But it seems like many out there are convinced that such looking is horribly demeaning to women. Is it?I'm confused about this, as in real life I never ogle women in the street, never make catcalls, never talk about girls in a sexual way with friends. I don't assume someone is slutty for wearing tight or revealing clothes. I dislike the juvenile tone of "lad mags" like Maxim and FHM. Online, I never cyber with girls or ask for pics. As a single person, I don't believe in one night stands or even casual sex!So at least in reality, I'm against objectifying people. Maybe other guys are different? Do they stare at a nude model and think about what a skank she is, then go out and do the same with actual women on the street?? That makes no sense to me! Models are people too, and if I met one in real life that is how I would treat them. But if all you know about someone is their appearance, is it wrong to admire their image on that basis alone?I need to know if this kind of "admiring" is actually disrespectful and degrading and why. Thanks.
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reader, anonymous, writes (11 February 2015): It's simple, you objectify women when you treat them like objects...anything you do to a woman without consideration to her needs, personality or dignity is considered objectifying. Treating women like they are commodities, like they are instrument for your own sexual pleasure. Lots of men objectify women.As you say you admire women in nude pictures. here's why you're objectifying women by doing this, because you build expectations about a real perfect beauty that matches the pictures you've been looking at. well let me tell you that this perfection you see in the media is almost non existent because those photos are photoshoped . If you've never been in a real relationship it's likely you'll think women are those you see in the media...pretty objects ! but we're humans like you we have our flaws, our imperfections, we get sweaty and sick, we fart and poop...women in the media are similar to men in the media who have 6 pack and probably don't look anything like you or an actual man. watch this inspiring video, I hope you connect the dots. http://elitedaily.com/envision/how-advertisers-make-burgers-look-perfect-video/913328/
A
reader, anonymous, writes (10 February 2015): This is verified as being by the original poster of the questionThanks, Midnight Shadow, your comments helped and I do feel better now. Others have told me the same. I have to try to remember that admiring naked women is not necessarily demeaning because I was taught otherwise. even many straight girls notice women's figures and feel attraction, it's only natural. Maybe it's mostly the radical feminist types who believe it is always depraved?? But my thinking has evolved and really the important thing to me is that the portrayal be mostly tasteful, not degrading, and in that context there's nothing to worry about.
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reader, anonymous, writes (8 February 2015): Perhaps you're trying a little too hard to explain something that's very simple. Sometimes it's for the pleasure of the eye. Other times it's for the pleasure of the mind and the body. Objectifying something removes the human element of the subject; reducing it to simply as something to satisfy a primal urge. Yet, you're no different than most heterosexual males looking at a naked lady.
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A
female
reader, Midnight Shadow  +, writes (8 February 2015):
 It's not the highest form of admiring someone or the lowest form of degrading someone.
What you need to realise is that it's simple and you're over-complicating it. The fact that you respect women in real life and you don't degrade the women in those pictures means that you aren't degrading anyone and its a normal thing to do what you're doing.
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reader, anonymous, writes (8 February 2015): This is verified as being by the original poster of the questionFirst, thx to the mod who edited my question and misspelled objectifying in the title. Lol.
well I don't wanna say this is exactly like appreciating classic art. Because these are modern pics of real people, sometimes explicit. Like Natasha Poly's nude shoot for Spanish Vogue, just as an example. Though it's not high art and shows everything, to me it's different from porn pics that have sex and genitalia as their focus.
Maybe I need to mention something. When looking, I do often have an erection. (sorry, didn't want to go into that but maybe it makes a difference?) Being single and living alone, it also SOMETIMES leads into self-pleasuring. Even then, i'm not thinking of sex with the person or doing degrading things to them. Only focused on the beauty, femininity and the physical pleasure of looking. That's either the highest form of admiring or the lowest form of degradation, still not sure. :S
One more point I just thought of. The pictures where women are reduced to body parts can be teh most inspired and artistic. I'm talking about those black-and-white abstract studies portraying the body as a kind of landscape. Usually the face is obscured or cut out altogether and the model is anonymous. Contrast this with men's magazines where faces are always there and looking right at camera, the entire person is shown, and their name is writ large on the cover or above the accompanying article. But would anyone say the abstract body pics were more objectifying and disrespectful?
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A
male
reader, CMMP  +, writes (8 February 2015):
Looking at a beautiful naked body is the most natural thing in the world. To deny that is to deny human nature.
If the woman shows herself voluntarily then where's the harm?
Now, does it objectify the woman? Maybe, but what else is a picture but something to look at? The woman in the picture is not a woman any more, but rather a picture. The woman was captured in a moment in time and moved on. She is more than an object; a picture maybe not.
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reader, anonymous, writes (8 February 2015): Admiring beauty is not objectifying women. Why on earth would you think that? The female form is artistic and alluring, not just for sexual reasons. I'm gay, and I too appreciate the female form. Differently from a straight-man, who may see mainly the sex-appeal. We are wired to admire beauty in any form. If your preference is the curves and contours of a shapely female, that's just another positive appreciation of women for the wonderful creatures that they are. There is beauty in all shapes and sizes of women, as depicted in priceless masterpieces of artisans of the past and present.
You would be objectifying them if you can't view them without touching yourself, or visualizing them sexually. Don't compare adolescent and extremes; because women like being admired in all sorts of ways. They just want to be treated with respect and equality. That is where you should focus any concern.
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female
reader, Honeypie +, writes (8 February 2015):
 Is Michelangelo's David not ART, yet an objectified VIEW of the "ideal" (for the times) male form?
TO objectify - Quite simply, it means to degrade something to the status of mere object.
I think there is a HUGE difference between admiring a shape, curve or form and then ogling women. HUGE.
We ALL ( I dare someone to say they don't) ADMIRE how certain celebrities look. And I don't think that is degrading - I think it has a LOT less to do with the actor in question, and more to the ability some actors have in bringing a character to life.
Humans enjoy beauty in all forms. But YOU choose how you look at a woman. IF all you see is shapes and curves, then is she a person or an object?
Personally, I don't find what you describe as demeaning.
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A
female
reader, Midnight Shadow +, writes (7 February 2015):
I think there's a difference between admiring bodies (preferably various different shapes and sizes) that are artistically portrayed, and degrading them like many men (and sometimes women) do - as though the women are in a porn video.
Yours sounds perfectly fine :)
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female
reader, anonymous, writes (7 February 2015): Women are not just beautiful!
People are beautiful !
So I guess that the way to know if you are objectifying or not is to ask yourself whether you also admire the shapes of a muscular man , or the smile lines of an old lady who has lived a full life ?
Or is it purely young 'fit' women who you admire and see beauty in? I think that gives you your answer
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reader, anonymous, writes (7 February 2015): You sound perfectly normal to me! Like a respectful man. Are you single? ;0)
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