So there are a couple of ads on TV lately that bother me. One shows a man talking to his wife when a pretty woman (or women? I forget) walk by. The man does not look away and the voice over says something like “he kept his eyes on his wife. Give that man a Klondike bar.”
The second one has a couple talking when a number of attractive women walk by. The guy looks at them and in fact uses the reflective service on his phone to watch them walk away until a text message that says “OMG U R A PIG” shows up from his girl friend. A momentary distraction means he is a pig?
The implication in both is that it is wrong for a man to notice and to admire attractive women when they have some sort of relationship or conversation going on with another woman. OK I will admit that I object to this idea.
Personally I am at the far heterosexual end of the continuum. Not only do I not understand men finding men attractive I sometimes have trouble understanding how women do. Women are amazingly beautiful. Probably more wonderful to look at than anything else in nature. Would it be ok for a man to be distracted by an amazing sunset? Of course – in many cases – it would be. And yet a beautiful woman is not an acceptable distraction? That’s crazy.
I can see the argument that two people in a conversation should give each other their full attention. But there is also a difference between a casual conversation filling time and a serious conversation that requires total concentration. Also I don’t think that just because a man notices and dares to enjoy the view of an attractive woman that he is some sort of pig or sex crazed jerk. After all one doesn’t see/hear anyone calling a woman a pig for noticing a good looking man do you? What’s the difference? A woman can make a big deal of ogling a shirtless construction worker or life guard but a man can’t appreciate a fully dressed woman without being a pervert?
I think this is all about control and insecurity. In short I think that the woman in the ad who called her boyfriend a pig is being immature and unreasonable. It’s not like he is planning on leaving her or that he doesn’t care about it. It is just that he is enjoying the beauty of nature that happens to be in the form of a woman. Pig or human?
Sure it is great that the guy in the first ad is giving his wife his full attention but would he be evil to have noticed the other woman walking by? I think it would depend a lot on the circumstances of the conversation.
Well I had to vent. I do think there is very much a double standard in western cultures that is very much unfair to men. I do not buy this crap that it is a man’s world for a minute. That is a big lie propagated by women to help them maintain a lead in the balance of power. BTW the fact that men hold most jobs and women control most of the money in the west supports my claim. If it were a man’s world it would be the other way around. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Unless my wife asks. 🙂