I think any how-to that doesn't have a direct and practical application should get thrown out, because people put way too much stock in the way media tells us to approach any type of relationship. At least, it would be great if people could realize that it's advice, not a passage straight from some sort of rule book, and that there's an art to taking advice - which involves knowing when to discard it entirely.
The difference in voice/wording in men's versus women's magazines really bugs me too :/ It seems like, in most women's magazines, sounding opinionated about anything is taboo. Plus, I've never seen a swear word in a women's magazine, but I do see them in men's magazines. I understand that there's a culture to appeal to and that every magazine has its target market, but it feels to me like there's a huge amount of censorship of anything not strictly 'ladylike.'
Which brings us to naked folks. I wonder where this whole 'naked men are scary' idea came from? Because if you go back far enough, naked men are certainly featured all over the place in art, and a lot of artists seemed to think naked dudes were the pinnacle of attractive imagery. I'm not exactly a history buff, but I bet the paradigm shift happened in the Victorian era. But what really bothers me is that culturally, it's okay to be open about your sexuality if you're male, but if you're female you've gotta keep it under wraps. If you talk about it, people get this idea that there's something wrong with you, that you're a slut or a nymphomaniac or something. It's something shameful for chicks, but something to be proud of if you're a dude. And I feel like what's actually worse than the problem itself is that people are aware of it, but they keep fostering it, and media is especially guilty here.
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Date: 2011-08-24 11:09 pm (UTC)The difference in voice/wording in men's versus women's magazines really bugs me too :/ It seems like, in most women's magazines, sounding opinionated about anything is taboo. Plus, I've never seen a swear word in a women's magazine, but I do see them in men's magazines. I understand that there's a culture to appeal to and that every magazine has its target market, but it feels to me like there's a huge amount of censorship of anything not strictly 'ladylike.'
Which brings us to naked folks. I wonder where this whole 'naked men are scary' idea came from? Because if you go back far enough, naked men are certainly featured all over the place in art, and a lot of artists seemed to think naked dudes were the pinnacle of attractive imagery. I'm not exactly a history buff, but I bet the paradigm shift happened in the Victorian era. But what really bothers me is that culturally, it's okay to be open about your sexuality if you're male, but if you're female you've gotta keep it under wraps. If you talk about it, people get this idea that there's something wrong with you, that you're a slut or a nymphomaniac or something. It's something shameful for chicks, but something to be proud of if you're a dude. And I feel like what's actually worse than the problem itself is that people are aware of it, but they keep fostering it, and media is especially guilty here.