Tag Archives: sexism

Image Gender Imbalance

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Anterior_view_of_human_female_and_male,_with_labels-private

                                                              Different parts, but both human

I received a comment on my post “Why? (A Question for Non-Naturists)” that sparked some thoughts on nude photos and gender:

“Wouldn’t be too bad if it was a man’s penis on show!!! It seems it’s always the women on show, wonder why?! Want to see more naked men please!!” -The Savvy Senorita

At first glance I thought she was talking about my blog.  I try to post equal amounts of nude male photos and female nude photos.  But as I re-read Savvy Senorita’s comments, she was speaking in more general terms.  Why is it we see more female nudity than male nudity in the media?

I could remember a time when you never saw a male fully naked in movies.  Sure, you saw bare buttocks, but never full frontal nudity.  Showing a penis was an automatic X-Rating, even if it was flaccid.  The only nudity that was acceptable was female nudity.  This has evolved over the years, but you still see more female nudity than male nudity in the movies and photography.

But why is this?  The following are some reasons why female nudity is more prevenient:

  1. Men still call the shots.  Sad but true, most of the movie studios are run by men, most of the media companies are run by men, and most of Silicon Valley is run by men.
  2. Women have a long history of being sex objects.  Western culture is based on exploiting women.  Until recently it was acceptable to sexually harass women in the workplace.  It was all right to demean women sexually and still is.
  3. Art has made female nudity more palpable.  Let’s face it, there is more works of art that portray nude females than nude males.

I’m a naturist and I find both male and female nudity to be equally beautiful.  Nothing is more beautiful than another human being.  The reason why things are the way they are is because of antiquated thought processes.  If we’re to grow and evolve, we must set aside our past conditioning and create a new way of thinking.