General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Will men ever start seeing woman as people first, sex objects last? [View all]Liberal_Stalwart71
(20,450 posts)at times. Who are the biggest idols in this society. Not Michelle Obama. No. Not Hillary Clinton. Nah. It's Miley Cyrus, Beyonce, and Rihanna. All these women are overly sexed and over-exposed primarily for their overly-sexed images.
While I celebrate my sexuality as a woman and fully appreciate my beauty and do believe that I am fit and alluring to men, I'm also incredibly smart, very well educated (Ph.d. in political science and public policy), and independent. Because I am often told I'm beautiful and people seem to focus on that only, I've often felt that I've had to prove that I'm really smart and that there's more to me than my physical appearance. (And I'm a pretty conservative dresser, too.)
So, I don't know how things change.
Part of me just believes that it's part of human nature for men to be visual and sexual and that's that. They will like women; they will be desirous of women because that's their nature. And it's human nature.
For women, I think many of us feed into that nature by upping the ante on our sexuality, then turn around and complain when we're only viewed as sex objects. And for women like me who are more modest about that kind of thing, it makes it harder to be taken seriously.
On the other hand, I feel that women ought to be free to be themselves and no one has the right to determine what the right amount of "sexuality" should be tolerated or demonstrated. (Not sure if I'm making sense here.)
Women should continue to embrace and celebrate their sexuality. Enjoy sex. Embrace it. At the same time, recognize that there is more to themselves than just that and carry ourselves as such.
Not sure I adequately or clearly addressed the OP's question, but I tried.