an appropriate picture of male flesh
C'mon ladies. Back me up here.
Given the substance of Dan's post, the comment may be satire.
I'd like to think I'm as non-sexist as they come, but hey, maybe I am fooling myself. Call me whatever you like.
In my opinion, somewhere in the beginings of the feminist movement came the idea that viewing women in a sexual way is sexist. I think that blanket statement goes too far.
I agree that there is a line. I agree that viewing women only as sexual objects is sexist. I agree that behaving inappropriately with women is rude at best and can even be harrasment or worse.
But to tell me that I am sexist because I find the view of certain women beautiful and arousing is an insult to my sexuality.
We can talk all day about certain cases and where we should draw the line, and I most certainly DO agree there is a line, but if you tell me I should NOT like the view of a beautiful women then that goes too far.
Tripp, the objection to the prof's (editorial?) was probably this:
If you've ever been to Israel, she's got the sloe eyes and bitchin' bod of the true Sabra. It was all I could do to remember the other five students. I sense danger, Will Robinson.
I don't think anyone would have had a problem had he written, "There is a quite beautiful young lady in my class."
Perhaps, as you say, there did/does exist a certain faction of feminism which believes that sexuality is alien to women, but more likely you're thinking of particularly zealous arguments which are grounded in the more sensible position you bring up in the next paragraph, which is that viewing women only as sexual objects is wrong.
And, just so's ya know, this sort of formulation is bound to rub some people the wrong way:
somewhere in the beginings of the feminist movement came the idea that
An analogy will help illustrate why, so I can hopefully escape being too pedagogical:
"Somewhere in the beginnings of the democratic movement came the idea that all wealth should be taken from the rich and given to the lower classes. Now, I'm against radical social inequality, but..."