A non-misogynist primer for the college-educated
My last column was titled “On Donald Trump’s Supposed Misogyny.” After reading reactions on the Internet, I realize how important it is to elaborate on the subject of how men view women.
One of the proofs that “higher” education makes people more foolish, more naïve, and often even more ignorant about life than those who never attended college is the widespread belief among the well-educated that when men sexually objectify women, it means that they are misogynists, haters of women.
So, here is a list of eight truths about males and sexual objectification for those who have a degree in any of the “social sciences.”
1. It is completely normal for heterosexual men to see women to whom they are sexually attracted as sex objects.
2. That such sexual objectification is normal and has nothing to do with misogyny is proved by, among other things, the fact that homosexual men see men to whom they are sexually attracted as sex objects. If heterosexual men are misogynists, homosexual men are man-haters.
3. One reason for this is the almost unique power of the visual to sexually arouse men. Men are aroused just by glancing at a female arm, ankle, calf, thigh, stomach — even without ever seeing the woman’s face. Those legs, calves, arms, etc. are sexual objects. That’s why there are innumerable websites featuring them. There is nothing analogous for women. Of course, a woman can be aroused seeing a particularly handsome and masculine man. But there are no websites for women to stare at men’s legs or other male body parts.
4. Every normal heterosexual man who sees a woman as a sexual object can also completely respect her mind, her character, and everything else non-sexual about her. Men do this all the time.
5. Most heterosexual women also see sexy women as sex objects — and they are hardly misogynists. Ask your wife or girlfriend which would turn her on more: watching a male strip show in front of a female audience or a female strip show in front of a male audience.
6. Lucky is the couple in which the man can sexually objectify his partner. The longer a husband can at least occasionally regard his wife as a sex object, the better their marriage. It is not always easy to perceive the woman you see every day, the mother of your children, as a sexual object.
7. The whole purpose of lingerie and other sexual attire is to render the woman a sex object in her partner’s eyes. Are all the women who wear lingerie, bikinis, cheerleader outfits, or whatever else turns their partner on — and hopefully them as well, one might add — haters of women?
8. If your husband denies these assertions, he is lying to you because he is afraid you will react angrily or because he is afraid of hurting your feelings. He may also be lying to himself — after all, he, too, may have gone to college or reads liberal opinion pieces on misogyny, and he wants to be an “enlightened” male.
It is a sign of the times that these eight points need to be spelled out. The question is, Why? Why are any of these points — known to just about every woman and man who ever lived prior to the 1960s — controversial to so many well-educated people today?
The answer is leftism and its offshoot, feminism.
Leftism is first and foremost a denial of reality.
Avoidance of pain is the central psychological impetus of leftism. This explains the infantilizing ‘safe rooms at the institutions the Left most controls — the universities.
Leftists deny reality for two reasons. One is that leftism is a religion (a secular one), and therefore it has dogmas that supersede truth. The other reason is that reality is filled with disappointment and pain, and avoidance of pain is the central psychological impetus of leftism. This explains the infantilizing “safe rooms” at the institutions the Left most controls — the universities. These rooms — replete with stuffed animals, balloons, and Play-Doh — exist to protect students from hearing an idea with which they differ. (Recall the first reason leftists deny reality: It is a religion allows that no heretical ideas.) Safe zone are also meant to keep students from hearing an idea that causes them pain. (Recall reason two: avoiding pain.)
Name the left-wing position, and in almost every case, you will see how it exemplifies either or both of these reasons.
It is reality that human nature is not basically good. But since the French Enlightenment, the Left has affirmed that people are basically good. That’s why leftists blame violent crime on poverty and racism, not on the violent criminal.
It is reality that the higher the minimum wage, the fewer new workers will be hired. But the Left, because of dogma, denies it. (In 1987, when the New York Times editorial page was not as pure Left as it is today, it editorialized: “The Right Minimum Wage: $0.00.”)
#related#It is reality that “Islam” means “submit,” but this meaning conflicts with left-wing wishful thinking that all cultures are morally equal. Thus, virtually every left-wing professor and publication says that “Islam” means “peace.” (To the extent that it has any connection to the word for “peace” — salaam — it is the peace that ensues after all of humanity has submitted to Islam.) The amount of left-wing reality-denial concerning the Islamic world is about equal to the number of assertions leftists make about it. (Thus, the Obama administration labeled the Fort Hood massacre of 13 soldiers by a radical Muslim as “workplace violence.”)
It is also reality, not an expression of misogyny, that men see the objects of their sexual desire as . . . sexual objects. But this is too painful for feminists and other leftists.
And it violates feminist theory, which insists that seeing a woman as a sexual object makes one a misogynist, and that men and women are essentially the same.
Therefore, leftists reject the reality.