Images of naked men have long been kept secret,
and hidden from women. In a society where women's bodies are used to sell
everything from sports cars to yoghurt, naked men are still a relatively
scarce item.
The naked male body has long been considered "protected territory".
The most obvious example of this is modern cinema, where explicit and
lingering shots of the female nude are common, but full frontal male nudity
is a rare, headline-worthy event.
There remains a distinct reluctance within our society to display the
male body. Feminists would argue that being unable to see men in their
most vulnerable state means that patriarchal power can be upheld because
an element of mystery remains. Some aesthetes insist that male nudity
is not beautiful and therefore should be hidden. Conservatives say that
we shouldn't be looking at any nudity as it is.
And considering men often experience nervousness about penis size, there's not
many ordinary male voices arguing in favour of seeing naked men either.
There's also a continuing belief that women don't want to see naked men,
and that women are not visually aroused by seeing a naked man. This belief
is often used to justify the continuing absence of male nudity in our
society.
The internet has proven this belief to be quite wrong.
Women love looking at naked men. "Naked men" is often the first
thing a new female surfer will type into a search engine. The urge for
visual stimulation is strong, as is rampant curiosity.
Too many women are not given the chance to see naked men, and so are inherently
curious about the nude male body. They want to see men without clothes,
open to the world. They want to see muscles, biceps and thighs and chests.
And most of all they want to see penises, in all their forms, short and
long, thin and thick, circumcised or uncut, and they want to see them
both flaccid and erect.
For some women, the lack of exposure to male nudity means they must learn
to admire it, as a novice drinker learns to enjoy fine wine. This lack
of experience with the visual stimulation that an image of a naked man
provides does not mean that women "aren't visual". Rather, it
means that society simply hasn't trained women to be turned on by naked
men. And even without this training, the urge persists.
In the past there were few opportunities for women to ogle the male body.
Magazines like Playgirl and Australian Women's Forum feature male centerfolds,
but these were relatively unique publications. The internet, however,
has given women the perfect opportunity to explore their sexual desires
in privacy.
Thus, there are now numerous adult sites offering photos of naked men,
in many forms. The Ms Naughty linklist features numerous such sites.
And it turns out that at least a third of surfers checking out adult sites
are women, which is a significant figure considering most people assumed
that women did not like porn at all.
Imbalance still exists. The vast majority of adult material is aimed at
men, whether straight or gay. And the cinema still won't show a penis
if it can help it. Nonetheless, the world is opening up to women who want
to look at naked men.
More naked men articles:
Naked
men article at Streakerama
Naked Men News
When
is a naked man a naked man for women?
Naked Men category at Ms Naughty Links