NO LOOKING??
There is this lady whose work I have been following for a while. She has run a series of very successful campaigns against eve teasing around the country, but now it seems this "project" is in danger of turning into something ugly under her own zeal.
The banner on her blog says :
NO
Leching
Touching
Staring
Groping
Passing Remarks
Pinching
Stalking
and here's the best part:
NO LOOKING!!
No Looking? Looks like she just put down her Q'uran and picked up a Kalishnikov!
Don't get me wrong here, I support the spirit of her campaign wholeheartedly, in fact, I even observed one of her "interventions" in my city from a discreet distance. I'm all for a world that is safer for everybody. People familiar with my wilder days will remember two incidents where we started trouble over someone violating a lady. I fully support the viewpoint that unwelcome attention and unsolicited physical contact needs to be done away with.
No looking?? that is really taking it very very far. Personally, I like it when people notice that I'm dressed well. I make it a point to complement colleagues on a smart shirt, a nice watch, or for that matter, an exceptionally pretty dress or pair of earrings. I get the impression that people enjoy that, none of my female colleagues filed for sexual harassment just because I looked at her and remarked that she was wearing very pretty ear-rings... I've never detected any sign of discomfort, they always seem to enjoy a complement.
Leching- well, that's another thing people feel violated about. In a sexually repressed society such as ours, it is quite natural as all the men want sex, but most women think it is wrong and dirty. All it takes is a shapely pair of legs or a remarkable bosom, and bang- Bob's your uncle. "Leching" is a part of a very primal instinct that I'll call "Sexual Looking" for this article.
A long time ago, before there were microwaves, refrigerators and motorcars, before religious sanction was placed on our ability to copulate and procreate, things were very easy and life was just like Discovery Channel. Sexual Looking was a way a guy looked at a woman whom he found attractive, saying "I want you" if the woman thought he was attractive too, and really got her juices flowing, they got together and did their thing without a rabbi, priest, or any other spoilsport to declare them incarcerated for life.
But now days, after we've become civilized, that "Sexual Looking" is a sin. Women consider it a violation... and yes... women "lech" too. They have evolved "Sexual Looking" to a very potent weapon. In the days I helped out my friends in a security company providing VIP protection to a guy who was young, rich and handsome, I saw how women would react. Even we, the guys with the suits, PTT headsets and keys to the Mercedes could bask in reflected glory and often get lucky. Yes... women lech too... they lech to the point of salivation, and the men enjoy it. We don't go around saying "Oh my, that gal in the black tank top is staring at me!! She's such a fucking creep yaar!! Oh... I'm so grossed out!!" In fact, if I'm not already with a lady friend, I may actually go over to say hello.
Sexual Looking is here to stay for as long as sex is taboo, and ladies will be offended by it for as long as sex is considered dirty. Until all men can get some every now and then, they will continue to undress you with their eyes, and will continue to have "unclean thoughts" and a wandering eye.
Non-Sexual Looking is critical to normal communication! Suppose I was talking to a lady and I kept looking over her left shoulder as I talked, I'd be considered inconfident or untruthful.
Me being a warm blooded creature, it is almost involuntary that I do a double take when someone attractive walks by, and face it, women do it too. Now, I don't see why a "look", sexual or not, becomes intrusive. Now I know, some of the ladies who read this will go ballistic and I'm gonna have to fear for my life, but the bottom line is that "sexual looking" is a biological urge, and the revulsion to it is a cultural phenomenon.
Groping, taunting, lewd remarks... these are, and must be treated as crimes. But please don't go as far as saying that each time we pass a lady on the street, our eyes must be anchored to the cobblestones. It would be like the story that my grandmother told me about a certain part of India where commoners had to get off the road and look away every time a royal party passed.
Long story short, these people need to cool it.
Blanknoise is working on a new project to display clothing that people were "violated" in, makes sense as it proves that harassment has nothing to do with what you're wearing. All the best to them for that, but maybe they need to wind it down a bit or risk coming across as frigid extremists.
you can check out blanknoise at
http://blanknoiseproject.blogspot.com/
The banner on her blog says :
NO
Leching
Touching
Staring
Groping
Passing Remarks
Pinching
Stalking
and here's the best part:
NO LOOKING!!
No Looking? Looks like she just put down her Q'uran and picked up a Kalishnikov!
Don't get me wrong here, I support the spirit of her campaign wholeheartedly, in fact, I even observed one of her "interventions" in my city from a discreet distance. I'm all for a world that is safer for everybody. People familiar with my wilder days will remember two incidents where we started trouble over someone violating a lady. I fully support the viewpoint that unwelcome attention and unsolicited physical contact needs to be done away with.
No looking?? that is really taking it very very far. Personally, I like it when people notice that I'm dressed well. I make it a point to complement colleagues on a smart shirt, a nice watch, or for that matter, an exceptionally pretty dress or pair of earrings. I get the impression that people enjoy that, none of my female colleagues filed for sexual harassment just because I looked at her and remarked that she was wearing very pretty ear-rings... I've never detected any sign of discomfort, they always seem to enjoy a complement.
Leching- well, that's another thing people feel violated about. In a sexually repressed society such as ours, it is quite natural as all the men want sex, but most women think it is wrong and dirty. All it takes is a shapely pair of legs or a remarkable bosom, and bang- Bob's your uncle. "Leching" is a part of a very primal instinct that I'll call "Sexual Looking" for this article.
A long time ago, before there were microwaves, refrigerators and motorcars, before religious sanction was placed on our ability to copulate and procreate, things were very easy and life was just like Discovery Channel. Sexual Looking was a way a guy looked at a woman whom he found attractive, saying "I want you" if the woman thought he was attractive too, and really got her juices flowing, they got together and did their thing without a rabbi, priest, or any other spoilsport to declare them incarcerated for life.
But now days, after we've become civilized, that "Sexual Looking" is a sin. Women consider it a violation... and yes... women "lech" too. They have evolved "Sexual Looking" to a very potent weapon. In the days I helped out my friends in a security company providing VIP protection to a guy who was young, rich and handsome, I saw how women would react. Even we, the guys with the suits, PTT headsets and keys to the Mercedes could bask in reflected glory and often get lucky. Yes... women lech too... they lech to the point of salivation, and the men enjoy it. We don't go around saying "Oh my, that gal in the black tank top is staring at me!! She's such a fucking creep yaar!! Oh... I'm so grossed out!!" In fact, if I'm not already with a lady friend, I may actually go over to say hello.
Sexual Looking is here to stay for as long as sex is taboo, and ladies will be offended by it for as long as sex is considered dirty. Until all men can get some every now and then, they will continue to undress you with their eyes, and will continue to have "unclean thoughts" and a wandering eye.
Non-Sexual Looking is critical to normal communication! Suppose I was talking to a lady and I kept looking over her left shoulder as I talked, I'd be considered inconfident or untruthful.
Me being a warm blooded creature, it is almost involuntary that I do a double take when someone attractive walks by, and face it, women do it too. Now, I don't see why a "look", sexual or not, becomes intrusive. Now I know, some of the ladies who read this will go ballistic and I'm gonna have to fear for my life, but the bottom line is that "sexual looking" is a biological urge, and the revulsion to it is a cultural phenomenon.
Groping, taunting, lewd remarks... these are, and must be treated as crimes. But please don't go as far as saying that each time we pass a lady on the street, our eyes must be anchored to the cobblestones. It would be like the story that my grandmother told me about a certain part of India where commoners had to get off the road and look away every time a royal party passed.
Long story short, these people need to cool it.
Blanknoise is working on a new project to display clothing that people were "violated" in, makes sense as it proves that harassment has nothing to do with what you're wearing. All the best to them for that, but maybe they need to wind it down a bit or risk coming across as frigid extremists.
you can check out blanknoise at
http://blanknoiseproject.blogspot.com/
posted by Ajit Nathaniel at 1:12 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home