General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: DU should be collectively ashamed that people here deny that objectification of women is a problem. [View all]ElboRuum
(4,717 posts)The problem, from my point of view, does not seem to be that people have a problem seeing other humans as just as human. The vast majority of people can do that even in the presence of boobies.
No, the problem is that this acknowledgment doesn't seem to alter the requirements for desirability. Body image issues are something everyone goes through unless you are one of the rare few who manage to be attractive for the entire of their lives. We all have to come to terms with what we are, and while perhaps Kate Upton's boobs may not be helpful to someone who has body image issues, our burdens with regard to this are our own. Do you think that a society sterilized of Kate Upton's boobs is going to solve body image issues for people thus burdened? Is it going to make that person more attractive to others absent "unrealistic" comparisons? Maybe. However, I believe that we get what we ask for, and that these images are so prevalent because we asked for them. We weren't fed them out of some devious motive, drastically rewiring what would otherwise be a more egalitarian sexual sensibility as a side effect.
You may be right, Kate Upton's boobs might not belong on a political discussion board. But using that logic, kittehs don't belong, jokes don't belong, name-your-favorite-band of the sixties threads certainly don't belong. Groups devoted to cooking and baking don't belong, and don't get me started on those apolitical posts in the science forum... geez, the nerve. Yet they are all here. Why? Because maybe its more than just politics we crave. We're human, as you aver quite nicely. We want to laugh, we want to know interesting things, we want to see beautiful things. I've never thought that austerity of purpose is congruous with human intellectual need, and I would prefer DU not take up such a philosophy.