Originally Posted by
shyonelung
Of course I'm aware of it. I don't have to like it. It's not why I go to the gym, believe it or not. I imagine guys don't go to the gym to have their a$$es stared at either. Of course, I'm going to get the "you're a prude" line but I just wonder if there's a place a girl can go where there are guys and not have to worry about them checking her out? Happens on the bike too. Guys wear the lycra, we wear the lycra but somehow on us, it's a sexual thing.
I don't know why you'd think it's not a sexual thing for males, except that you're not one. Sailors whistle at me and that's a fact.
I have to admit to admiring various aspects of human physiology. As does my wife, who is a great starer at well developed male bodies. I think there's a reason that it's the really built young guys who wear the most skimpy clothing in the gym. They're much more exhibitionist about it than the women at our gym. Probably something to do with power relationships. My observation is that it does seem to work for them. I can't say we all do it, because there are people who feel constrained by their communal social norms: we have some Muslim women who work out fully covered. However, both sexes do some gawking given the opportunity.
It's a strange business. Walking down most streets, the guys are in suits or mostly look like shlumps. However the women are turned out in revealing outfits in eye-catching colors. I've always wondered what that was about. Yet as I said, in another context the men are in more revealing clothing than the women. Male peer pressure prevents us from showing our stuff in public? Some of us men fought that battle in the 60's and lost. One of my favorite memories is of a really well built large black man walking down a Seattle street in tight jeans and a tight red T-shirt that said F*** YOU in big block letters. This is going to take an evolutionary sociologist.