Do Men Even Want Women?

[Revoltingest]

The rest I can see, but this - no. I only knew one other girl who did not shave. Every other woman I know does. So it is very prevalent.

Now I feel oppressed!
I give in to societal pressure, & shave to avoid a beard.


No....wait....I hate beards.
Food gets stuck in them....& not in a good way.

 

[Akivah]

It needs to change because people DO look down on women who don't comply.

So? There's nothing wrong with personal preferences. You wanna legislate that people must choose a date while blinded?

 

[Rival]

So? There's nothing wrong with personal preferences. You wanna legislate that people must choose a date while blinded?

No, I don't care about people's preferences. Each to his own but women (and men) are routinely shamed for having hair in places most people may not. I just think it's kind of silly. If a man has a beard, for example, can often be a point of mockery.

 

[Satans_Serrated_Edge]

Health and hygiene is one thing, but cosmetics are purely a cultural thing, as is the expectation to hide one's natural look. As for body weight, another dumb cultural attitude is that many will consider a girl, even one with a balanced BMI, "too fat", because the sickly emaciated look is apparently the desired standard.

Well sure, I can't disagree with any of that, but that's a long way off from 'men who don't like hairy women must be pedophiles' or 'men who prefer women to take care of their appearance don't like real women.'

Those are just things fat chicks say as they console themselves with a tub of hagen das.

 

[VioletVortex]

It's sort of an exaggeration of femininity. Men have coarser and more copious body hair than women to begin with. Because of this, body hair has become associated with masculinity, and thus frowned upon on females. This makes complete sense to me.

 

[Akivah]

No, I don't care about people's preferences. Each to his own but women (and men) are routinely shamed for having hair in places most people may not.

Again, so what? Whatever happened to 'stick and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me.'?

 

[Rival]

It's sort of an exaggeration of femininity. Men have coarser and more copious body hair than women to begin with. Because of this, body hair has become associated with masculinity, and thus frowned upon on females. This makes complete sense to me.

Yes but then you realise men are waxing their chest hair and shaving their pubic hair. I know several who shaved their armpits. So the logic doesn't follow.

 

[Mister Emu]

Most men want women; I do.

We(men) have a likely biological desire for younger women, possibly rooted in evolutionary advantage. As long as you have the form of fertile womanhood, we(heterosexuals) on average want you to look as young as possible. This isn't really cultural and there isn't much you can do about it. As long as the desire is there to satisfy the sexual attraction of those who biologically desire youth, you'll have people selling every service and product that creates the impression of youthfulness.

big eyes

Are a sign of attraction, not necessarily tied to age.

It seems to me that the modern image of a beautiful woman is of a little girl with big breasts.

You are forgetting full hips with the breasts, the signs of sexual maturity.

 

[Polymath257]

I know when I never shaved for four years or so, and I still mostly choose not to, that the people who gave me the most comments were women.

I don't think it is a question of whether men want women to be women as much as whether women want women to be women.

Frankly, I really, really dislike the movement towards hairless women. I *want* to see the secondary sexual signals.

And I certainly don't see a bit of hair as being lazy or neglectful of one's appearance.

 

[Polymath257]

The rest I can see, but this - no. I only knew one other girl who did not shave. Every other woman I know does. So it is very prevalent.

And that is a change that has happened in the last 30 years or so. When I was younger, many fewer shaved. it was wonderful!

 

[Sunstone]

Women are wonderful. On the other hand, beer causes fewer mixed feelings.

 

[Rival]

As long as the desire is there to satisfy the sexual attraction of those who biologically desire youth, you'll have people selling every service and product that creates the impression of youthfulness.

I understand this but as I keep saying: girls with no body hair are, according to our culture, too young. Why would this level of emulated youth be seen as sexy in a woman, when we're not allowed to see it as sexy in a child? I can definitely understand wanting to look like, say, a 12 or 13 year old, but they have body hair. If it is reproductive health and fertility that is being subconsciously desired, then imitating a prepubescent child does not fit.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

I understand this but as I keep saying: girls with no body hair are, according to our culture, too young. Why would this level of emulated youth be seen as sexy in a woman, when we're not allowed to see it as sexy in a child? I can definitely understand wanting to look like, say, a 12 or 13 year old, but they have body hair. If it is reproductive health and fertility that is being subconsciously desired, then imitating a prepubescent child does not fit.

An ideal hip-to-waste ratio in women is, universally, the highest predictor in how sexually attractive men find women. This characteristic doesn't develop until puberty. I think you're stretching the current cultural view of body hair too far in pursuit of some kind of connection that doesn't really exist.

If a woman wants to walk around with hairy legs and pits, that's certainly her choice, but I wouldn't blame some latent form of pedophilia for the reason most people, men and women, would find it objectionable.

 

[Mister Emu]

Why would this level of emulated youth be seen as sexy in a woman, when we're not allowed to see it as sexy in a child?

Because the rest of their body isn't a child's.

If it is reproductive health and fertility that is being subconsciously desired, then imitating a prepubescent child does not fit.

swimsuit model - Google Search (Warning link to swimsuit models)
Do you consider any of these women (at least the first couple of rows, I didn't scroll far down) to have bodies that imitate or ever hearken to prepubescence?

 

[Rival]

Because the rest of their body isn't a child's.


swimsuit model - Google Search (Warning link to swimsuit models)
Do you consider any of these women (at least the first couple of rows, I didn't scroll far down) to have bodies that imitate or ever hearken to prepubescence?

No, but what you said is that men want women to look 'as young as possible'. It's the 'as possible' bit that I cannot understand.

I guess I am just not wired to get these arbitrary beauty standards. I have never observed them or understood them. If men like Rival, they like her for Rival. Being pretty sure is a bonus, but it was never my main concern. I never felt the need to paint my face or anything else to feel pretty. I guess what I'm saying is I wish people would be more free and open. I cannot understand arbitrarily chosen things. One season leather is in, the next it's chiffon. I will never grasp this. Wear, do what makes you feel comfortable.

 

[Deidre]

I think that in some ways, there is a cultural pressure to look and act a certain way, even coupled with how we're raised...in terms of the opposite sex. But, I've always believed that fake men and women tend to attract like kind. Real people attract more of the same. Water always seeks its own level.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

I'm more worried about basic ignorance of the female body. I saw a nice picture of Christie Brinkley in a bathing suit and it was flooded with stupid comments from stupid men about "camel toe" (which is an offensive term in of itself). Even some of the women were calling it "vagina". What the hell. Don't people know basic anatomy? I'm angry.

 

[Mister Emu]

No, but what you said is that men want women to look 'as young as possible'. It's the 'as possible' bit that I cannot understand.

Young as possible while retaining the features of fertility. As for why, some of the expression is cultural, but the basic underlying desire is likely, given its universality, biological.

I guess I am just not wired to get these arbitrary beauty standards. I have never observed them or understood them. If men like Rival, they like her for Rival. Being pretty sure is a bonus, but it was never my main concern. I never felt the need to paint my face or anything else to feel pretty. I guess what I'm saying is I wish people would be more free and open.

That is laudable. In a truly enlightened species, we would all have similar views in regards to ourselves and others. Basing our choice relationship on the quality of character as opposed to visual aesthetics.

I cannot understand arbitrarily chosen things. One season leather is in, the next it's chiffon. I will never grasp this.

I don't think youthful fertility is quite on the level or arbitrariness as the merits of leather vs chiffon.

 

[Corvus]

It seems to me like men, or women who like women sometimes, prefer a woman to look like a little girl. Little girls have hairless bodies, big eyes, smooth skin and petite figures. Not even a teen girl, a little girl. Teen girls have body hair and so-so skin.

I wouldn't know on a personal level. I have no interest in females for the purposes of sexual interaction. However I see your point. I believe youth is a prime driver in male sexuality. In that younger females and possibly males are more attractive to males (and some females) since they subconsciously feel younger women/men are reproductively fitter and more likely to produce healthy off spring. Humans are neotenous apes after al

 

[Corvus]

That is laudable. In a truly enlightened species, we would all have similar views in regards to ourselves and others. Basing our choice relationship on the quality of character as opposed to visual aesthetics.

Indeed. However biology is biology and humans seldom make rational choices in these matters, as I have repeatedly observed.