Earlier today I posted the following observation to Facebook:
“If a woman wears sexually suggestive clothing around a man is that not also sexual assault? Men are visually stimulated and unwanted stimulation should meet the basic definition of assault. I am not condoning bad behavior by men but women need to understand that by walking around in their little sister’s skirt they are guilty of indecent visual assault on a man’s imagination which does cause mental anguish and torment especially on men who really are trying to live in harmony and respect toward women; something made more difficult when every ripple and curve are exposed to the men around you. Something to think about.”
Needless to say this caused a flurry of comments both in agreement and disdain. Many – too many – concluded I was fabricating an excuse for sexual assault against women by men. But those people, men and women, willing to wade into the deep end of the pool got it, thankfully
Many married women also feel assaulted and infuriated by the provocative dress of other women in part because they know what it’s doing to their husbands. And what, exactly, does it “do” to their husbands?
When a man sees a naked or partially dressed woman a chemical reaction happens in his brain. Neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin are released, giving him an involuntary surge of pleasure… involuntary!
It does also appear that women know this affect they have on men. This is likely due to cultural conditioning over several decades. From the sexual revolution of the sixties to Hollywood’s push for more and more sexual imagery in movies girls have been conditioned to accept the normalization of using their bodies as tools to gain acceptance in society. The “look at me” addiction has led to smaller and smaller bathing suits on beaches with modesty having all but disappeared. The porn scenes made in private studios have gone public. Men are in a state of constant sexual assault by women who either don’t understand the severity of what they are doing because it’s cute and they like the attention, or worse – they do know the feelings it stirs and like the control they have over men.
There are literally millions – nay – billions of pictures we could post here but again, soft porn. Do the women know what they are doing? Yes, of course. But are they aware that it fits the definition of “sexual assault?”
….
Finally let me say, for your own sake and ours, please put some clothes on. Stop the sexual assault against men. Yes, you have the power. Yes, you are pretty. But also yes, you are assaulting us.
— Michael Shoesmith, PNN News and Media Network, The Woman-on-Man Sexual Assault Epidemic! More Serious Than You Might Think! October 19, 2017
I have to hand it to him: “Indecent visual assault on a man’s imagination” isn’t something I would have thought of. Sounds like he might be close to having a self-control problem.
Just fucking stop!!! This nothing more than victim blaming and it provides cover for sexual predators. What a woman wears is not permission for men to harass/assault her, no more than a bakery displaying a cake is permission for a brittle diabetic (one who has dramatic insulin spikes/drops) to eat an entire cake.
For those men/boys NOT raised in Evangelical/fundamentalist households, a bathing suit on a woman is not that much of a temptation.; they are used to seeing these things. It’s only the fundie men who rarely, if ever, see a scantily-clad/naked women who have such a strong reaction. Further more, even a raging hard-on doesn’t give them permission to assault women! Your hard-on is YOUR problem, not mine! And it doesn’t excuse shitty male behavior either. Women shouldn’t have to dress like a nun in the ’60’s to keep from being harassed.
Michael Shoesmith is not simply dull: He is a misongynistic bully. Christian stupidity is particularly alarming because it often displays such extreme emotional damage. An adult man actually says out loud that he is being assaulted by what a woman wears. Thank-you, Mr. Shoesmith, for demonstrating very clearly why evangelical Christianity is swiftly becoming an anachronism. Each day I open this blog and am gob-smacked at what Christians are actually doing and saying. Sweet Jesus’ message has never been so illuminating.
Exactly! I hate how these fundamentalist religions try to put the blame on how women look/dress/act and would rather have them covered up head-to-toe because they “can’t” trust their men from acting on arousal. This creates a culture whereby all women are treated as unmitigated temptresses who “bring it upon themselves” if some sexual predator chooses to attack a woman.
I teach my teen daughter to dress as she likes but to be able to defend herself from sexual predators. I teach my teen son that it is NEVER OK to touch someone without their permission. (Actually, I teach both of them the same thing, but the direction of the message might be a little different). What a woman wears or doesn’t wear is immaterial to a person making a choice about how they will behave toward another human being.
So that is what the man that showed up at NLQ babbling immodestly dressed feminists being exactly the same as women raping men was yammering on about!