MeL's Point: Sexy or Not, that Is the Question – or Isn’t It?

I like the mention of 'what Sociologists and Anthropologists may think of "list" polls'.

I would imagine Sociologists would study at length how and if the behaviors of people who read those polls, changed. Does it really matter in "the great scheme of things"? Do people care? Did the "audience" want to copy what they perceived to be true? If the information increased "deviant behaviors" like anorexia or surgical cosmetic procedures or even different hair styles (etc. Jennifer Anniston hairstyle)?

As for me, I don't take the results of those types of 'ratings change' because sadly they aren't based on anything I am interested in. For example, best hair, best lips, boob size, head size, best nose, eye color, hair color, blah blah blah.

When I see 'the sexiest man, or 'the sexiest women' lists on various magazine covers I ask myself: How do they know?

I agree with you "we" (Americans) do seem arrogant, egotistical, and ignorant when it comes to what "we" (Americans) like to "show" the world.

No wonder the vast majority of other countries have a negative opinion of US as a whole.

Luckily you have friends (from the US) who can inform you otherwise ;)

HAAPPY

Have you read the whole "Unsexiest Women" list? I was on the edge of a mental breakdown. At one point they wrote:

"Hey, niemand hat behauptet, wir veranstalten hier eine logisch nachvollziehbare Wahl!"
("Hey, nobody said this poll is logical!")

So true. Most women on this list are powerful _and_ successful. (And beautiful, but that really is in the eye of the beholder.) Or just powerful. Or just successful. Seems the male FHM users are afraid of that (combination).

(And did you see how funny they were, having 2 men in that list, too? Haha, snicker snicker, lol lol. Hilarious. These jokers!)

I haven't read the whole list, just skipped through it to see who's on it. To put together a list like that is an insult to women and it confirms one of MY prejudices that some men just can't deal with - as you say it - powerful and successful women. What they write about Anne Will, though, confirms my assumption that it's mostly because she's a lesbian that she's on the list anyway: "Sie moderiert Talkshows und steht auf Frauen. Das kann mit uns nix werden, Schatz." ("She hosts TV shows and is into women. It's not going to work out between us, honey.") Well, I guess she can manage to live with that.

@HAAAPY, you know that I love my American friends. It's just that, from time to time, even I get frustrated with this mannerism to think that the U.S. is the center of the universe and that what's true for you must be true for the rest of the world as well. But I usually get over it quickly. ;)

MeL's blog: Everything MeL

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I get frustrated with the 'U.S. is the center of the world....we know whats best for the rest of the world' mentality too. That mentality is dangerous, immature and so ignorant.

Besides if that were true, we (America) would have equal legal rights for all couples, free universal healthcare and 'cheese head hats' would be banned and burned immediately. ;)

Cheese head hats
http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:jMLYUYHDtCxgfM:http://i.a.cnn.net/si...

It's not cool!!!

as always, it's about power *sigh*

The stereotypical male perception looks for images of femininity/attractiveness that are consumable and non-threatening (vamps included only to be ultimately tamed) and controllable, since otherwise the cultural perception of masculinity as always and exclusively dominating could be attacked. Hence the images of young, nubile flesh without too much challenge.

Lesbian women - by default located somewhat outside the classical straight power dichotomy - tend to appreciate (at least in addition) women who relate differently to power and who, instead of posing as exclusively consumable and submissive, have attributes of (traditionally male-associated) power: intelligence, courage, independence, outspoken-ness, some muscle.

Lesbians looking at women generally tend to appreciate them on eye-level other than exclusively as sex symbols, seeing an allure in age, experience, wit - all attributes that are usually rare on lists of the FHM type.

An interesting observation, though, is that the images of a male POV sexiness we are presented with every day does seem to change the lesbian perception, as well.

This may come with a generational split when it comes to 'postfeminism' - e.g. a while ago, there was a post on afterellen on a photo shoot that the Gossip Girl lead actresses had made for Rolling Stone magazine. Many (mostly young) readers wrote enthusiastic post on the 'hotness' of the images, objecting loudly to the few criticizing posts who pointed out that the whole shooting was designed for a male POV, creating the kind of faux lesbianism that is focused on the inclusion of a man in the middle.

Personally (I am still living in a feminist era), I found the images to be a total turn off because it made women look submissive and incomplete without a guy. But that seems to be a perception that is fading when many young lesbians find such images simply 'hot'.

Another striking point was that in the whole photo shoot, there was no connection between the two photographed women: they didn't look at each other in most o the pictures, but instead always gazed outward in a 'come-hither' way, creating exhibition instead of intimacy. Or is that a 'new' intimacy?

I'm not sure whether it could be read as subversive to react to that 'come hither' invitation as a lesbian viewer. Personally, I was thoroughly turned off by images of two young women as a submissive sandwich waiting 'for a proper filling'.

I do suspect, though, that this same equatorial line of power and the way people align to it is one of the core points when it comes to the differences of hot lists between 'straight male' lists and lesbian-elected lists (which on the whole may be a rather Western phenomenon as opposed to e.g. oriental gender perception).

--- Sorry for the sermon, but this is a topic I've been mulling over a lot in recent months. I'd love to hear other opinions.

____________________________

Blogging against windmills:

1 Spaniard. 1 German. 2 pairs of glasses. 3 languages. ...and trying to get married.

but I just read your very thoughtful column ... and am wondering now: Are we really that different from straight men? That is: have a more sophisticated taste?

When I talk to friends (be they male or female, straight or gay) about what's hot or not, I tend to discover that all of us can appreciate "real beauty" (or should I say politically correct beauty?), i.g. intelligence, courage, outspoken-ness and be honestly turned on by it ... and that's the way most of us chose their partners or, hopefully, have been chosen by them :)

But almost all of us have the trashy devil on our shoulders, as well. And s/he screams: Boobs! Six-pack! Why are they wearing so many cloths? Let's watch some porn.

So, I don't necessarily think that we have a different perception of eroticism and sexiness according to sex/gender but that we have within us different possibilities of perception, even, sometimes, contradictory ones. Or that's just me and my circle of friends, I don't know :)

But I'd love to see a list of the 100 hottest women (and/or men) chosen by readers of a newspaper like the English Guardian or the German ZEIT ... and then compare it to FHM's ...