Here it is…
Differences between male & female reactions to non-threatening flashers
I used to work for a porn site. I’ve seen more than my fair share of things most people never get to see, and it gets mundane after a very short while. It would have to be direct, specific, and personal, to affect me now.
I remember watching a talk show host (Dennis Prager, IIRC) do a segment on this once. His crew taped the reactions of one sex when something revealing happened to the other. Men were taped in situations where their trousers ‘accidentally’ dropped in public (they wore jockeys underneath) and the women who saw it invariably laughed. Then men were filmed watching women walking over heating grates or bending over and retrieving something from the trunk of their car when a gust of wind would blow their skirts up.
Prager’s assessment: “When a man’s pants fall down, women laugh; when a woman’s dress flies up, men…don’t laugh.”
Sums it up pretty well, I think.
Ron White: Some friends of mine asked me if I wanted to go to a strip club, and I didn’t… want to go. But I ended up going 'cause – back me up on this, fellas – once you’ve seen one woman naked, you… pretty much wanna see the rest of 'em naked.
And living in Bangkok is often like living in a porn site.
There are some women I would not want to see naked. Shudder!
Offended? No. If she were flashing a group of people, I’d think, “Well, that was dramatic.” If she were flashing just me, I’d want to know why. I’d probably ask her, “I didn’t ask you for ID, so what’s this about?” After a second or two, I’d probably picture her with a badge on one breast, and the words bail bond would pop into my head.
I don’t do commercial sex, but the last time I actually ran from a hooker, I was 18. I think I can think slowly enough to avoid saying the incriminating words.
I was flashed by a woman once, years ago, in Philly. She was standing across the intersection, in a full length fur coat and heels. When the traffic light changed green, she opened the coat-a smile and earrings were perhaps the only other things she had on.
It was cold that morning, too.
If it was a public act of indecent exposure (person walks onto bus, stands at the front and opens the raincoat), I’d probably be quite amused, regardless of the gender of the flasher - in the same way I find streakers at cricket matches (of either gender) quite funny.
But if I was walking alone at night somewhere quiet and someone jumped out of the bushes in front of me and flashed me, I’d probably be quite disturbed and frightened by it - again - almost independent of gender - because that’s just a creepy and disturbing thing to do.
With a nick like that, I’m not in the least surprised.
Absolutely convinced that it’s some plot to mock, ridicule, or arrest me.
I’d waddle off in the opposite direction as fast as my feet could carry me.
And if I were convinced that it weren’t some kind of attack on me, I’d be sure she were drunk, stoned, or hugely mentally ill.
I almost didn’t open this thread up, convinced that there were no situations in which a man might take offense or be alarmed.
But then I remembered that it happened to me. I was picking one of my kids up at a high school dance. I stopped and talked to a mom I knew, who was working the entrance. A very buxom, and athletic, student, wearing an outfit cut down to her naval with very little material covering her tits walked up, ostensibly to ask the mom if she had seen her sister. While doing so, she casually started to “adjust” her top. I couldn’t help myself, I was looking. I had the presence of mind to look up when I realized just how young she probably was, and she was looking straight at my eyes to see where I was looking. I realized what was up, and looked to the side until she walked away. The mom questioned, “Did she just flash you, or me?” Fortunately, I could honestly say, “I dunno, I looked away as soon as I figured out what was up.”
I certainly wasn’t offended, but I was alarmed. I can just imagine the girl, or her friends, telling my son, “You should have seen your dad’s face when I flashed him these.” I can’t see any good coming of it, for either of us. Especially if she was under 16.
Put me down in ‘Is she hot?’ category.
I would want to be sure the woman wasn’t a hooker, or some kind of police decoy. If she is not, I would assume she is somewhat deranged and has a higher than average sex drive, and so we have some things in common.
It’s not normal behavior, so I might be a little weirded out about it, but I wouldn’t be particularly offended or upset. Depending on her attitude and the circumstances it might be kind of interesting (good looking woman trying to get a positive reaction) to gross (woman at a party mentioned earlier who was too old, too slutty, and way too drunk to be appealing to most men).
The difference between male and female reactions to the same scenario seems to be that women take it personally, either making the exposure into a threat or come-on. Men probably interpret it more neutrally. If they’re like me, they’d evaluate the situation and screen her behavior to see what her intention was. If she doesn’t provoke a positive reaction, for whatever reason, acting too crazy, too old, haggard, etc., they throw the incident out as odd but irrelevant. That’s pretty much the end of it. I can’t imagine a guy taking something like that seriously enough to warrant any further action than a headshake and telling someone the story later.
Men:
“Some crazy chick flashed her crotch at me on the subway.”
“Was she hot?”
“She was 80. It looked like a well-used roast beef sandwich.”
“What’d you do?”
“Gave her your number. You’d probably hit that.”
“Fuck you, asshole. Want a beer?”
Women:
“Some crazy guy flashed his dick at me on the subway.”
“Oh my god, how awful? What did you do?”
“I freaked out and yelled at him. Then I called the police.”
“Good for you.”
“I mean, by the time you’re 80 you should know better than to do that kind of thing.”
“Totally. I’ll go with you down to the courthouse if you need to testify.”
Our group of friends has gone a couple times to a Turkish restaurant which also has belly dancing. Our table of about long table of 15 people was perpendicular to the dance floor, and while the dancer was nice enough to come over to entertain us, she didn’t now that all the guys on that end were gay.
Being the gentleman I am, I traded places with the guy on the end, so that someone could appreciate she sexy moves. Fortunately, my wife took it well.
This is beautiful. Not a guy, so I can’t answer. Carry on.
These videos offer up a pretty good example of how a nude woman is treated in public (NSFW, even if it is just Spike Jonze).
I can appreciate the female form in it’s many shapes and skin tones and would be upset only if I twisted my ankle while tap dancing down the sidewalk in jubilation
To borrow from Family Guy…
“Those are nice, but that doesn’t really answer the question does it?”
Mostly, I’d be confused.