Living Dolls... again

Today I came across a fantastic passage in the book.

"...women and men are still not meeting on equal terms in public life. And the mainstreaming of the sex industry reflects that inequality. It is still women who are dieting or undergoing surgery on their bodies; still women stripping in the clubs while the men chant and cheer; still women, not men, who believe that their ability to reach for fame and success will be defined by how closely they conform to one narrow image of sexuality."

I like this because it's not saying that women ought not to be strippers, or that women ought not to be objectified, but is rather asking why it is ONLY the women doing this.

Someone raised a good point the other day about how men are equally objectified, as seen in women's magazines and Hollywood movies (take Prince of Persia for example), but I have to argue this point, as the male objectification and hypersexualization is still mostly confined to the media.

Every day I see and hear of Dunedin girls wearing skimpy clothes in the freezing weather, doing hours at the gym, dieting to the point of starvation, getting fake tans and going out of their way to look like celebrities in order to impress the men - whereas it is rare to find a man in "the real world" who would go to such lengths in order to impress females. I know women who have had breast enlargements and nose jobs in order to satisfy their partners, yet I do not personally know any men who have gone to such lengths. Nor do I know of any strip joints for women, and when I look at the magazine section at the dairy, the only pornographic material is aimed directly at men.
You could of course argue that places like Stiletto's can be enjoyable for both men and women of all sexual orientations, which is true, or that most pornography can be equally enjoyable for both genders... But there's still the looming fact that both are directed at men. What's more is that despite all the 'equal rights' crap that everyone talks about, there are still girls I know who won't go near places like Stiletto's because of what people will think of them. They won't admit to viewing porn either, because it is viewed as a male pastime, and there is still the idea that any woman who enjoys that sort of thing is either a raging dyke or a nymphomaniac, unless you only associate with liberals.
The point about glamor modeling is also an interesting one. Women will often take their kit off in front of a photographer free to 'gain publicity' or just to 'feel sexy'- it is scantily clad women all through the magazines, yet it seems to take a massive amount of coercion or money to get a male to pose in the same way. I wonder if this is perhaps because of the "gay" aura that lingers over the whole male modelling industry, and the homophobic tendencies of society. The stereotype of a male fashion model is that of a feminine man, and as soon as the words 'male glamor model' come together, one instantly pictures homoerotic material - because lets face it, there are bugger all straight guys modeling nude for women but the gay pornography industry is huge. Perhaps it is this stereotype that keeps the men away from modeling, as they fear that it is not going to be a sexy woman getting aroused by their pictures.