I am a moderately conservative person in social matters (not politically, though), and so I am not a fan of public objectification of the female body. What I mean is that I think there are at times too many scantily clad women trying to accentuate their bodies.

Until recently, I viewed this as mainly a social phenomenon that applied to women.

Yet I stopped to consider this a few months ago and realized that even though the objectification might not happen in the exact same ways, men might actually also be affected by it. Just that men don't have slim bellies and perky breasts, but instead six packs, pecs, and solid biceps and triceps that all reflect light in just the right way to accentuate the masculinity.

I do not consider myself very much aligned with the men's rights movement, but maybe only because I haven't thought it out enough. Anyway.

I just wanted to bounce this idea around here: Male objectification is very common today. I had not realized this only because I had been perfectly fine with this. I had seen strong male models as a goal or aspiration, rather than something which set acceptable body type. However, male models try to achieve the same goal that female models try to achieve - being attracted to their body.

Thoughts?

P.S. - I'd also like consider the different reactions in society to the two different types objectification, especially in the older guard (which might include me to some extent) - strong, partially naked men are considered masculine, while sensual women are considered slutty. It appears that society doesn't even notice this different treatment of the two genders. The objectification of men is just more complete. (Of course, this also has some things to say about women also being treated unfairly).