For a very long time now, those of us who live in westernized societies have been informed that we are living in a brave new world of sexual positivity and unabashed sexuality, that bodies and sex, including casually frequent sex and sexual acts, are nothing to be ashamed of, and that we should all be much more open about sex, even as early as puberty.

Yet no matter where you look, it seems, seems to me personally, that there is one solipsistic demographic largely responsible for propagating the ideology above which finds itself struggling with concepts such as universality or impartiality, and have forgotten to distribute the memo to the undesirables of the world that this sexual openness is in fact a one-way street, only extended to select individuals who have proven themselves worthy of receiving it.

But before heavier social dynamics need even be discussed, I'd like to ask about something very simple - visually appraising someone sexually, 'checking them out' if you will. Animals do it in mating season all the time, in fact they are built for it, and humans too. If you have any sexual urges at all, male or female, I doubt you could swear that you have never looked at a stranger you did not know nor even intended to speak with in a sexual manner. Theoretically this should pose no problem, those who like to wear skimpy clothing tell us that regardless of 'liking it for yourself', there is also no issue with being proud of being sexy and open about being a sexual human being.

Yet for some reason, when I look for answer to such a question at a place like /r/AskWomen, I become immediately informed that 'getting the looks' from stranger is Creepy ( TM ), it is never warranted, and should never be done, in fact - 'Men' ( Or perhaps, specific men ) ought to be publicly shamed for sexually checking out a woman, unless they are merely looking at her face and no other body part god forbid, and with the intent of starting a strictly platonic conversation with her. It's objectifying otherwise, and creepy. You're turning her into a piece of meat with the male gaze. At the same time though, when it comes to women sizing up men's bulges in their pants, or looking at their butts, suddenly it is lighthearted and acceptable. A hundred women come out to say that they do it all the time, when the male in question is attractive of course ( A somewhat narrow range by some accounts ).

Now this image above looks very, very confusing to me and probably a few other men. So allow me to ask, when is it permissible and not creepy to check out someone's sexual features? Why does /r/AskWomen seem to profess double standards in this regard, is that how it really works?