Roll call for Tuesday's women's studies workshop. This piece over at Jezebel about men feeling the objectifying gaze of the opposite sex is really fun, mostly because it has to do with baked goods. Elizabeth Preston and her husband were on the way to a friend's place for dinner and bringing dessert with them on public transit. Her husband, Tom, noticing that plenty of people were looking at him carrying some baked goods and wondered if "this was what it was like to be an attractive woman." And just like that—BOOM—an experiment was born.
Elizabeth recruited a few of her male friends, all with significant others, to test out the baked goods hypothesis and see if it could provide a women's perspective. The male subjects would carry some freshly baked goodness around their normal routine from home to work and back to see if they could feel how women do on a daily basis. It's long been known that this objectifying gaze affects how people feel about themselves and other aspects of their life. But how did these treat-toting duderonis feel walking around town with a tin of lemon bars in their grasp?
In almost a directly opposite reaction to most women, the men said they actually wanted to be looked at as they carried the treats with them and they got more stares, but not as many as they expected. Whether it was because they had delicious goods with them or because they were men holding said delicious goods was inconclusive, but because they didn't feel uncomfortable being stared at, I'd venture to guess they probably didn't feel the same way women do. All was not lost however! The men did become hyper-aware, watchful and cautious of their surroundings while said goods, which does reflect the common female experience. So, even if they're not actually being looked at, it felt like they were. They may not have gotten cat-called or anything, but they sure got a little taste, no pun intended, of the other side of the aisle.
Maybe because I'm super neurotic, but anytime I carry anything larger than, say, a backpack on the subway or through the street, I feel like I'm being watched, so I kind of get it. But since that happens so rarely, I'm also aware that I have never gotten the full treatment. Just know, if you think you're being discreet about checking someone out, you're probably not. THEY KNOW. AND ARE GROSSED OUT.
