Because the Blank article was written before the women's movement took a strong hold in American culture, I automatically assumed that it would contain huge generalizations and politically incorrect statements. However, I realized that although his concepts might seem outdated, they still hold strong in today’s culture. He spends a great deal of time discussing how males are traditionally more curious than females, which leads them to be more voyeuristic. Females on the other hand aren't as curious and overall tend to be more passive. This culminates in by far my favorite generalization,
"...in many societies where nakedness is the rule, females cover their genitals; there is no known society where males cover their genitals and females do not; and exposure of the female genitals seems to be an almost universal form of sexual invitation throughout the mammalian scale...If the male looks, then the female must exhibit.(1)
He goes on to explain how females were practically made to be looked at, while males were to do all the looking. This idea, although it may seem out of date, actually has many examples in modern culture to support it.
Although many disregard South Park to be a dirty show full of toilet humor, it also provides rich social commentary. In this scene, which is obviously a parody of a Hooter’s restaurant, the girls are the ones displaying themselves while the boys look on. In our culture women are objects on display everywhere: in advertisements, in fashion shows, on stage, in pornography – women are on display so much more often than men (although I think that over time this is beginning to change…especially after looking at the female sexuality in the Sex Toy Party article). Perfect example: how many topless bars exist? I would say a fair amount…but I can’t even think of an equivalent example where men are put on display. Even videos such as “Guys Gone Wild” are mostly marketed toward gay men, and not women. It is almost always the men doing the looking, and almost always the women on display.
In my opinion, because women try so hard to dispel these stereotypes (of women being prostitutes or porn stars), they get upset when they learn that a woman had sex in public because it is seen as a step backward. When TheGirlfriend had sex in a room with two other boys, many women that I talked to seemed outraged that she would do such a thing, although had no reaction to what the man had done.
Women are expected to have control over (sexual) relationships. Even in the Raisin’s clip, it was Lexus (notice all the girls have car names), that touched Butter’s arm, and he is the one who loses control. Women are looked down upon if they can’t keep control over their romantic situations because males are stereotypically sex-charged gawkers (like the crowd at Raisin’s) that cannot be held accountable for their actions.
(1)Blank, Leonard. "Nakedness and Nudity: A Darwinian Explanation for Looking and Showing Behavior." Leonardo 6 (1973): 23-27. JSTOR.
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I think that you've done a really good job at combining your personal experiences, stories you've heard, and more academic resources to understand your topic. Including the sex toy article was a really good way to put the public sex phenomenon into a larger context - it shows that there are factors beyond the bubble of college that make public sex more socially acceptable.
I think that one of the reasons that engaging in sexual acts in front of others is more acceptable in college is that people are away from the restrictions, rules, and social/moral standards that their parents forced them to live by. Like you said in a previous entry, college is the only time of life you can do crazy, irresponsible things and still have an awesome time. Also, it's harder to figure out when your roommates have left in order to go to class or just to grab some food at the dining hall.
I like that you're very careful about keeping identities confidential - even the identities of the people you get reactions/responses to the stories from. This shows that, while you're committed to your cross-cultural encounter, you still uphold the rules of being an RA, as well as people's basic rights to privacy.
In making the people who are committing the sexual acts views understandable, you're showing that the cross-cultural encounter has made you more receptive to this point of view. However, if you talked more about your personal reaction to these stories, articles, etc. than the reader may get a better sense of this cross-cultural encounter's affect on you.
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