A few months ago, I posted the following question in the Men's Health forum: "Why do men smell bad down there?"
Sure enough, a teenage boy responded with the following:
it's because of the sweat n plus u got to member thats were pee n sperm comes from. give it a break most ppl i hear complain bout how girls smell. like at school all u hear is hey "BETH" close ur legs it smells like tuna. Wen do u hear that bout a guy?
Yes, Teen Boy, it is because of sweat and urine. Yes, girls, you sweat and pee too.
What, Teen Boy? You hear more often that girls smell? And you hear at school derogatory comments about female odor that are so common that they are readily recognizable as commenting on the female body (such as"tuna")?
What, Teen Boy? You ask how frequently such things are said about males?
This is exactly the kind of answer I was soliciting. I intended to evoke the sexist, disparaging, and socially induced comments that men and boys make about women. These comments cause young girls to hate their bodies--proof of that abounds in the Women's Health forum--and encourage young boys to disparage women's bodies and revere their own. Society indoctrinates boys into a culture that simultaneously hates and sexualizes the female body.
The victim is the adolescent girl--who grows into an adult woman who never appreciates her own body. Who reveres the male body.
Girls, what do you say about the men, women, and boys who have taught you--and your male peers--to hate your bodies?
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