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Monday, May 23, 2005

Men ogling in the grocery store with their wives present - not a good situation....thought I was just some guy out with his wife flirting with her. I guess that happens to women far more than I would have thought.

Yep. It certainly does. When we are young, it’s the young freaks with their car horns and then when we get older, we have to deal with the older men, ogling like pigs. It’s very annoying to be walking down the street and have some nut honk their horn. It scares the tar out of you. I have since been returning the favor, watching the dudes jump as though a bee just stung them in the backside.

I was in McDonald’s once with my daughter and some old pervert was staring at her bottom. I noticed it, and it WAS my daughter so I said, “Listen you perv, if you are going to drool all over some girl who is a fraction of your age, you should make sure that her mother isn’t standing right there watching you.” I said it nice and loud, all the other women laughed and the men just sort of stood there, obviously glad they it was not they who had incurred my wrath.

It happens so often that we kind of just ignore it but every so often, it comes across as particularly disrespectful. Vex would do it so often that it was kind of funny. Once, we were walking out of my workplace with a friend of mine. She walked ahead of us and his eyes caught a glimpse of her large butt and he couldn’t take his eyes off of that ass, even after he knew I had noticed. Of course, when I pointed it out, he denied it. He always had some excuse, “I wasn’t looking at her, I was looking past per at that tree.” He insulted my intelligence so often that I have to think that he thought I was a moron.

When he tried to tell me that it was normal for a man to ogle women, I told him that I didn’t care if it was normal. There are a lot of things that any one man might find normal. But, if the woman finds it unacceptable, then her wishes should be respected. I told Vex that while it may be normal, “I don’t appreciate it and I won’t tolerate it. If you want to go and ogle women, do it. Just leave me first. I have the right to a man who won’t do that. You can have the ogling, but you can’t have me, too. So, leave me and then do what you want.”

A man has the freedom to do whatever he wants to do but when he marries, he makes a trade. If he wants to ogle women for the rest of his life, he should find a wife who doesn’t mind. There are women who don’t mind at all. But, some of us do. So, either find a woman who doesn’t mind, or stop doing it once you are married. I didn’t care what he looked at when I wasn’t around. But, if I am standing right next to him, I would prefer that he avoid looking at other women. As I said, I felt sorry for the wife who’s husband was staring at me. I don’t want the pity of some woman that Vex is staring at.

I understand that sometimes you just see a very pretty girl and can’t help yourselves, but just take a glance and then look away before anybody gets angry. Men are very visual creatures so I do understand. But women are very sensitive to those things. A decent man is concerned about the feelings of other people and will go out of his way to avoid hurting others.

Women are not as visual as men are but men should consider how it would feel to have their women looking at other guys. If your wife hung up picture of some half naked man up in her sewing room, how would it make you feel? If she hung out the car window and whistled at men passing by, wouldn’t you feel bad? Picture this scenario:

A woman is driving her car to the store and her man is in the passenger seat. The woman sees a construction worker at a work site. She hollers out the window, “Hey there cutie, I like those shoulders!” As they pull into the store, she sees another looker getting out of his car. “Oooohh baby! I love those legs!” They go into the store and she sees another guy, scantily clad. She gets behind him with her cart with her man is walking next to her. She leads her man all around the store, following the scantily clad guy the entire time. Then, she says to her man, “You know, I love to see men with most of their clothes off. I like imagining how they would look naked. I enjoy picturing them on top of me. Did you notice that blonde guy? Wasn’t he particularly cute? And his ass...man, it was just so nice and firm. I will be thinking about that while you and I have sex tonight.”

Now, I know that you guys, for the most part, don’t do that, but you might as well. That’s how it appears to us. If that feeling is acceptable to you, then ogle away without concern for what your women think. But, if you think it might hurt your feelings a little bit, try to stop doing it to your women.

When a man does look, this is pretty much the message that he is sending:

I have a woman, but as you can see, that woman over there is much better looking. I will go home and make love to my wife, but I will imagine myself making love to that woman instead. I know it kind of hurts my wife when I look at other women, but she is not that important to me, at least not as important as it is for me to eyeball other women with her around. All men do this, it’s my right as a man to look. If my wife doesn’t like it, screw her, she is being unreasonable.

If you think she is being unreasonable, find a woman who wouldn’t mind. Oh, good luck with that, by the way.

I have heard people say, “When we are together, it’s as though there isn’t another soul in the world.” Well, the ogling behavior says the exact opposite. So, if you want a person to feel as though there isn’t anyone else in the world but you, then act like it’s true. If you make a woman feel special, she will certainly make you feel good as well.

Well, my son wants to use the computer so I have to go clean something. I will be back soon.

Meg

6 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

As a man I would have to say that I make a genuine effort to not look at the opposite sex while with my date. Even when I am flying solo only a brief eye contact is enough to acknowledge whether someone is interested in taking it to the next level, hence the "ogling". I often wish that more guys would respect their woman in a way that makes the woman feel like they are the only one that exists while they are accompanying one another. It actually enhances the mood in every situation and restores faith in the woman's mind that there are a few good men still out there.

May 23, 2005  
Blogger Anne Arky said...

Meg,
When I hear someone rationalizing objectionable behavior as being "normal", I am reminded of the dialogue in "Butterflies Are Free" where Goldie Hawn's character Jill is telling Don's mother (played by Eileen Heckert) that she is an actress in a play that ends with the cast taking all their clothes off (an allusion to "Hair" would be my guess). Jill assures her that nudity is "natural" and as such, should not be censured or censored. Heckert's character replies that diarrhea is also natural, but she wouldn't care to see it performed on stage.

May 23, 2005  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Now, as to my ogling, i just can't help it. In fact, I often call attention to it by cocking my head back & forth like Nipper the RCA dog does when he hears his masters voice. The visual image of a pretty woman & the effect it has on a real man is a biological factor that is as old as time. It is quite normal and natural whether it is a middle aged man checking out a 18 year old or a senior citizen lusting for a woman in her 30s. This biological & visual stimulation is as old as time and really, would you want it to end ladies?
As to what you said to the guy in McDonalds, you were well within your rights. Just as I would have been when I burst out laughing in your face.

May 23, 2005  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I am stuck with an ogler now that I can't wait to cut loose.
Women do so many small things because we are socialized to do them.
A lot of them just wash under the radar because they are taken for granted, but to us they take time in our lives that we would rather spend doing something that adds meaning to our lives.
So for a man you are doing "all these things for" (organizing daily family life, picking up crusty socks, baking, laundering, sorting, picking up detritus, keeping track of everyone's schedules, reminding perpetually, being the default back-up for everyone, cleaning cleaning cleaning - do men think we LIKE doing these things, that our brains are wired to compulsively perform these jobs for others? Our brains are NOT. We force ourselves to do these things because they need doing) to treat you like a piece of furniture...you've popped out his kids and given yourself stretch marks (lowering your value in the meat market - all for HIM, because he is SO SPECIAL) and he drools over other women like they are hunks of raw meat in your presence...? As far as I am concerned, those men can just drop dead. They are worth zero if they feel so entitled that they believe they are worth it, that someone would simply WANT to do all that shit for them JUST BECAUSE THEY ARE SO COOL.
No. Not.
There is some perspective out there and men are going to GET IT.

June 10, 2007  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I am ready to divorce my husband over this. We get into too many heated arguments because he says I am over the top and these women mean nothing to him, oh, and by the way, when he is with his ComEd buddies driving in the truck, downtown Chicago, he has admitted to me that he comments on all the beautiful women out there with his coworkers. He told me that because of all my problems with this Googling situation, he has now changed and become someone who stares and Google's. That's right, it is all my fault he is mentally unfaithful. Oh, and I am a prude because porn is totally acceptable and normal for a married man to do. I am thinking the the majority of men are not qualified to be married as they don't grasp the full idea of commitment.

December 20, 2012  
Blogger Meg Kelso said...

1. You are right.
2. ALL guilty men blame their indiscretions on you.


Sometimes they say, "I'm not trying to do harm!" Well, they aren't trying to avoid any harm either which in itself is abuse. Does he ACT innocent? I don't mean what does he do to act guilty, what does he actually do to avoid causing you pain?


My abuser never seemed to accidentally slit his throat after 50 years of shaving, how does he accidentally keep hurting me?

December 20, 2012  

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