Kim's response

by Kim Allen

I want to address two things relating to this page. First, what's it all about? I can't believe we have to explain this to people, but apparently it's a little challenging for some.

One that page, we knock down every stereotype of the "Real Man" macho image. We declare that we actually like men who don't possess all those qualities you see on junky TV shows and in stupid Hollywood movies. The quiche page could be liberating for men if they dared to see it that way. You guys all have your tough-guy stiff-upper-lip on, but you're not fooling anyone: we all know that an awful lot of guys live in fear that they aren't measuring up to the impossible ideal of the Real Man. Just as women need to reject the impossible ideal of slimness, purity, and passivity presented to them, men need to reject the macho image because it's just plain silly. That's what the page is about, OK?

The second notion I want to address is the objection to women actually expressing any sexual desires. Some people have criticized this page because women are supposed to be "above" all that sexual objectification. There is a strange Victorian undercurrent to these comments implying that women either don't have any sexual desires, or if they do, they shouldn't (gasp!) talk about them. This is a second-wave concept-- the idea that women are somehow better than men, occupying some moral high ground inaccessible to the more brutish sex.

Please. If you think women are some kind of angelic saviors who will rescue the world from its bestiality, then you are just giving in to the purity stereotype. In the real world, women aren't all that different from men. We have sexual fastasies, just like you. We have a strong sex drive, and we like to look at pretty men (and women!), and let our imaginations run wild. We're just normal humans.

And yet, there is no accepted way for us to express these fantasies. Men are encouraged to be sexual. They are allowed to openly declare their desires, they are rewarded for "studly" behavior, they are looked at suspiciously if they display little outward interest in sex. What about us? We get some "PC" activists telling us that all pornographic material is evil and oppressive, and that women shouldn't think about that dirty, icky stuff.

But PCism is bunk. What's actually oppressive is that sex fantasies and jokes like the quiche page are one-sided: they are only permitted by men. (And even then, second-wave feminists try to censor it). Instead of trying to shut the men up, let's let women speak out in their own voice. The quiche page is something every woman has thought about in her life: what do I like in a man, in my fantasies? We just aren't allowed to voice these thoughts.

Well, we at 3rd WWWave think women should be able to voice these thoughts. Why not?

Copyright 1997 by Kim Allen