#Blogfest 2:0, Day 14 – #30dayscountdownto2016

I have had a million and one thoughts about this and I’ve ruminated long and hard. Now, the Elsieisy/Blogfest platform has finally forced me to sort of crystallize my thoughts. Okay, I’m not exactly sure where I’m going with this but you should take this ride with me.

pervert

noun

ˈpəːvəːt/

a person whose sexual behaviour is regarded as abnormal and unacceptable.

Have you ever wondered if you’re a pervert? Have you? I’d like to think most people don’t consider themselves as perverts. Even the so-called perverts.

To avoid confusion, the definition above might be good enough to encapsulate the idea but that’s the thing about that definition. It might have a range. What kind of sexual behavior is regarded as “abnormal and unacceptable?” Isn’t this based on so many different things? If you think a sadist or a masochist is perverted, what do you think they think of themselves? Do you think they find themselves reprehensible?

I have read about certain tribes in some parts of our wonderful continent where a host is expected to offer his wife for “entertainment” for a guest who might be sleeping over. Now I don’t have a lot of details about this and it may not be this exact as there might be some circumstances that demand this but let’s examine it.

Many of us might think it is perverted because of reasons like chastity and fidelity in a marriage. So, we would regard that kind of behavior as “abnormal and unacceptable.” What I want you now to ask yourself is, do the people who practice these things find it unacceptable?

The day this idea of pervertedness started to prick me was the one day I noticed that women were trending a #FreeTheNipple hashtag on Twitter. They would take pictures of their bare nipples and sometimes the entire breasts or entire naked body, post online and add the hashtag. Then I saw one particular video when one girl was talking. Let me paraphrase.

A woman’s body is great. A woman’s body is art. It should be celebrated and not hidden. A woman should be able to show her body without being judged or called names. So, men who see a woman’s body and judge her or get aroused by it are dogs.

Like I said, that was a paraphrase but I remember clearly that she used the word “dog” to describe men who are aroused by a woman’s naked body. So, here’s the thing. Now, I may or may not be aroused by a woman’s naked body all the time. These things largely depend on many things including (but not limited to) my preferred body type or my mood at the time. But if I see a woman’s naked body and I’m aroused, am I a pervert? Or, to use the word this “wonderful” lady used, am I a dog? Is it abnormal for me, as a man, to be aroused at a woman’s naked body? I think it might be a bit too heavy-handed to describe men like this is such a derogatory manner but hey, whatever floats your boat.

So, in a nutshell, what if your preferences are weird to someone else? What if your behavior will be considered abnormal to another? What if your thoughts, when acted upon will be regarded as unacceptable? What if you’re a perv?

Written by Juke.