When a Young Mans' Thoughts Turn to Soft-Core

I've been browsin’ the ol' My Space this past week and am stunned with the number of revealing pictures people post on their Spaces. "Where have I grown up?" you're probably asking, and yes, I know I sound very Puritanical ("revealing garb...oh dear me!"). Come on though, some "spaces" look like they're soliciting potential "Jons," not friends.

Of course, it's not just women flashing breasts. Some guys love showcasing that six-pack. I get the sense looking through the male pages (research purposes only!) that many men live in lakes, emerging every so often to expose their chiseled abs, strike a pose and snap a self-portrait before disappearing again into the water. I feel so unmanly with a smiling headshot. Should I offer something more arousing? Something more.... daring?

I'm going off on a tangent, though. What boggles the mind is how many people "befriend" these gorgeous men and women. Why extend friendship to a picture? Is everyone salivating, hoping to nail these cyber beauties? I guess everyone clings to a fantasy.

The problem with these fantasies is the object of desire. Isn't someone noticing these men/women seem pretty one-dimensional? I've dusted off a cliché, and it's ready for print: their beauty is skin deep. I should provide a qualifier. Their beauty is often skin deep.

Oops, I just did it. I’ve touched a nerve with some of you.

“How dare you insinuate the beautiful can offer little else!”

I know a lot of you are thinking that, so I better offer an answer, a preemptive strike.

I know I should tread carefully here. Defining relative terms like “beauty” can only get me in trouble. I am not attacking beauty per se. I question (ok, criticize) those who would introduce themselves with cleavage, thongs, flexed bodies, or finger sucking (I’m serious. You’ll find these too.). How bout we stop trying to titillate and just say, “hi!” Offering yourself as a sex object seems….well…restrictive. You’re screaming, “look at this bod,” instead of “look at me.” Notice the difference?

What’s that murmur?

“Paul, why do you spend time critiquing those who choose to show off their bodies?”

Good question, to which I have an answer. Soft-core My Spacers succumb to skin over substance. I don’t fault those who admire the human body. We’re all curious; guilty, I look at women. I’m lampooning those who linger on the photos, concluding they too need provocative pictures to attractive eyes. Granted, you will attract eyes, but the attraction will be fleeting, because you are pegged as a body, not a person.