So the world is flush with embarrassment (and pent up frustration) over the new movie Magic Mike. Half-naked men gyrating, drunken bachelorettes, an unexpected love story. Women around the world are spitizing in their seats. Who knew a flick about a hot stripper would cause so much tension? Ok enough with the puns.
While Magic Mike looks remotely interesting, it got me thinking about my own inhibitions and my otherwise total dislike for male strippers. If you’ve ever had a friend, sister or cousin get married you’ve been to a bachelorette party. And if you’ve been to a bachelorette party, you’ve seen a male stripper. And if you seen a male stripper, well you’ve SEEN a male stripper.
The trailer for Magic Mike looks pretty accurate. They dance in crazy costumes, gyrate, hump drunk women, mimic sex and leave you with a smile. While I’m not one to knock anyone’s hustle, male strippers simply aren’t for me. Don’t get me wrong, I think they have impeccable physiques and I’ll admire them from afar. But when they want to hump on you, that’s where I draw the line.
Maybe I’m a prude who can’t have fun? That’s a possibility. But I wonder how can female strip clubs institute no touching rules, while male strippers can be so hands on? And I wonder if male strippers, like 50 Shades of Grey, are something one likes only after a certain station in life?
Sex is plastered everywhere we look and it’s not terribly shocking. It’s engrained in our entertainment and almost always from a male perspective. The craze of raunchy movies and soft porn books is targeted at female audiences and I wonder, do women really care?
Or if Magic Mike was Magic Monica would we look at it differently?
Maybe I just don’t get what all the hoopla is about? Or maybe I’m just desensitized to sex in the media?
Either way, it’s going to take more than Channing Tatum’s abs to get me riled up. And one thing’s for sure if I ever get married, don’t get me a stripper for the bachelorette party.
What do you think of male strippers? Like them? Loathe them? Sound off!
Will you be going to see Magic Mike when it hits theaters?
Love that you’ve opened the door for this conversation, Fajr! With both Magic Mike and the boost in erotica’s popularity thanks to 50 Shades I feel like I’ve seen very little real discussion on their more negative aspects. Maybe I just don’t have a substantial sense of humor – or maybe it’s just very different – but I find these things rather degrading to my femininity. Especially Magic Mike. I certainly understand if some women find erotica to be liberating (it’s not my thing, but to each their own), but when I first saw the initial trailer for Magic Mike I honestly just felt offended. Maybe it was the marketing of it – like all women are supposed to be rendered speechless and blubbering at good-looking men getting naked. I felt like I deserved more credit than that, you know? Alternatively, the majority of women I’ve heard discussing it weren’t offended at all, and they’re very excited to see the film. That just proves that everyone’s different and you simply can’t lump all women together into one big gender stereotype – which, in a way, I feel like both Magic Mike and 50 Shades (and maybe sex in the media overall) are trying to do. That might just be a perception thing; these forms of entertainment are there for the woman who enjoys them, and the woman who doesn’t isn’t being forced to see it – there are other books, other movies in the world right now. But I think the media, and maybe even society in general, should be a little more respectful of the diversity of women’s interests when they put these things out there.
Me, I might be the sort of woman who thinks Channing Tatum’s abs are no match for the window display at Tiffany’s. No less of a superficial indulgence, but still completely different. (:
Casee Marie, I agree wholeheartedly! I think that there are plenty of women who enjoy the Magic Mikes and 50 Shades of Grey. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Like the saying goes, everything ain’t for everybody.
Now that windows display at Tiffany’s; that’s for errrrbody! Thanks for such a thoughtful comment love!
I haven’t seen a male stripper. All of my friends who got married said “so strippers.” And we ended up with
1. a drag show (and a lap dance for the bride-to-be)
2. bollywood dance lessons
3. beer tasting
4. belly dance lessons
All of those options sound way more fun than having some oily guy in a banana hammock dry hump you. ICK!!
W.
Although some male strippers can be entertaining, I don’t really care either way. I guess I find them funny more than anything else. I’m not gonna go see Magic Mike because I don’t really have an interest in seeing the movie. I went to a bachelorette party last year and the “stripper” was awful. He couldn’t dance and wasn’t the least bit entertaining.
Your posts are no longer showing up in my google reader! I have to click through to your site to read them… is this something that can be changed back?
Smoochies.
Hey Sequin!
Yes it can be changed back! Made the change to see how readers would like it, so thanks for the feedback!
Fab. Thanks for thinking of readers.. sorry if I missed the update (catching up on a month’s worth on my Reader… thank goodness for school holidays!)