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An overly simple intellectual answer is this: many feminists argue that sexism is not something that men impose on women. It's an idea in our culture that men and boys are superior to women and girls. Objectification of women is one symptom of this. So, women spend a lot of time and money trying to make themselves look good, and all of us (women and men) are constantly looking at women and judging their appearances. Though men are sometimes ogled and judged, it's not the norm. Men don't feel pressure to look hot or sexy all the time, and most of us don't automatically/unconsciously judge men's bodies all the time.
Given the above, it's not surprising that a woman would post a swimsuit picture, basically inviting people to look at her and her friends. I also don't think it's wrong or unexpected for men to comment on it. Objectifying or admiring people's bodies is not inherently wrong or bad, and people on both sides get joy out of it. The problem is that women's looks matter too much in our society. Women are encouraged to be sexy, then they're called sluts when they dress sexy or actually have sex. If they don't try to look sexy, people judge them for being drab or prudish. If women were treated more equally (and really, great strides have been made), then maybe people would be less apt to reduce women to their bodies and be able to admire attractiveness when they see it without being nasty to those who they don't find appealing.[/quote]
Great post. And I agree with what TrackCoach said that you can admire people's looks without reducing them to their looks.
This was said so much better than I could have, but it's incredibly correct. People have to understand that misogyny and sexism have been endemic to Western culture (and probably world culture, for the large part) for a very long time, so its effects are often very subtle, insidious, and hard to pinpoint. I do agree that great advances have been made over the years, and I'm very happy for them. But almost all women I know have suffered from the effects of sexism, so for me to deny its existence would be to essentially say that I, a man, knows better than all of these women.
But I am glad that Rojo approached this from a reasonable point of view. Obviously I have no problem with people disagreeing with me if they do so reasonably or intelligently. Running is definitely a very popular sport with women. When I'm out jogging on the bike path, I tend to see more women than men out there.
It's tough to read the bigotry on here lately, though, and it gets wearing. And I'm sure there's tons of girls that want to post on here openly and talk about the aspects of women's running that probably aren't discussed much on here.