Bikini

The research presented by Susan Fiske, professor of psychology at Princeton University is now being used by both Christians and Muslims to justify their abhorrence with the bikini bathing suit.

Psychologist Susan Fiske of Princeton University discourages women to wear bikinis after she discovered that men look at scantily clad ladies as objects.

According to this Christian (from a member of Ang Dating Daan) posts, "Just imagine how barely clothed women seem so cheap and unrespectable in the eyes of men; they’re nothing but hammers or any handling tools. In short, seeing women in bikinis influences men’s thoughts, words, and deeds. They easily remember barely clothed women than those fully dressed even if they have seen them for only a few seconds."

So it's all up for the ride huh?

The article continued, "On a larger perspective, this research encourages women to dress modestly, be it on beaches, malls, markets – everywhere. It also supports the Biblical wisdom that women should adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety (1 Timothy 2:9). From the ancient times until today, it is a commandment that needs to be strictly followed so as not to cause others to sin. Modestly dressed women help build healthy minds and thoughts among men."

Well...it is quite obvious that these Christians are not putting in their articles the real issue behind the experiment. According to Dr. Charles Raison, psychiatrist and director of the Mind/Body Institute at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, "Women should be aware of how they are perceived when wearing provocative clothing, and men shouldn't let feelings of impersonal sexual longing interfere with their more personal relationships with other women, including female friends. "Many men make foolish choices because of sexual attraction," he said.

Dr. Fiske said, "The broader purpose of the research was to explore circumstances under which people treat one another as the means to an end, Past studies have also shown that when men view images of highly sexualized women, and then interact with a woman in a separate setting, they are more likely to have sexual words on their minds, she said. They are also more likely to remember the woman's physical appearance, and sit closer to her -- for instance, at a job interview."

Taken together, the research suggests that viewing certain images is not appropriate in the workplace.

Evolutionary psychology would theorize that men view women as objects in terms of their youth and apparent fertility, while women might view men as instrumental in terms of their status and resources, Fiske said.

So the experiment is not about modesty, sin , ancient civilization and that women should only wore clothes prescribed by the Bible.

What's the fuzz with bikini-clad women? Remember that men may become sexually aroused just by looking at women with or without a bikini. Guys are more sexually sensitive in the sense of sight than touch. Men are naturally objective - He will look at an image and it registers as just that, an image, whereas women need something more than this.

And why the difference? It's evolutionary...For males, having sex with a large number of females will increase their reproductive success. That's why visual stimuli is important on the male species. Evolutionary processes “designed” men to be more visually attracted to and aroused by visual sexual stimuli (Kinsey and colleagues 1948, 1953) reported from their survey research that men were sexually aroused far more easily and more frequently by visual sexual stimuli than women were, and that pornography was produced for a male audience. Also see Koukounas & McCabe, 1997; Mosher & Maclan, 1994) . Men are also more likely to have sexual fantasies and be physically aroused by their sexual thoughts than women. They also tend to have more explicit and visual imagery in their fantasies, whereas women employ more emotional and romantic imagery (Leitenberg & Henning, 1995). That's why gay men overwhelmingly become sexually aroused by images of men compare to women and notice that there are more strip bar and strippers that cater men costumers.

Females on the other hand gain no benefits in having sex with a large number of males. They gain more advantages in carefully choosing one mate who will participate in raising offspring. Women are more attracted by auditory and tactile stimulation, which is more likely to be a means of communicating a feeling and to occur with more familiar persons. That's why we have more romance pocketbooks for women.

Now let me asked these Christians who employed Dr. Fiske's study: Is this "study" has a different outcome regarding cultures where nude or topless beaches are prevalent and women are not "covered"? Oh and does a man get criticized or "looked as an object" for wearing no shirt or a Speedo at the beach?

OK! OK! I'm a fan of Sport Illustrated Swimsuit Edition. But there are more to this than pin-ups.

It's really more of a perspective. A piece of swimwear is not an invitation for sex or anything like that, you people just need to grow up and not act like total animals everywhere. The important moral here is that it's an act of respect on men's part to refuse to see a woman as a sexual object, no matter what her attire, or how he's naturally inclined to respond to that attire.

Enjoy your summer!

John the Atheist

Additional references used in this article:

The Evolution of Human Sociality - Stephen K. Sanderson

Why Sex Matters: A Darwinian Look at Human Behavior - Bobbi S. Low