HNT - Porn for women vs "Porn for Women"
So there's a bit of buzz in the breeze about a new book from a group called the Cambridge Women's Pornography Collective. (I'd provide a link to the group but I'm not sure they have a website.) Anyway, via Amazon.com you can take a peek inside the book:
The book is basically a bunch of G or maybe PG-rated photos of men doing housework, with accompanying word balloons where the models say things like "Ooh, look, the NFL playoffs are today. I bet we'll have no trouble parking at the crafts fair."
Amazon's own blurbs put the concept this way.
Book Description
Prepare to enter a fantasy world. A world where clothes get folded just so, delicious dinners await, and flatulence is just not that funny. Give the fairer sex what they really want beautiful PG photos of hunky men cooking, listening, asking for directions, accompanied by steamy captions: "I love a clean house!" or "As long as I have two legs to walk on, you'll never take out the trash." Now this is porn that will leave women begging for more!About the Author
The Cambridge Women's Pornography Cooperative asked women, young, old, rich, and poor, "What really, really gets you hot?" Armed with their findings, they worked day and night to create Porn for Women. Susan Anderson is a Los Angeles-based photographer who believes the future of porn shouldn't be in the hands of men alone.Read any reviews, and buy the book, on the Amazon page (no Amazon affiliate link.)
On the one hand I'm thoroughly pleased that anybody, anywhere is taking the time to create visually erotic representations of straight men that are intended for actual straight women. Really! And since, as the old saying goes, the marvelous thing about a dancing pig isn't how well it dances but that it dances at all, I feel ambivalent about my fairly major quibbles.
The first quibble is pretty obvious: whereas I think it's wonderful that the men in these images are presented in everyday environments instead of the bizarre who'd-want-to-live-there marble-driveway mansions so common in porn for men, I'm pretty irked by the highly regressive assumptions that women are so tied to their housework that it actually *arouses* them when they see a man doing it.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying men shouldn't do it. Nor am I saying there's no erotic dimension to everyday life. (The opposite is true for both.) Instead it's the idea that it's extraordinary instead of ordinary for men to pull their weight.
That's the big quibble. That the text puts outlandishly unlikely phrases in the model's mouths is no more objectionable than the equally unlikely fictions put in women's mouths in porn for men. Although here again it's a nuisance that the so thoroughly tie women's eroticism to domesticity.
Anyway, with "Porn for Women" in mind I prepared a couple of photos of me doing domestic things around the house... which, to be perfectly honest, isn't that much different from what I do every Thursday for HNT.
Oops, making this look erotic is harder than I thought...
Dang it all!
Ok, different lighting did the trick. Happy HNT (or Half-nekkid Thursday!)
Oh my...brings back memories. I was the official toilet unplugger one summer in college in this badly built duplex a group of us rented. I have pictures too. Happy HNT
[We happy few. :-) Thanks, Moosekahl. And happy HNT to you too. --fl]
Ugh, I find it more irritating than anything when women seem to take certain pleasure in portraying men as next-to-useless.
Sure there are men out there that have probably never touched a broom or loaded a dishwasher, but guess what, there are a lot of women like that out there too. Laziness or aversion to household chores is pretty unisex in my opinion.
Personally, I find that when my husband really contributes to the housework (more than normal) it's appealing because it leaves me with more energy to pleasure him later! Win-Win situation.
[Yup. Who, exactly, wants to get naked with someone they think is useless anyway? There being a difference between "helping around the hosue" and just doing your part of what needs to be done. Thanks, Shasta. --fl]
LOL Hows it goin sweety? Have seen you 4 a while!! Ive been busy. Love the shots this week (lol) very creative! Im glad i didnt see in side the toilet though! lol
Happy HNT!!! ~
[Eh, the toilet was a prop. At least in the sense that it wasn't really clogged. This time. :-) Although it does clog up often enough for me to suspect one of the kid's toys has been lodged in the plumbing for years. Thanks, Hollz. --fl]
Nothing hotter than a man plunging a toilet...
Why? Because that means I am not doing it!
HHNT!
[Gotta admit I feel the same about women plunging a toilet, for exactly the same reason. :-) But I know what you mean, LushlyMe. Thanks. And happy HNT to you too. --fl]
Toilet, gurgling contentedly: Oh, I just love it when he's rough with me!
Sink, trying not to laugh: Does this mean you're flush with rapture?
Toilet paper holder: Well, at least you're no longer ill-commoded!
Toilet, huffily: Oh, very funny. I don't know why I even bother! Slams down lid.
______________
Great photo sequence, Figleaf. Happy HNT!
[You've got a very dirty mind, Kochanie. I love it. Happy HNT to you too. --fl]
Ya coulda done it with no pants on, that coulda made it more erotic. :)
HAPPY HNT@
[Yeah, but evidently the CWPC's "Porn for Women" is mostly pants on as well so I was consciously sticking with their program. Thanks, Polt. Happy HNT. --fl]
Happy HNT! Great idea for HNT pictures!
[Thanks, SM. Happy HNT to you too. --fl]
Interesting... I will have to take a closer look to that book... somehow, it is true that men in action are more interesting than those posing...
Happy HNT... I prefere the pic where you are back to the cam... -)
[I'll keep that in mind, SeaRabbit. It's hard to remember to do my back, maybe mostly because I never actually see it myself? Thanks. Oh, and happy HNT to you too. --fl]
Figgie, unfortunately for most men it is extrordinary for them to do house work, not every one is a lucky as your partner.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, one of the greatest forms of foreplay for me is a man doing the dishes!!
Oh and you can clean my pipes any day!
[Uggh! I hate washing dishes though! My first half-dozen jobs... bleah! Would it work if I got you a nice electric dishwasher and let you watch me install it for you instead? :-) Thanks, Madame. --fl]
yeah, for some reason the jeans and the man work turned me on.
HHNT
[Thank you, Stealth. I'm not saying watching someone work around the house isn't or shouldn't be sexy. It's really cool to watch people being at home in their own envronment. It only weirds me out when it's the housework just being done that's sexy rather than the way the person looks doing it. (I hope that makes sense.) Happy HNT to you too. --fl]
heeheee!
i do find men doing housey stuff VERY VERY sexy. which is why my macyummy has been kept happy these first few weeks of his life with me.. he finally put up the toilet roll holder that's been sitting on the windowsill for the last 2 years and i practically jumped on him! ;)
as for that book i'd be very curious to see the whole thing. i'm always suspicious of things that put down either sex or patronise them, but it's interesting how their survey came up with those results. having lived in turkey for the last 10 years i'd have to say though that i've yet to meet a turkish man who does ANY housework AT ALL! even taking dirty plates back into a kitchen seems to be beyond them. yet i blame this on their families, and their use of maids. and this all definately contributed to the end of my marriage and to my subsequent rule of only dating foreign/western men. sad but true.
happy hnt babe.
[Thanks for that perspective, Keda. Happy HNT to you too. --fl]
So, uh, I can call you if I ever need someone to do that for me? ;)
HappyHNT!
[I'm sure I would if I could, Vixen. Thanks. And happy HNT to you too. --fl]
Lol - that's great. Love the last picture - happy hnt to you too.
[Thanks, Musns. Happy HNT to you too. --fl]
So clever you made me laugh AND think of alternate uses for the end of that plunger! Now that is talent. Nice torso, by the way.
[What a lovely complement, Nympho! Thank you. --fl]
Ok, I just stumbled upon this thread after seeing that the authors of this book are blogging on their publisher's site. You are hilarious. I dare you to send those pictures to them!! Check it out: http://www.chroniclebooks.com/blog/?p=191
[Thanks, Lindsay. Good to see they're taking the opportunity to stick up for themselves. I think blogging is a perfect medium for it. --fl]