As a content creator, I spend a lot of time on Odyssey's page checking out other creator's articles. I also tend to check out the comments to see people's reactions to articles because, let's be honest, it's kind of fun. Lately, I've been beyond appalled with what I've seen.
There are a lot of articles floating around discussing body image, bikinis, eating disorders, etc. that showcase cover photos of women in bikinis or showing off some skin. While scrolling through the comments, my eyes about popped out of my head at all of the older (and I'm not talking like upper 20s) men posting extremely inappropriate comments.
"Nice @$$."
"Go nude!"
"I'd slap that."
"If you've got it, flaunt it."
"Nothing wrong with seeing a sweet @$$!"
Um, excuse me? There is only one word to describe this. GROSS.
I don't let my boyfriend of two and a half years speak to me that way (not that he would even consider it due to the fact that he's a respectful man). What do you think gives you the right to comment that on an article showcasing a woman's body?
Girls my age often complain about the disgusting sexual comments they receive from guys our age and wonder how the heck, in today's society, they still find it perfectly acceptable to sexualize us this way. Now we know why. It's what they see at home from fathers, uncles, brothers, grandparents, etc.
Just because a girl chooses to show some skin does NOT give you the right to make sexual comments about her body. When do you ever see a girl commenting inappropriate comments on a picture of a guy without a shirt? Never. And the fact that it wasn't even guys our age but men in their 50s and 60s? That's wrong and disgusting on so many levels.
Look, I get it. The internet today is full of girls showing off their bodies and looking as beautiful as ever. From Instagram models to celeb Snapchat stories, we see girls showing themselves off all the time. But that really doesn't give any man the right to turn it sexual and make unwanted comments about a woman's body. We deserve respect regardless of what we're wearing, whether or not you deem it appropriate.
Comments like this promote younger men to do this same, ultimately promoting rape culture. And that, my friends, is definitely NOT something we want to promote in the comment section of articles written primarily by college girls who deal with that kind of BS on a pretty normal basis already, thanks to horny frat boys and creepy Tinder dudes.
So, pervy Uncle Stan, if you could keep your gross sexual comments off my well-thought out, educated article about body image, that would be ideal.