Reply #84: Another possible answer, though... [View All]

is the acknowledgement of sexuality. Look at some of the rationales for oppressive, binding clothing for women (whether it's the burqa or the layers and layers of petticoats): because men can't control themselves if there's any glimpse of part of a female body, all hell breaks loose, they can't help but rape, their souls are damned, yadda yadda.

If straight men are the ones in power, as they usually are, then they are the ones who define who this scary, destabilizing, distracting sex object is. It's women, surprise!

In societies where any representation of sexuality is taboo, then women are oppressed because to male eyes, their very physical existence is a "representation of sexuality."

But in a culture that's more open and yes, desensitized, to sexual imagery and puts a lot less apocalyptic weight on sexual thoughts, then having a woman in a short skirt sitting next to you in your cubicle at work is a lot more likely to be just no big thing.

Just a theory. I can't back it up with anything but it makes sense to me. (I'm a woman, BTW)

I'm not real ra-ra on porn, but I think that the oppressive elements in it are much more symptom than cause.