Hijinks
First Post
I don't think my views are shared by too many women. I've just witnessed too many angry wives complain about their husbands visiting strip clubs to think my views are normal.
I also don't mind strip clubs. I've been in them and I usually enjoy the music and atmosphere. I think I have a healthy attitude towards sex and relationships. My boyfriend used to get Playboy, which was fine with me. Men are visual creatures and they like to look at naked women. I understand that and don't mind it.
If my boyfriend came to me and told me the story that was the first post of this very long thread, I wouldn't have had a problem with it at all.
I, personally, almost never get compliments. I grew up in a family where I was constantly critized for the way I looked, never anything positive. I'm a plain woman, and I know that and am (usually) ok with it. I know I'm not beautiful, and will never be.
That said, I do get offended when men who are in the same room with me make jokes about fat or ugly women, even if not directing them at me. I may not consider myself ugly, but I do think I'm plain; I think many men that I meet think I'm less worthy of talking to than other women, because I'm less attractive. That's just the way the world works. Whatever. I don't think plain people, or fat people, should naturally be the butt of jokes. This is a sore spot with me because recently, a person I considered a friend was talking to someone sitting beside me about "one-bag women," i.e. women that you only have to put a bag over her head, as opposed to "two-bag women," which means a bag over hers, and a bag over the man's). It hurt my feelings because I know I don't measure up to his standards of what constitutes a real woman, because I'm not beautiful.
I do have features that I think are pretty - my eyes, hair, hands. When I get a compliment on a feature, I cherish it. Because they are so unusual for me. So I would personally encourage my bf - or another man - to compliment a woman on her features, if he feels it's not something she hears enough. From the way the original poster described the woman's reaction, it made her day.