Sometimes people feel a sense of freedom exposing themselves in their birthday suits. Any number of motivations or interests can be at play. I was flicking through Instagram the other day and a female friend popped up in a story and they were naked. I quickly went to the next story as fast as I could because I avoid the female form at all times on the internet.

It got me thinking about the difference between a male subject who is too young to have reproduced, who would find a naked female subject a focus of desire, or an older man who has already reproduced and basically seen it all before. The female form in terms of desire is like a vessel that gets you from A to B. 

Normally point B is reproduction but could also be a trophy wife or whatever the desire in coordination with a couple is supposed to achieve. Desire itself is normally a starting point of focus but most of the time achieves nothing tangible. In terms of Taoist ideas like what they call ‘demon fire’, that is where desire leads to any number of unwelcome sexual advances or even sexual assault.

As an older man when I see women squeezing into uncomfortable dresses with high heels and looking all of that I think it is attractive but I also feel like it is a nightmarish position to be in. I think about it in a practical sense rather than the presentation of the female form. At my age the female form holds little interest because I should have better things to do than chase women who look like they need a decent meal and some shoes that are comfortable.

As far as women being free and having agency over their bodies, which they should have, men normally have other plans. When I was younger and couldn’t defend myself my mothers alcoholic boyfriend would physically and verbally abuse me. Nature kindly gifted me with a growth spurt and I went from being a pudgy little kid to solid tall teenager. I was too big to physically bully.

Not everyone gets lucky like that and my biggest problem in life was other aggressive young men and all sorts of male domination. For women it is an even bigger problem because not many women have the physical strength to repel larger men. Some popular styles of martial arts were founded by women and rather than relying on strength they use flexibility to generate power.

My trainer is a small Chinese man with no muscle or physical strength, some of the Chinese women in the class are taller than him. It is no surprise he went into martial arts. He describes most things going on in society as jungle law. I suppose people expect laws to protect them, or the police or whatever but we all know the police can also lead to an innocent death in custody for example. 

People outside of China criticise Chinese Communism but China has been colonised and lawless many times in history. To the point that thousands of styles of martial arts burgeoned so people could basically survive. China today is like heaven in comparison today and what could Western Imperialism give China but more war and lawlessness that they have finally squashed. 

The official geopolitical narrative from our side of the fence looks different but it’s only designed to dominate China in the long run. That’s it, reality is ignored for jungle law. You need to defend yourself ultimately and the powers that be don’t have the best intentions. So if someone gets the wrong idea from a candid display you can only hope that people have good intentions and respect you. Yet that isn’t always how it works out but it should be that way.

I am hoping my examples are enough to illustrate the point, any desire to dominate, from something as simple as a naked body to a geopolitical goal all have to be able to be repelled if it gets to a dangerous point. Normally everything is business as usual and nothing happens. Any set of ideas can’t just be met with the opposite idea but at times there is a physical reality of dominance. 

I am not saying everyone has to fight it out but at times it does reach that point and it’s better if you are a woman for example who can at least kick a man’s ass if you need to. We all know the reality of masculine violence it isn’t a secret.