I was doing my standard elliptical exercise at the gym yesterday morning, when out of the corner of my eye, I saw an attractive young woman approaching. When I looked over at her, I noticed she was wearing a super-tight athletic bra top that hit right above her belly-button, and on the bottom, she was wearing even tighter athletic stretch pants, rolled down low around her waist. When she passed in front of the rows of ellipticals, I was a bit surprised to see that the pants were rolled down low enough to get a clear look at the top of her butt crack.
In front of me were seven men on ellipticals, four of which were wearing wedding rings. When this young woman strolled back by, I watched all seven men’s heads follow that body and butt crack for the full length of the gym as she walked away. Perhaps I was being naive, but I had hoped that at least one or two of the married men would keep their eyes fixed on their own RPMs rather than on her body. Sadly, of course, I was mistaken.
A few moments later, a teenage girl approached, and, again, I watched all of the men turn to take a look. One of the married, middle-aged men, however, started looking at the men around him rather than the approaching girl. When the girl stopped in front of the man and they started talking, it was clear to see that this was that man’s daughter. When she walked away, not one of the men watched her, although she was very clearly attractive, instead, they kept their eyes fixed on the screens in front of them. They all knew that it was bad form to check out this man’s daughter, and they probably wanted to avoid a punch to the face, so no one looked back up. Sadly, we should always recognize that the women or men we start to objectify and lust after are really somebody’s son or daughter. It really puts us in our place. And as parents, it’s important to remember that our sons and daughters pick up on our actions. When we take that second look at a sexy ad in the mall, or when we find ourselves watching a fit young man or woman a little too intensely, our own sons and daughters are watching.