Yesterday, someone typed into a search engine the question, “Why do men look at teen nudity?”, and up popped this blog. I saw their question on my stats page and dismissed it: “Isn’t the answer obvious?”, I thought, “Men look at nude teens because youth is beautiful. Why would anyone need to ask?”
Three or four hours later I was back looking at the stats page again. Yet, this time the answer didn’t seem as obvious. So I googled the question to find out what others were saying. But the search only brought up one blog — this one. The remaining hits were porn sites, and not too helpful.
I then tried recalling studies done on why men look at teen nudity, but I couldn’t recall any. So, for some time now I’ve been sitting here wildly speculating. The answer once seemed obvious to me, but the more I look into it, the more I wonder.
At present, I suspect there are evolutionary reasons men look at teen nudity. For instance, I’ve read the prime reproductive years for women are their early 20s, and older teens aren’t too far from that. It seems reasonable to suppose that men who are especially attracted to women who are in their prime reproductive years will be more successful at reproducing than men who are not especially attracted to women who are in those years. So, natural selection would favor men who are especially attracted to women who are in their prime reproductive years. That would not only explain why men look at teen nudity, but why they look at teens (period/full stop).
Put a bit differently, men are attracted to youth — and find youth beautiful — because youth more or less corresponds with the prime reproductive years for women. Not a novel idea. I’ve heard it before. But at least the next time someone googles, “Why do men look at teen nudity”, they will now have something to start from. Of course, it’s a pretty rough and incomplete start.
So, what other reasons are there?
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11 responses so far ↓
Brendan // May 7, 2008 at 7:39 am
Just a thought, so don’t quote me on it, but people tend to imprint aesthetic preferences at key points in life that follow them the rest of their days. One of the curious side effects is that indulging in things that remind of our first profound aesthetic experiences makes us feel comforted and sheltered - makes us feel “young” again. You’ve undoubtedly heard the term “comfort food” or noticed the tendency of people to have a special love for the rest of their life for the first music that they really listened to and understood as children. Perhaps a similar dynamic is at work with men and teen aged girls. The first sexual aesthetic was likely for most men an experience in their early-mid teens. So the ideal sexuality is that one. It makes them feel young and secure again by transporting them back to those powerful first memories.
Or put another way, for many men, teen-aged girls might be a sort of “sexual comfort food.” :?D
Karen Rayne // May 7, 2008 at 8:56 am
I like your idea, Brendan. It’s actually almost exactly what I was coming over here to write! So given that my thoughts to the first question have already been included, I’ll further the discussion with this:
When I (a woman) was 19 - 22 years old or so, I worried that I would continue to be attracted to younger looking men. I worried that I would look at my as-yet-unborn-sons’ friends and find them sexually attractive. While I have not had sons, and so will not have that problem, I have found to my delight that my interest in men has aged with me. When I look at teenage boys now, I am no more attracted to them than I am to a child.
I wonder if women are less sexually attracted to teenage boys than men are sexually attracted to teenage girls? And if they are, then why?
suburbanlife // May 7, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Good question Karen Rayne. I am going out on a limb here to express an opinion based on conjecture more than fact. Women are less sexually attracted to very young men because for some reason our sexual satisfaction seems closely bound to social status and power. I think women find power and status in a man sexy and are willing to let the esthetic standard slip in exchange for greater status. So has been my observation. Very young men, while delightful to look at come a cropper in the status department. Beutiful but unintelligent young men and boys, easy on the eyes, excite me sexually as much as a store manikin does - not at all - because it is the interior life of a man playing out on his surface that I find attractive, exciting and satisfactory for the long-term. G
Paul // May 7, 2008 at 8:08 pm
@ Brendan: That’s a very interesting perspective, Brendan — one that I suspect plays into it with at least some people.
@ Karen: I find I take pleasure in how adolescent girls look, and I am to some extent sexually attracted to them, but I am put off by their kind of sexuality. For instance, their sexual insecurities, so typical of adolescence, are devastating turn offs.
Over the years, a half dozen of my young friends have at one time or another formed an interest in me. But I’ve not taken any one of them up on it. What sexual attraction I have towards them always seems to get run over by an aversion to dealing with their sexuality.
The other factor that seems to enter into it for me is my reluctance to get involved with someone who doesn’t really understand me — and there are things about people my age that it would be cruel to expect an adolescent to understand, or to deal with.
I do love looking at the kids, though.
@ Suburbanlife: Thank you for those insights! Although I’m celibate, I at times feel strongly attracted to someone. It seems in each case that’s been to a middle aged woman. And I’m pretty sure by now that what has turned me on is their sexual confidence. So, like you G, I find youth easy on the eyes, but no where near as sexually attractive as older people.
Nita // May 7, 2008 at 11:14 pm
I agree with Suburban to a large extent. It seems logical that the male species want to primarily spread their seeds and the female wants to preserve them once they flower.
Dana Hunter // May 8, 2008 at 5:46 am
Let’s face facts: firm-breasted, fresh-skinned and unblemished youth is a hell of a lot more attractive than skin that looks like a deflated lizard, with liver spots the size of dimes and boobs that need a crane to lift them off the belt line. It takes a special kind of person to see the beauty in all that, and most of us ain’t that special.
I have to admit my own shallowness here. When it comes to oogling nakie people, young and virile beats old and saggy. And I have absolutely no desire whatsoever to breed, so I can’t say I’m in it for the stud value. Not consciously, anyway. What my damned genes get up to when I’m not watching is an open question. ;-D
Paul // May 8, 2008 at 6:11 am
@ Nita: Well said! I think there’s a lot of truth in that generalization. It fits well, for instance, with what I’ve heard from some biologists.
@ Dana: Thank you for such an interesting comment! I would have completely agreed with you fifteen or twenty years ago, so I can relate to what you’re saying. It seems to me, however, that our sexuality tends to change somewhat with age. What we are looking for when we are 20 or 30 years old is not necessarily what turns us on at 40 or 50 years old. At least, that’s been my experience.
Purnima // May 9, 2008 at 8:43 am
Ah not the youtfullness but youths innocence.
“There is no aphrodisiac like innocence”.
Someone said… he could be wrong though.
Karen Rayne // May 9, 2008 at 10:52 am
Ah, last night I was reminded quite firmly that age is all relative. So here’s a question for everyone here: what on earth do you mean by “youth”?
I’m a good bit younger than most of my friends (all the parents of my daughters’ friends). I’m 28 - and my idea of youth is just different from theirs. I think of anyone around 21 or 22 or younger to be “young.” And I find that the people (men and women) who I find attractive are within about 5 years of my age, plus or minus. There are, of course, outliers - but they tend to be older rather than younger.
But many of my friends (all parents of my daughter’s friends) consider me “young” as in the phrase “too young for me to be romantically involved with, were I looking for a relationship with a woman.”
And I want to be clear that we’re talking about age-ist expectations here - an average that has little to do directly with each individual we meet.
What do each of you mean when you say “youth” or “young”?
Paul // May 10, 2008 at 8:23 am
@ Purnima: Nice to see you again! I myself love experience in a woman. But maybe that’s just me.
@ Karen: I tend to think of anyone younger than 35 or so to be on the youthful side of things. As for whether someone is too young for me to be romantically involved with — that could be a different matter. I don’t really know. I’m celibate, so I would need to consult my heart and mind about that.
Dana Hunter // May 11, 2008 at 2:43 am
Oh, dear. And here I was hoping you’d called me out for a shallow, crass, materialistic so-and-so, and all I get is an excellent point! Argh!
I’m caught out. I’m just a 30-something gal who’s probably not out of the “ooo, firm young flesh” stage yet. Although, I do find Ian McKellan dead sexy, mind. But when I read this, I was thinking of what my guy friends have said about the younguns (we’ve all had some really bad moments as the child stars of Harry Potter have grown and we’ve had to wonder if we were becoming pedophiles, lol!), and yup - they’re all in their 20s or 30s.
Then again, I know a lot of dirty old men who love looking at the girls. They don’t seem to have changed their appreciation of female beauty so much as added another category.
For raw sexual attraction, for me, young trumps old every time. But in certain older folk, there’s a mysterious something that makes them magnetically attractive, that doesn’t strike ye olde (fine, fine, young) libido like a punch to the gut, but sneaks up and grabs its attention by other means. I suppose that second kind of attraction may grow as I age. Or not. Maybe I’ll be one of those old ladies on the beach making the cabana boys desperately uncomfortable with her off-color jokes and bottom pinching.
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