Looking is not always leering

With images of women presented for men saturating today's media, I thought we would be desensitised to the fairer sex being objectified, be it on the glossy pages of magazines or in commercials.

But when "family-friendly" Safra did the same as part of its latest ad campaign, it ruffled some feathers with its cheeky humour.

While Safra said that the scenario of two men stealing a glance at a woman in a gym is "not uncommon", some interpreted it as leering.

I agree with some of the comments, but I draw the line at the assumption that when men look at women, it is leering.

Have we all been so conditioned to the objectification of women that we forget that there could be other reasons that men steal glances of women (or vice versa)?

Let's go back to the gym setting.

ATTENTION

The neighbourhood gym I go to brims with men.

And they often shift their attention to the next woman who enters the gym, whether it's a middle-aged housewife or a plain Jane like me.

But I don't see that as ogling, but merely their natural curiosity, that made them turn their heads.

I look at the men in the gym too, but simply because I like to distract myself by watching them struggle with the bench press while I pedal away on the stationary bike.

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