Is BE sexist?

[FireStorm]

Originally Posted by Chameo

moral/ethical dilemmas rarely come into play in eroticism, Consider it a suspension of disbelief

qouted for truth,just make sure you don't demean woman in real life

[Snowglare]

Originally Posted by Rutland43

Generally, I get the impression (though I'd be interested to hear others views on this) that the BE community doesn't actually want women to have larger breasts in reality; part of the enjoyment is in how far removed from reality it is.

I get the impression that many see BE as a means to an end, that end being huge breasted women. I could be missing some inside joke or something, but when visiting the BEA forums, I've seen people encouraging implants, ignoring expansion entirely to focus on the end result, and treating big-breasted models (natural or artificial) as minor celebrities. I've also seen more than a few people say they can't date women who don't reach a minimum cup size.

Originally Posted by Rutland43

Because it focuses on something so patently impossible, BE could actually be argued to be more progressive than most forms of female objectification. Rather than idealising women as they could be and so encouraging an idea of how they should be (in the manner of porn, lads mags, beer adverts and, actually, huge amounts of our culture), BE idealises women as they could never be, and in that way lets real women off the hook, as it were. There is no point aspiring to something that is inherently a fantasy.

Finally, I'd point out that I think men are actually quite good at not associating women they obectify with women they actually interact with. They compartmentalise their experiences; they expect one thing of porn stars, but something quite different from real women. I don't think there needs to be any great fear that BE encourages men to think a certain way; as I keep coming back to, I think it's essential silliness (and the humour the community treats it with) prevents it from having much of an effect.

It varies from person to person. I view BE as fantastic, but aside from the rapid, magical expansion (and perhaps magical firmness), I like it to be realistic. I'm not into BE for breasts you need wheelbarrows to cart around, nor ones that orbit the Sun. Neither do I think it's silly. It's sexy, and one of the most easily realized fetishes. You can get falsies to act it out, or if change isn't important to you, go for big boobs.

I must disagree that BE doesn't cause image problems. It too often takes the form of a realistically attainable result, and does encourage men to seek out larger than average chests. I don't think it's inherently evil - I agree that BE can be treated as pure fantasy - but I don't take as optimistic a view as you on how it is treated. I lump it in with mainstream examples of unrealistic body images. It's one more example of a form a woman could have but often doesn't. As surely as there are people who ignore anorexia to focus on how good a skinny woman looks, there are people who ignore the bags of silicone to focus on how big a woman's boobs are.

In other words, people don't dream of flying because it's impossible.

[100Proof]

Originally Posted by Snowglare

I get the impression that many see BE as a means to an end, that end being huge breasted women. I could be missing some inside joke or something, but when visiting the BEA forums, I've seen people encouraging implants, ignoring expansion entirely to focus on the end result, and treating big-breasted models (natural or artificial) as minor celebrities. I've also seen more than a few people say they can't date women who don't reach a minimum cup size.

You might not want to use the BEA forums as an example for what BE is. The site as a whole is still the biggest home of BE-related material on the web, but the forums have long ceased to be a place for discussion of BE and instead become, as you said, a hub for big-breasted model worship. Nothing inherently wrong with that... a lot of good people there and they're more than welcome to discuss whatever their heart desires. However, what the majority of their hearts desire simply isn't BE any more. It's just another porn forum. Sad really. I imagine that's the reason why most of the original heads have moved on to places like this.

As has been stated over and over, it's really a matter of context. BE in and of itself is fairly neutral. It can be viewed as either a female empowerment fantasy (that some men find sexually exciting) or as male objectification of the female form.

[Prophet Tenebrae]

Ah, when one loses sight of the path and focuses merely on the goal.

When vicious whips and sanction make the path hard to tread.

The path itself is changed at the whims of forces unseen and unknown.

I doubt the forums of the BEA going offline have been a big deal.

This thread is great...

I think if you're ready to TALK about it like this, you're inherently more adjusted than people who something.... something.

100Proof is right. Unless qualified? It's context.

[Lingster]

Why would it matter? Keep your eye on the ball, kid: sexism is a made-up sin, while lust and masturbation are real sins.

[timberwolf69]

so what about other transformations like tg... are they sexist???

[CandyKing]

I'm not into TG, so I cant answer that properly, but I assume that if turning into a female to be something more than just a slut or housewife, or vice versa for fem > male, then no, its not. Ranma 1/2 transformation from M > F isnt sexist, however he treats others in a sexist/chauvenistic fashion, so yeah, theres a clear difference.

Although dont get too hung up on sexism, alot of the benefits women get nowadays are from sexism, preconceived notions that men should be nicer to women, cant hit a girl, being polite, opening doors for them, yadda yadda yadda, all that can be seen as sexist.

[Murasashi]

Originally Posted by Lingster

Why would it matter? Keep your eye on the ball, kid: sexism is a made-up sin, while lust and masturbation are real sins.

That is...If you think they are sins.

[ryantherebel]

Originally Posted by grtcaligal

I consider your question sexist. Only wanting to hear from guys, jeeez

I was using the term loosely.

[robiotic]

Depends massively on the context, if it's a girl who uses a type of breast expansion on herself because that's how she wants to look, then I'd say it wasn't. If it was a guy using some kind of spell, chemical, whatever the method to alter a woman's appearance to his own personnel preference, then yeah, I'd say it was.
But I'd say that's a general rule for all forms of transformation really, the perspective of whoever finds themselves in a transformation situation.

[Permafrost]

It's all erotic fantasy. You can ascribe sexist undertones to just about anything. Having men dominating women is sexist against men too, forcing them into a role designated by sexual preconceptions.

But it's all erotic fantasy. I like BE, but I also like some of the bimboization fetish stuff (which I know makes some people here FURIOus!). But S&M doesn't mean hitting people you meet is okay. Some women like to have forceful sex fantasies, even if they find rape to be utterly appalling and horrific.

I don't really want to be a bimbo. I'm about average intelligence, and I'd like to be smarter, actually. But I like bimbo fantasies for a number of reasons. Now would I like to have bigger breasts? Sure, yeah, I'm pretty flat and I'd like to be a little more balanced. But that's pretty separate from BE Fantasies.

In short, you can't really deconstruct erotic fantasy and condemn it as sexist or not. Or you can, but there's no point in it.

We could go around and around on this all day. All the people nitpicking about context and "how is the woman addressed or treated in the fantasy?" are missing the point. It's all sexist, but it doesn't matter, and you can't fairly call it sexist.

If you wanted to have a meaningful discussion on sexism, the question you would want to ask is: "Why do we have BE fetishes? Is it a result of societal gender roles or sexism?"

Asking "Is BE sexist?" is a worthless question.

[No-Man]

Sex is sexist.