I'm here for the fan sign conversation. I'm just wondering why a sign held up for Zayn saying "zap into my pants" or a sign for Liam saying "you don't need a spoon to eat me" is NOT considered sexual harassment. This is not a cutesy way for a fan to have a memorable moment with their favorite member of a boyband. It shouldn't be the boys' responsibility to simple ignore a crude sign held up in the audience because it should not be a thing they need to worry about in the first place.
Performing on stage is their job. If a man walked into a woman’s place of work and made the statement that she’d look better on her knees, it would be considered sexual harassment. If this happened and people got word of it, everyone would be up in arms, ready to set the man on fire. The boys are complete strangers. The stage/stadium/wherever is their place of work. It should not just be a one way street.
(to clarify, I never said it wasn’t sexual harassment, just that it was a minor form of harassment in comparison to the larger issues faced by society).
In a perfect would it wouldn’t be a one way street. But as it stands today, society is inherently male dominated. And men are not shamed for being sexual objects, instead they are celebrated for it. Whereas women are shamed for sex (just look at the reputations of so-called “sluts” vs “lotharios”). Another issue here isn’t that the men are being attacked by sexual messages, its that society is not used to women calling them out in this manner. Women are taught not to embrace their sexuality because it can be used as a tool used by society to subjugate them. The fact that these girls own it enough to hold up posters is shocking… whereas a man cat-calling a women on the street has become more or less expected in society.
