Behold the Behind Beneath

I posted recently about shorts with things written across the hind end. I wanted to revisit that topic, because I think there's something worth discussing... Interpret that as you wish.

It seems lately in these parts that shorts have gotten so short they can't really get any shorter. I have taken to asking people if the women here really know just how short their shorts are. It's ridonkulous.

Denise Keller gets a big thank-you for articulating a thought I'd had in my mind recently but could not put into words.

I hope she will forgive me for reproducing part of her blog entry here:

And what would the Games Convention Asia be without the booth babes?! I couldn't stop staring at their belts, I mean, shorts...

Denise expressed my idea: shorts are so short that not only are they much wider than they are tall, they're so disproportionately rectangular that they look like belts.

Okay, perhaps not literally:

Before you get offended, look closely; nothing to see here folks...

I'm offended I didn't take that photo... But never mind.

In the same vein (!) as my question about shorts with thing written on the back end, I would ask women how they want men to respond to things like this:


If you offer this woman a seat, you won't need to be clairvoyant to tell what color her undies are.

Even if her name's not Claire.

And that's if she's wearing any undies.

I have been socially conditioned to respond to certain images or depictions. Part of me doesn't want to give up that response, since I take it as a sign I am still hetero and sexual.

But no one should be expected to respond to this nonchalantly:

Even leaving aside the bare midriff, I find it hard (!) to not respond to this fashion choice positively and, to be frank, sexually. I don't feel guilty about it, either.

And it's not like the wearer is unaware. Those things don't keep you that much cooler than long shorts, so don't hand me that crap about hot weather.

I see too many of these 'micro-shorts' in the street to not think that sales of Nair and/or razors must be skyrocketing.

Call me a chauvinist throwback, but I think a woman should have some secrets, and these things allow for none.

But please don't think that I don't love these shorts. I'm demonstrably grateful (that's not a phone in my pocket...) that they have become popular and my only regret about the end of summer and hot weather will be the disappearance of the High Thigh.



Hey, if global warming finally brings the Bare Midriff to Hong Kong, I'll stop complaining about pollution forever.