One of my favorite past-times is “girl watching”. While I believe all men (and I expect women) engage in this practice, changes in our lifestyle have caused some of the “art” to go out of it. This is definitely not a change for the better.
I engage in girl watching all the time, alone or with one of my favorite partners (either my BFF, or my lover), but for some reason it really has been on my mind a lot this summer. Perhaps that’s because my BFF has spent the summer insisting that we meet in the very best spots for girl watching rather than necessarily choosing based on the quality of food or other useful characteristics. Or perhaps it is because my lover and I like to keep each other amused with messages about the hotter women we spot (or, sadly, about how so many women let “frumpy” take over their lives). In any case, I’ve been doing a lot of girl watching and realized just how un-productive it has become (even ignoring the one time my BFF and I lucked out and tried a mediocre restaurant that just happened to have some women playing beach volleyball next to it).
What do I mean by unproductive? Well, anyone who has worked in the downtown area of a major city (think New York or Chicago) and now works in a suburban office park understands. If you’ve ever worked someplace like Wall Street then you know all you have to do at lunch time is stand outside the front of your office building and a parade of lovelies that rivals the Miss America pageant will, well, parade on by. In 30 minutes you get to gaze at dozens, if not hundreds, of women dressed to the hilt. Not a one would be caught dead in flats (unless they are on their way home, but that is a subtlety that only those in the know understand). All of them trying to look their best without crossing some imaginary line of being “too sexy at work”. And somehow, perhaps because they all put so much effort into looking good, they seemingly all did. And so, instead of partaking of all the fine restaurants nearby we would snarf down a sandwich at our desks then wander downstairs for the sightseeing. By we I am talking about millions of American men, but also specifically about my BFF and I. We were young, and those were the days!
Now I dare you, snarf down that sandwich and head on outside to the front of your typical suburban office park building and count the number of women who go by in 30 minutes that could be the subject of your fantasies. Between the low traffic, and the tendency for (both men and) women who inhabit these places to dress down, you’ll likely fall asleep within 10 minutes. It just isn’t an environment conducive to girl watching. If you want a prime example of the downfall of “American Civilization”, this is it!
Now I know that I’m a part of the problem. I work in a suburban office park. I dress (way) down most of the time. And I have a tendency to refer to people who dress up for work as “suits” (meaning all show and no substance). I’ve become a product of my environment. At the same time, I know I look better in a suit than in my preferred blue jeans. So rather than just complain about the situation I have an offer to make. If the women of America will go back to dressing to the hilt, even when working in the suburbs, I’ll do the same. Your move.
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