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I once had a female friend who went to Europe on vacation; France, Italy, Spain, that sort of thing. She came back walking on air, talking about the art, the cafes, the food and the Olde Worlde Charm. One thing that surprised me was her mentioning how she enjoyed walking down the street, past the open air cafes and having the men look at her.

"Wait a second!" I interrupted, "You hate that! You positively hate that! You have complained on numerous occasions about guys leering at you as you walk by."

"In Europe, they do it differently," she said, "In America, men look at women like they're looking at prey. In Europe, men look at women like they're looking at art."

That comment has stayed with me over the years. I've looked at a lot of art. I've looked at a lot of women. Sometimes I think I understand: When you look at great art in a museum, you understand that it doesn't belong to you, it will never belong to you and the sense of beauty and the joy  you feel when you look at it are within you. And although the art evokes it, the art doesn't owe you anything.

In American culture, there's a definite hunter/prey relationship between beautiful people and those that look at them. It's more common with men looking at women, but it does happen the other way around; think Elvis, think Justin Timberlake.

You never go to a museum and hear some guy shouting at Venus de Milo,

"Yeah, baby, yeah! Wooo-hoo! Show me the rest! How about we drag that pedestal back to my place and get it ON!"

But a good-looking woman walking down a metropolitan street might hear something similar every few minutes.

I'm not here to change the world, and the world will little note, nor long remember what is said at ProvocativeClothing.com, but I'd like to float this observation: most of my male friends wish their female partners would dress more provocatively. Most of the women I know are afraid to go out dressed provocatively because of the negative attention they draw. If we could reduce the negative attention, both sides would be happier.