Gossipping Men

My husband told me that at the men's toilet in the country club, the regulars (mainly middle aged men and retirees who go for their daily evening swim) are recently engaging in very animated discussions about the sex scandal involving the Narcotics Bureau chief. Apparently a common opinion amongst them was that the married lady involved was  more desirable than the underage girl who brought disgrace to many men in yet another recent sex scandal. I found this so unbecoming but won't be  surprised he (husband) partook in such idle talk.

My belief that men are real gossipers is reinforced when I read Richard Lim's article today in the Life Section. His article is about how he lives alone and mentions that he occasionally meets up with  colleagues at the kopitiam opposite their office. They don't talk about the good old times but "pontificate passionately on politics and current affairs, such as Cecilia Sue and what MU and SP mean". If you don't know what these educated men of ink are referring to, you were probably able to resist the temptation of reading the detailed report on the case; including the dialogue which took place in the court room. It was just too juicy to ignore and the papers provided the sensation of reading pornographic literature without feeling guilty. Well "SP" appeared in one of the couple's erotic text messages and these men are guessing what it stands for.

Earlier on I have heard over podcast a religious teacher suggesting a method for people to avoid sexual temptation by seeing beneath the skin of the person they are attracted to. This does not mean metaphorically gauging the person's character and traits etc. Instead he literally meant seeing beneath the skin ie. to think what the person is like without the skin surface ie. the person in totality including the skull, the eye socket, the brain matter, the heart, liver, stomach, big intestines etc. So when those long smooth legs look attractive, one must also look at the muscles and the veins with blood running through them as well. I thought this may be an useful tool to pass on to my husband. In fact maybe the judge being constantly bombarded with a deluge of sensuous details should also be equipped with this tool as well.  He after all is also a man although being a judge is probably less "superficial" than most other men.