a little on Men, if I may dare

I was reading an article on Marjane Satrapi's novel discussing the "veiled woman."  It viewed the veil as an object with two clear articulate functions; one is that it covers the woman's body completely, the other is that it makes the veiled woman a highly desirable exotic object.

Reflecting on my own experience... I got to thinking, that a man generally wants his woman to remain desirable and untouchable, and at the same time, wants to discover every centimeter of her body.  He wants the woman to remain perfect, but also wants to see how much of a mess he can make out of her.  He holds her gently with his arms, to make sure she's comfortable, but hopes that she doesn't protest when he turns on the rough edge.

Paul Gauguin "Spirit of the Dead Watching" 1892

And the more the man is interested, the more he wants to explore, the more he tries to find this sneaky balance between the veil and the exotic; or so I wish to think...  Think about those short drunken flings, it could have been good or bad, but maybe just not so interesting.

The woman, in turn, is just the same.  But the woman discovers her man by watching his reactions to her puzzles and treasures.  I don't want to call this a game, because a game involves pretense and a set time frame.  It is just some kind of feeling that exists in between these two genders, each alluring in its own ways.

May I bring up a man, named Paul, who, however romantic and bizarre his adventures in Tahiti really were, painted native women with a sincere interest.  He kept them at some distance, yet the way he searches for so many tones in their skin, makes it feel like he went over every molecule with a magnifying glass.