It’s how you “notice” and “celebrate” that turns creepy and misogynist.
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I agree with you that one issue is people’s visceral reaction to seeing things they don’t see every day which manifests as either “Look at that!” or “Stop that!” But @Mausium is also right that on this topic that impulse to gawk/turn away has another context to be considered, and I don’t think it’s easy to consider it separate. For example:
Seems to be overstating the case. Men who go nude in public are definitely likely to get some stares, but I wouldn’t say “for the same reasons” that women are. For some of the same reasons, yes. People gawk at all kinds of things because they aren’t the sorts of things they see every day. Men gawk at women because they either can’t understand how that makes women feel or don’t value women’s feelings over their own desire to stare. If men gawk at a topless woman riding a bike, I think it’s safe to say both of those things are going on, so it’s not really the same. It could be the same, in a different time and place, but for the vast majority, here and now, it isn’t.
Because, as men who like to gawk at women so often say, there is actually nothing wrong with people liking to look at breasts. It’s totally fine. It’s no excuse to leer at people and make them feel uncomfortable. The other day someone on the subway was wearing a Clockwork Orange T-shirt and I enjoyed that they were wearing it, but I’m pretty sure they didn’t feel uncomfortable that I did or even notice that I did. We’re allowed to like things, including the bodies of other people, but we have to respect other people at the same time.
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