I feel like the “unable to admit it” aspect is part of the underlying gender dynamics at play here, though. In a culture where men hold structural power, we’d expect the men who control that power (and those reaching for it) to punish those openly seeking sexual access outside that power structure. Hence the cultural tendency to obfuscate the sex appeal of male bodies.
In a matriarchy I suspect we’d contrariwise be arguing about how much of men’s bodies ought to be exposed and take it for granted that all men are “a little bit bi.”
I’ve had to do a lot of processing about how my body is politicized, but I won’t claim to have “the answer” and I’ve been veering off-topic anyway, so I better stop my musings here.
I’d stop short of calling it matriarchal, but here are some Tuareg men and women (from the musical group Tartit). The men (at least, these men) tend to cover their faces. I think it has to do with being out in the desert elements, but the women (or, at least, these women) don’t do it:
And, while it’s perhaps less germane to this discussion, he would’ve turned 100 years old a few days ago, so here’s Rufus Thomas struttin’ his stuff:
