Can men objectify women’s bodies while respecting their minds?

David Baddiel is to write a book about masculinity entitled The Male Gaze.

And he is to record his last three stand-up shows – Fame: Not the Musical, My Family: Not the Sitcom and  Trolls: Not the Dolls –  for TV  broadcast.

His extended essay will  complete a trilogy of extended books following Jews Don’t Count, which tackled antisemitism, and The God Desire, on atheism and religion

He said the starting point for the title would be that men can both objectify women’s bodies and respect their minds.

Revealing his plans in a major interview with The Times, Baddiel said: ‘It’s possible that men can hold two thoughts in their head. So men can, for essentially libidinous purposes, imagine and see women in this way, while not denying their basic humanity.

‘Obviously women need to be CEOs and judges and politicians and prime ministers. Is it contradictory to also think, "I am interested in that woman physically"? Because I can’t help that interest. That’s part of being a heterosexual male.

‘It doesn’t mean that I see her only as a body. I actually am listening to her as well and think that she should be capable of everything that a man is capable of. The problem is that those two things feel contradictory and, yes, I guess that is what I would like to write about.’

Baddiel was at the vanguard of laddish comedy in the 1990s and has spoken in interviews and his stand-up about watching porn.

And he said he was bracing for a backlash saying: ‘One of the things I was saying in Jews Don’t Count is that you imagine there’s this group of people who are powerful, but they’re not; they’re vulnerable… but I still get pushback from people essentially saying that Jews are rich and powerfu. It will be a thousand times worse if I write about men, because men are powerful. Men are also vulnerable, but they are powerful.

Baddiel was speaking to the newspaper to promote his Talking Books shows – extended Q&As about the issues in his last two volumes.

He describes it a ‘a bit like Baddiel and Skinner Unplanned but less banter and more philosophical and serious — and emotional, I guess’.

He will also be reprising his stand-up shows, each for one night only, to warm up for recording the trilogy for TV in the autumn, although no broadcaster has yet been revealed.

Published: 1 Aug 2023