Like female flirting, male irreverence is subject to 'the fine line'.
I think PUAs are aware of this and are careful to advise the brethren to retract if a woman is showing signs of distress or displeasure at something heinous he has just said.
The good guys know when to step back and not go over the line.
Those who do at work soon hear from Human Resources :-(
I am sure everyone already knows this but it is worth repeating here in this context. It is not that women are not equally irreverent.
Two factors collude to ensure that a woman will not show her irreverent side to all and sundry.
1. It really is about social conditioning. If there is a breakdown here, then a woman will feel comfortable turning the air blue.
2. Aside from that, there is also the 'public persona' thing. It depends who she considers 'public' or 'private'. To the 'private' guy, no holds barred. To the 'public' one, she just cannot 'let her hair down', unless factor 1 overrides this.
Anyway, I mentioned about how children love irreverence. Shortly after puberty, I think the genders head off in opposite directions as to their further education with respect to caorseness and crudity.
Before that, boys and girls are equally fascinated by the boundaries of decency, but I think boys are more willing to explore those boundaries somewhat :-)
I remember when I was in primary school (I must have been 9 or 10) there was a caretaker who was a really old man. He must have been much older than my grandparents. You could hear his bones creaking as he walked. This man was perhaps the most irreverent man I have ever met. Seriously.
He spoke a different language from most of us kids, and his favourite pastime was to teach some of us kids the more vulgar slang words of his language. We loved it.
I think some of my friends probably only came to school for his type of 'education' rather than anything else lol.
Once, I accidentally blurted out one of his 'unrepeatables' at home. My folks were horrified, but thankfully no-one made trouble for the old man.
I remember him fondly because of his unrestrained irreverence.
I am not suggesting it made me a better person or anything, but it certainly helped me to lighten up as an adult when I would be confronted with unexpected crudity.
To this end, that old man probably increased my threshold level for tolerance to 'the shock factor', something I find is quite useful to have.
A sense of humour in the face of unexpected crudity does well to diffuse a potentially serious situation.
In this video, Whitney Houston (RIP) does well to keep her composure when french actor Serge Gainsbourg unexpectedy crosses a social line on live TV.
This skill is admirable. It is a big part of feminine grace, I think.
It also accords one the right attitutude to hone for the thankfully rare event of adversity.
If I may digress, the British are generally reputed to have the best sense of humour in the face of adversity. It may of course not be at all related to the irreverence of British humour, but I like to link the two in my head, and my hamster approves :-)
Not to say I am an active participant in coarseness.
I still find the need to step away from 'the locker room' because it sometimes gets rather 'blue' in there.
But at least there are some things I can smile about.
I can drop the old 'b*tch shield' a little from time to time...um, at least just a few times more than your average bible-bashing spinster auntie :-)
Below is a relatively 'clean' sketch from British comedian Benny Hill.
This poor hapless man doesn't seem to have much luck with the ladies.
Keeping it clean, how would the gentlemen here help him to inprove his Game?
Suggestions and explanations would be most welcome!
I realise that going back in time like this is odd. I am effectively asking the gentlemen here to advise their own grandpa, which is very different to advising your son.
Given that some of us may not even have been born in the 70s, and those who may have been, may have been too young to remember what the 70s were like, it is a bit of a dubious task.
But let's just have some fun with this.
If anyone can provide 'context' with their proposition/suggestion, great.
If not, no worries...
