Image by edwick via FlickrVictoria Sinclair stands poised before the television cameras delivering the day’s news in an authoritative anchor voice.
But there’s an odd visual disconnect.
In the middle of a story on the U.S. debt crisis, the raven-haired beauty’s hands rise up to her chest and slowly begin unbuttoning her red jacket. Within seconds, the garment falls to the floor, exposing her naked midriff and lacy black bra.
As viewers listen to her explain U.S. President Barack Obama’s election fundraising strategy, her bra, effortlessly emancipated from her breasts, falls to the ground.
By sign off, she’s completely in the buff without ever losing eye contact, fumbling with zippers or buckles or breaking her news-reading rhythm.
And there you have the curious allure of Naked News, a Toronto-based Internet phenomenon that is viewed around the world by men who share an interest in current events and female nakedness.
The spark of the idea, born a dozen years ago, stemmed from this sophomoric question: “What do news anchors look like naked?”
The answer has resulted in a daily show shot in east-end Toronto that thousands of people pay to watch online and in more than two million hotel rooms worldwide.
Consider it part of the extensive body of evidence proving this self-evident truth: The female form is the single most intoxicating image to the male eye.
But from there, the nature of the allure gets complicated.
“Some people like to enjoy nudity without it being eroticized,” says Sinclair, a striking 45-year-old former marketing professional who was an original anchor with Naked News when it launched in 1999.
An hour after finishing her morning on-air duties, Sinclair is sauntering into the restaurant at the top of the Westin Harbour Castle. Sensing her presence, a middle-aged man turns his gaze from the downtown Toronto panorama to survey Sinclair from head to toe, a long, careful analysis that occupies his eyes for nearly a minute in a Supermanlike X-ray stare.
His female companion, noticing his wandering attention, quickly glances at Sinclair then darts her eyes back at him in frigid exasperation.
All available indications suggest lunch went downhill quickly from there.
But is he to blame?
Why exactly are men reduced to primal beasts transfixed by the sight of a female body?
Many experts see the primal urges dating back to DNA programming designed to ensure continuation of the species — a noble calling that has fallen victim to bad marketing.
“Early sexual experiences and sexualized experiences also have a strong impact,” says Dr. Dave Reiss, a California-based psychiatrist, extending the factors-beyond-our-control argument.
That’s just premature evaluation, says Susan Knabe, assistant professor of women’s studies and feminist research at the University of Western Ontario, who sees male fixation with naked women as cultural affirmation. “I reject the idea that there is something hard-wired in heterosexual men’s brains that makes it pleasurable for them to look at images of the naked female form,” she says. “I suspect that for many men, looking at women’s nude bodies is tied up with their performance of heterosexual masculinity.”
What seems clear is that men are more interested in staring at naked women that vice versa.
Naked News experimented with naked male news readers early on.
No demand.
Pornography, a precursor to naked newscasting, has a more straightforward allure to the male brain: The joining of nakedness with actual lustful expression.
Check. And check.
“It’s about fantasy,” says Josh Stevens, marketing director for FyreTV, a U.S. company that sells access to 15,000 pornographic movies — as well as the Naked News — through a set-top box and over the Internet. “Here are beautiful women who meet the innate desire we all have. The blood starts moving, the thoughts start going about how I’d like to make love to this woman.”
But there’s an additional pull, he says: societal taboos.
“The Internet traffic we get from Pakistan blows my mind. If there’s a door that says don’t look in here, we’re a curious species and we’re going to open the door and take a peek.”
So, what has Naked News learned about the specifics of the female form that attracts its viewers?
It’s not what Hollywood tells us.
For example, enhanced breasts are a liability, says Lucas Tyler, a former broker who left Bay Street to become producer of Naked News eight years ago.
“Eight out of 10 breast enhancements are not very good looking. Our fans notice everything and they don’t like those.”
Piercings are equally verboten for Naked News anchors. Small tattoos are acceptable but large, snaking, arm-covering ink art is a deal breaker, he says.
And, contrary to media-perpetuated stereotypes, men don’t really want to stare at skinny female physiques: “Men are interested in something completely different from what they have,” he says. They want to see “voluptuous curves, softer, rounder bodies. They don’t want cookie cutters.”
Sinclair, a male favourite among the network’s array of younger beauties, says she has lasted because men connect with more than just superficial optics.
This sounds, at first blush, to be either naive or overly flattering to the male species.
But she continues the thought.
“Men are loyal. As long as you don’t ask anything of them or try to test it.”
There it is — a moment of great insight into the male condition.
The women in our lives can age. Their bodies can change. But if they can stand before us naked telling us stuff with a smile while demanding nothing in return, they own us.
The mystery of male desire decoded.
