Pap smears are preventive maintenance; if you never ever ever get a pelvic exam, and you happen to have abnormal cells that go unchecked, it can increase your risk of cervical cancer.

Only women can contract/develop/die of cervical cancer. Now, obviously, not all of us are gonna drop dead right now because we didn't get our annual smear, of course, but it's still a good idea to get checked, because the needless illness or death of women would be a really horrible thing.

Now, the interpretation of this could go one of two ways:

1) Oh, I see! They're equating women with being beautiful, like being classic masterpieces! I'm pretty down with that; I'm a Botticelli and the world would be a lesser place without me. I better get checked and make sure everything is A-OK.

Or:

2) Oh, I see! If I die of a preventable cancer, and lots of other women die too, all we'd have to look at is dudes, and then THE WORLD WOULDN'T BE PRETTY ANYMORE OMG, because womens' bodies are the only things that are good to gawk at! Lord knows we can't objectify a slightly overweight ginger man...with long pretty hair...nngh...SORT OF WANT

And 1) and 2) are not mutually exclusive. Which I guess is why people are up-in-arms about it. I guess I can see why, but I can't be too offended by it. It's a silly gag.

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Has this been done? I assume no, as I didn't learn about it in that never-ending feminism/art history course I took, but I know all about assuming.

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Head, I don't believe you've had the pleasure of meeting desk.

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