Monday, 7 November 2016

halacha - May a woman look at a man for pleasure?


It's ossur for a man to look at a woman for pleasure. Even to look at her small finger with the intention of having pleasure from it (See EH"E Siman 21 Sif 1.)


Is there any prohibition for a woman to look at a man for pleasure?



Answer



There are two opinions in the medrash cited in Aryeh's answer; R' Yehuda permits women gazing upon men. His opinion is accepted by Sh'muel in B'rachos 48b. Although R' Yochanan follows R' Yosi's interpretation of the pasuk there, the gemara does not record that he added the phrase אם כן עשית בנות ישראל כזונות. In fact, R' Yochanan himself allowed women to gaze upon his handsome countenance (B'rachos 20a, Bava M'tzi'a 84a).


Although the Sefer Chasidim implies that it would be forbidden for a woman to gaze at a man (§614, "והוא הדין לאשה שלא תשמע קול איש שמכל שהאיש מוזהר אשה מוזהרת"), this is not generally accepted as halacha. Both R' Moshe Feinstein (Igros Moshe EH vol. 1, §69) and R' Ovadia Yosef יבלחט"א (Yabia Omer OC vol. 1, 6:5) rule that women are permitted to stare at men for aesthetic pleasure as long as they do not fantasize about the man or stare licentiously.



As far as the Sefer HaChinuch quoted in Aryeh's answer, it prohibits women from fantasizing about men other then their husband, but it does not prohibit them from gazing upon other men generally speaking.


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