“In our quieter moments, Natasha told me about the men who had taken her picture. She hadn’t minded any of it except that they couldn’t explain why they liked one thing over another. They had always known exactly how they wanted her to look, but none of them could give her a reason. Why did they prefer her leg raised this way and not that, why squatting from behind or holding her hand in a certain position? Some of the positions had been practically identical, yet they had insisted on them. The only explanation they offered was that it looked good or that it was sexy. And yet she never felt that way about men. She never cared how they looked or what side she was viewing them from.
—You don’t care how I look?
—You look how you look. If you bent over, it wouldn’t make any difference to me.
I bent over.
—That doesn’t make any difference?
—It looks stupid. But what if I bend over? Does it look stupid?
—No, it looks good.
—Why is that?
—It just does.
—You can’t explain it?
I thought it had to do with the forbidden. The attraction to the forbidden in the forbidden. The forbiddenest. But it still wasn’t much of an answer.”
–David Bezmogis, “Natasha” – (both characters are teenagers)