There's another one: that this kind of thing might be crude and distasteful, but it isn't specifically sexist.
The sexism is in knowing that it will make most women somewhat uncomfortable, and some women very uncomfortable, and not caring.
The sexism is in knowing that it will make most women somewhat uncomfortable, and some women very uncomfortable, and not caring.
I'd go so far as to say that how is an app that is all about exploiting women NOT sexist?
It is more than just making them uncomfortable. Some pics are taken of women that are drug addicted or white slaves or both. For most that do it on their own initiative, it is a decision they will regret later, but unlike a one night stand, it isn't just for one night. Those images stay around forever.
The chosen example photos seemed to have as their subject the male gaze, not the breasts themselves. And, unless staged, such photos don't usually capture a "stare" but a "furtive glance": it is an artifact of the photo-taking (and then sharing) process that turns a momentary glance, that the subject might have hoped noone would notice, into a permanent, ranked "stare".
The audience laughter was as much or more uncomfortable-distancing as it was enjoyment/approval, and the cultural differences in gender-sensitivity-taboos between Australia and Northern California added another interesting dimension to their act.
I would consider it one of the more interesting performances in the SF Fringe Festival (http://www.sffringe.org/appl/), now through September 21st on stages across San Francisco, and all the more notable because it was not, technically, an SF Fringe Festival entry or venue.
Yes, so many people seem to have missed this key point. To quote from the opening sentence in the presentation - "Titstare is an app where you take photos of yourself staring at tits."
Even if the app weren't also obviously sexist and offensive, those assumptions are.
(They are also insulting every man in the audience. I take personal offense that they assume I am as uncaring and lazy as they are.)
No more so than other presenters assume that everyone in the audience is just like themselves.
Since the presentation obviously wasn't serious, imputing any serious 'assumptions' to the presenters is silly.
It's not even an app, really. It's a 'Joke App Mockup' – a bit of trolling performance art. You give it more voice and power with your outrage.
Go back to the 17th century.