In our culture most women are focused on--if not to say obsessed with--their physical appearance. Physical attractiveness is a form of power. it is (generally speaking, of course) more important as a source of power for women than it is for men because in this society women have less access to other forms of power. There is no excuse for men to disrespect women by treating them as objects, whatever their appearance--even to the extent of subjecting them to a 'gaze'.