The effect of increasing sexualization of women in the media

[Violet]

Objectification is a notion central to feminist theory. It can be roughly defined as the seeing and/or treating a person, usually a woman, as an object. In this entry, the focus is primarily on sexual objectification, objectification occurring in the sexual realm. Martha Nussbaum (1995, 257) has identified seven features that are involved in the idea of treating a person as an object:

Central notions to 'feminist theory'?



Heaven forbid an object be used as an object. You're killing me, here.

instrumentality: the treatment of a person as a tool for the objectifier's purposes;
denial of autonomy: the treatment of a person as lacking in autonomy and self-determination;
inertness: the treatment of a person as lacking in agency, and perhaps also in activity;
fungibility: the treatment of a person as interchangeable with other objects;
violability: the treatment of a person as lacking in boundary-integrity;
ownership: the treatment of a person as something that is owned by another (can be bought or sold);
denial of subjectivity: the treatment of a person as something whose experiences and feelings (if any) need not be taken into account.
reduction to body: the treatment of a person as identified with their body, or body parts;
reduction to appearance: the treatment of a person primarily in terms of how they look, or how they appear to the senses;
silencing: the treatment of a person as if they are silent, lacking the capacity to speak.

- Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

Two things... firstly: that was ten, not seven. Secondly, none of these are central to the objectification of humans.

Not that you ever responded to my contention that dehumanizing an object is completely unrelated to how the term is used (to remove the person). The terms are not one and the same

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Me? I try to treat them as a person. I acknowledge their presence, make eye contact, smile, say thank you and consider them an actual person with thoughts and feelings. So no, I try not to treat them as if they exist only for the purpose of preparing and handing me food.

Because people aren't objects that sometimes serve your goals?

Making an excuse for bad behavior based on another similar behavior isn't much of an excuse anyway. I've seen fast food works and retail workers being treated like shit. That isn't an excuse to portray women as sexual objects void of thoughts, feelings and autonomy.

Indeed... that'd be right humanistic, in fact. I hate humanism.