In social philosophy, objectification is the act of treating a person as an object or a thing. Sexual objectification, the act of treating a person as a mere object of sexual desire, is a subset of objectification, as is self-objectification, the objectification of one's self. In Marxism, the objectification of social relationships is discussed as "reification".
Definitions
According to Martha Nussbaum, a person is objectified if one or more of the following properties are applied to them:
- 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
Arguments
Nussbaum found the general understanding of objectification was too simplistic to be useful as a normative concept to evaluate the moral implications of sexualization of women. She attempts to remedy this by distinguishing between benign and harmful forms of objectification in different circumstances relative to sex.
According to Immanuel Kant's theories, sexual desire is inherently objectifying, as a strong sexual urge includes a desire to engulf another person for sexual satisfaction. This desire manifests as a desire to control the target's behaviour to secure one's own satisfaction, effectively denying the target's autonomy. The intensity of sexual desire also reduces subjectivity by drowning out consideration of the target's thoughts or feelings in the pursuit of one's own satisfaction, reducing other people to a set of body parts intended to provide gratification. In short, sexual objectification is a general feature of sexuality, in that the involved parties eagerly desire both to objectify and be objectified.
Catherine Mackinnon and Andrea Dworkin adopt Kant's understanding of sex as inherently objectifying, but disagree that participants are objectifiers and objectified in similar proportion; rather, it is asymmetrical. Because sexuality exists within a larger social and culture context and men and women are not granted power equally within that context, this heavily influences the dynamic. According to Mackinnon and Dworkin, male sexuality is expressed dominantly via objectifying others, while female sexuality is expressed submissively via accepting objectification or engaging in self-objectification. In this context, women are more vulnerable to violability and lack of subjectivity and autonomy. Mackinnon and Dworkin ignore personal histories and psychologies that Nussbaum considers equally morally important to the construction of male and female sexualities. while the comments section provides a forum for viewers to voice disapproval or praise. As a result of this objectification, the target adopts the status that society has given to her as her primary view of herself. In their words: "Perhaps the most profound and pervasive of these experiences is the disruption in the flow of consciousness that results as many girls and women internalize the culture's practices of objectification and habitually monitor their bodies' appearance." Utilizing an intersectional approach can deepen the understandings of objectification constructs pertaining to transgender identities. Transgender individuals experience unique challenges during the interpretation of their identity. Furthermore, representations of transgender individuals in the media have portrayed them as comic relief, perpetuating transphobia, and further stigmatizing transgender individuals. Sexual orientation standards are inserted into social representations of gender as either masculine or feminine and this gender binary has been propagated through the media, peers, family, and other socio-cultural channels. Through objectification and social representation, exaggerated body image ideals associated with masculinity and femininity encourage the objectification of one's body in order to adhere to these socio-cultural appearance ideals. Although the theory of objectification was originally used to explain how the female body is reduced to its appearance, it can be used to analyze how transgender individuals approximate these ideals to be consistent with their gender. Transgender individuals may internalize societal appearance ideals through body monitoring and comparison in order to legitimize their gender identity. Objectification ignores gender identity and categorizes individuals based on the ideal expression of gender which affects transitioned men and transitioned women. Objectification becomes a problem and solution for individuals attempting to affirm their gender identity and expression through social recognition. The ideal male physical attractiveness includes the portrayal of muscle and robustness and transgender men can attempt to conform to the standard through compulsive exercise and steroid injection.