Sexual Objectification and Feminism

 

 

I was recently talking with some friends about female beauty and the art of airbrushing. This really was a discussion about how we have impossible standards to live up to especially as we age. With money, time, and a good computer program anyone can look great in pictures; leaving the rest of us feeling like inferior goods. But then I stopped and though to myself and voiced it to my friends, we are normal and we are what life and living has made us. We are not perfect by any stretch but we are grand in our inperfections. This discussion led me to think about the entire issue of sexual objectitication and who really owns the issue, this is what is likely the first a few hubs on this subject.

The common trend when discussing sexual objectification is to blame men and the media. If it weren’t for men women would not be sexual objects. If it weren’t for the behavior of men women wouldn’t be viewed as objects of sexual gratification. If it weren’t for men women would be free of this yoke we wear. I say that we are blaming men for our own choices and that the yoke we wear we have in part agreed too. In truth women freely accept the objectification in many cases playing into the role willingly and at times gleefully. It is easy to blame men and the media. It is much harder to look too ourselves and accept some part of the culpability. 

Of course there are some historical truths that we must contend with when looking at the roles of men and women. It is impossible to ignore these historical truths or pretend that they do not play a part in how we interact today. However, when viewing historical gender classification it is imperative to understand the reasoning behind gender based role assignment and how it served society. In truth during medieval times up through the early twentieth century women were not objectified so much as infantilized. For better or worse women were seen in one of two primary roles; that of chatelaine with all that the title implies or jezebel with all that this implies. There was very little in between. As centuries passed the designation changed but the implied role did not. Religion played a large part in how gender lines were drawn in civilized societies; however, even before organized religion men and women divided into accepted roles based upon gender characteristics and capabilities. 

When we discuss objectification we point to the media as the primary culprit. The print ad with that beautiful woman with the perfect airbrushed face, long legs, and perfectly proportioned body. How though does this objectify me as a woman? Unless I choose to rush off to the local doctor for a suck and tuck in an attempt to achieve this perfection I remain just what I am imperfect and still a woman. Further where are most of the advertisements placed? Certainly not in the magazine that men read regularly; no rather that ad will likely be in a magazine read primarily by women. I know we can’t ignore Playboy, Hustler, or other “Men’s” magazines in a discussion of this nature. However, these magazines serve a specific audience and there is no force involved with the women who choose to pose in them. I personally am not degraded by another woman’s choice in career and have always been unclear why I should be. 

Does the Gentlemen’s Club somehow diminish and objectify me as a woman? Not really, although I know that many women disagree with me on this issue. The truth is that there are comparable clubs that cater to women with males performing in similar states of undress; the problem is that women are not as visually stimulated as men so they don’t make as much money and are not as popular. The reality is that these clubs have been around for years in one form or another. In earlier times they were theater and not near so blatant, but they still appealed. 

I understand that there are many that blame the current trend of gang rapes in college sports clubs and fraternities on the supposed new female objectification. I simply don’t believe that this is a new trend and there is sufficient supporting evidence to justify this belief. The difference is that more young women are reporting their rapes today than ever before. The other difference is that the media is reporting the trend. It isn’t new though mob behavior is as old as recorded history. Women are not more objectified now than in the past thus causing this behavior; it is simply a new soap box for some organizations with an agenda in my humble opinion. 

Throughout recorded history the form of a woman has been considered a thing of mystery and beauty. Women have been painted, sculpted, and photographed in various forms of dishabille. Women have been portrayed as Saints, Goddesses, wantons, mothers, sisters, and enigmas. Our forms have been worshipped or vilified depending upon the culture and times. There is nothing as astounding as a woman’s body and what it is capable of which is why I believe men are so enamored of it. 

Ultimately though we are not objectified by media, or men’s clubs, or even pornography. We are not debased by others, including the media. We, as women are focusing on the wrong things. We are debased when we allow our daughters to walk the streets in shirts that announce “Slut” or “Bitch” on them. We are debased when we are not educated to our full capacity but instead convinced our only value is as objects of sexual gratification and we individually agree. We are debased when we see our sons and daughters listening and dancing too music that refer too women as “ho’s” and “bitches” or encourage violence, sexism, and racism and we don’t stop them and educate them. We are debased when we voluntarily drink too drunkenness so that we can act out without taking responsibility for our actions or the outcome. 

It is not the media. It is us. We must teach our children what respect is. We must especially teach our daughters what self-love and self-respect is. We are not victims of objectification. We are perpetrators of the problem. Any woman who claims that she has never used her “feminine wiles” to gain an advantage is lying, probably to herself. It is time to that we stop looking outward and begin taking stock and responsibility.