One of the most pervasive cultural issues of the 20th and now the 21st centuries is the subject of sexism. More and more politically correct material suggests the unnatural inclination of the male ego is to somehow suppress and commoditize the female form for our own amusement and self gratification. More radical material, especially those works of the late Catherine McKinnon, go about showing how objectification of women often leads to the rape and abuse of women. However, within this pantheon of study into the human psyche, one finds very little written about how women objectify males, enforcing stereotypes about behavior and structural form which are rarely duplicated in the real world.
To believe that only males engage in fantasies about the opposite sex is to be naïve. Advertisers jumped on the ‘equalization of the genders’ bandwagon years ago and as our times have progressed, more objectified images of males are being used to sell products and few feminist authors have derided such practice. And just like some males fantasize about the perfect bodily image of women, women also project a similar propensity for perfect male stereotypes of chiseled good looks, washboard abs, and ‘a cute ass.’
There’s no doubt that male-dominated societies have been extremely unfair to women in many ways through the years. The marketplace is one example, and the limiting of their roles to house and child care is another. But these examples don’t really fit within the parameters of physical objectification, although admittedly, these stereotypes are probably more in place today than in times past. But I think these have more to do with the narrow purview of religion rather than extreme cultural notions.
Frankly, I see nothing wrong with both men and women physically objectifying each other. What choice do we have? The discrimination we practice in choosing potential mates is written into our DNA and like much of our instinctual reactions to things; it’s extremely difficult to control. But some women still see the objectification of women by men as insulting and as a way of ‘putting women down.’ Men are supposed to somehow overcome our tendency to notice a woman’s shape, resist our programming, and respect a woman’s need to be thought of as something more than her looks. Certainly, women check out guys too, and often react with awe towards the most eye-pleasing examples of our species. The conversation among the women after the male prototype passes is usually one that includes neither his intelligence level nor his ability to provide security. Yet, that men and women have achieved this parity in objectification doesn’t cauterize the feelings of some feminists one bit, and they often use this objectification as a sign of their continual victimization at the hands of men.
Article comments
1 - Lisa McKay
I would suggest that there's a qualitative difference between benignly admiring someone's physical attractiveness and the process of objectification, which in essence depersonalizes the other. My personal preference would be a world where we strive to see each other as more human, not less so.
2 - The Searcher
"I have thought it proper to represent things as they are in real truth, rather than as they are imagined. Many have dreamed up republics and principalities which have never in truth been known to exist; the gulf between how one should live and how one does live is so wide that a man who neglects what is actually done for and what should be done learns the way to self-destruction rather than self-preservation. The fact is that a man who wants to act virtuously in every way necessarily comes to grief among so many who are not virtuous."
--Machiavelli