How many times have you heard the statement “If you’re into ___, you’re objectifying ___ people” ?
Objectification is a very real problem. and yes, it is especially present in kink and fetish spaces. But blanket accusations like these have weaponized the word against sexually divergent communities, painting everyone involved in kink to be a predator, which is an extremely harmful view. Objectification is not inherent in fetish /divergent attraction. It happens a lot in sexually typical communities too, especially the case of straight men objectifying women, and that doesn’t make every straight man an objectifier. That doesn’t make the attraction to specifically feminine traits = objectification.
So what does it actually mean to objectify someone? How do you know if you are truly appreciating someone for their beauty or if you are objectifying them?
Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, Martha Nussbaum, identified seven features associated with the idea of treating a person as an object in our society:
1. Instrumentality: the treatment of a person as a tool for the objectifier’s purposes
2. Denial of autonomy: the treatment of a person as lacking in autonomy and self-determination
3. Inertness: the treatment of a person as lacking in agency, and perhaps also in activity
4. Fungibility: the treatment of a person as interchangeable with other objects
5. Violability: the treatment of a person as lacking in boundary-integrity
6. Ownership: the treatment of a person as something that is owned by another
7. Denial of subjectivity: the treatment of a person as something whose experiences and feelings (if any) need not be taken into account
Rae Helen Langton, FBA, an Australian and British professor of philosophy, later added three more features to the list:
8. Reduction to body: the treatment of a person as identified with their body, or body parts
9. Reduction to appearance: the treatment of a person primarily in terms of how they look, or how they appear to the senses
10. Silencing: the treatment of a person as if they are silent, lacking the capacity to speak
If you ever find yourself confused between whether you’re objectifying or admiring, ask yourself: “Do I see this person as a way of sexual/self gratification or do I appreciate them beyond my own personal pleasure?”
Remember: Your sexual interests alone do not make you a fetishizer or objectifier. The behaviors above do. Does this list sound like you?
If yes, you have some serious reflection to do.
If not, you’re okay, bb. don’t let anyone trick you into thinking your unique sexuality makes you bad or broken.
