General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: For those women who think objectifying women as sex objects is OK [View all]Deep13
(39,154 posts)It is hard for me to argue whether or not something is objectifying, and if so that it is definitely a bad thing, until we all have the same conceptual idea of what objectification really means. And I am asking for a definition that is not situation-specific.
My own understanding of the term comes from post-modern, feminist thought and especially subaltern concepts. The subject has agency and either works for his or her own benefit or else others work for the subject's benefit. Objects, as in grammar, respond to the agency of the subject and work for the benefit of the subject. Usually, the person doing the exploitation--in the Marxist sense of that term--is the subject, while the person being exploited is the object. I don't think it has anything to do with treating someone like an inanimate object, in the colloquial sense of that term.