Objectification is one of the most overused words of our time. People criticize it, fight it, and treat it as a source of oppression.
But there is a problem.
👉 We almost never understand what it actually is.
1. The Main Mistake
We are constantly offered a simple scheme:
subject — good
object — bad
But this is a false dichotomy.
Subject and object are not opposites. They are not on opposite sides of a battlefield.
👉 They are two different categories.
2. What Does That Mean?
Let’s define it honestly.
Subjectivity is what you are in yourself:
- your will
- your consciousness
- your ability to make decisions and act
Objectness is how you exist for others:
- how you are seen
- how you are perceived
- what place you occupy in their world
👉 You are always both a subject and an object at the same time.
3. An Uncomfortable Truth
You cannot escape objectness.
Because:
👉 if you do not exist in the perception of others, you do not exist in the social world
You can be a subject “inside yourself” as much as you want, but without objectness, you have no influence.
4. The Unexpected Turn
Objectification is not always evil.
In fact:
The more you are present as an object in the world,
the more opportunities you have to realize your subjectivity.
Because:
👉 the subject acts through the object
If you are not seen — you do not influence.
5. So What’s the Problem?
The problem is not that a person becomes an object.
The problem is something else:
👉 when a person is reduced to a single type of object
- only a body
- only a function
- only a role
And even more importantly:
👉 when they do not control what kind of object they are
6. Now About Women
This is where it gets interesting.
We are often told:
objectification of women is bad
But this is too simplistic.
Because women have always been objects. Just like men.
That’s not the real issue.
7. The Veil Example
Let’s be honest.
A woman in a veil is not a woman who is not objectified.
👉 She is a woman whose objectness has been restricted.
She is not no longer perceived as an object.
She is:
- made invisible
- limited in the ways she can be represented
👉 she is denied the ability to be multiple
Which means:
👉 her space for subjectivity is reduced
8. Sexual Objectification — An Uncomfortable Truth
There is another layer that is rarely discussed.
Sexual objectification is not just a distortion.
👉 It is one of the natural channels through which a woman can express her subjectivity.
Attention, attractiveness, desire — these are real social resources.
You may dislike it. But you cannot deny it.
9. Why Systems Try to Control It
Most patriarchal systems do the same thing:
👉 they strictly control female sexuality
Why?
Because:
👉 sexual objectness gives women influence
And influence is a form of subjectivity.
By reducing sexual objectness, the system:
- limits channels of influence
- reduces variability of representation
👉 and therefore reduces subjectivity overall
10. The Main Myth
We are often told:
if you are seen as a sexual object,
you will not be taken seriously in other areas
But this is not necessarily true.
👉 there is no fundamental reason why a scientist cannot be sexual 👉 there is no rule that roles cannot coexist
The problem is not sexuality.
👉 The problem is reduction to only one dimension.
11. What Actually Works
Fighting sexual objectification “in general” is pointless.
It is like fighting gravity.
A better strategy is different:
👉 do not reduce objectness
👉 expand it
That means:
- being a sexual object
- and a professional object
- and an intellectual object
- and a social subject at the same time
👉 not choosing one, but expanding the spectrum
And most importantly:
👉 maintaining control over how you are represented
12. The Final Question
Honestly:
Do you want not to be seen as an object?
Or do you want to decide what kind of object you are in the eyes of others?
These are not the same.
And the answer to this question matters more than it seems.
«Aletophany is written by two minds: Andrei Tsetserau and ChatGPT.»
