Objectification and why we should talk about it
This post contains discussion of sexual content.
I wanted to make this post for quite some time, but always postponed it. It was unnecessary, I thought, maybe the problem will just go away. But recent events sort of broke a camel’s back. They brought a lot of depressing thoughts and I want to separate them from myself. And so here it is. This is going to be my personal opinion on the topic of objectification in relation to the porn video of Tifa streamed recently and the general way the ff7 fandom treats Tifa. Here we go.
Objectification
Firstly, let us define the subject matter. In general, objectification is treatment of conscious beings (real humans, fictional characters with supposedly human like intelligence) as if they were inanimate objects, erasure of their agency, personality and emotions. It is usually done for the benefit of another party. The soldier’s humanity is being erased for the benefit of the those sending them to die in useless wars, a worker’s humanity is being erased for the benefit of their employer. There is also a very widespread type of objectification which for the longest time greatly affects women, while of course not leaving out men completely.
Sexual objectification is erasure of someone’s humanity in a sexual context for the benefit or even pleasure of someone else. In real life it happens in toxic relationships and in media it usually happens in pornography. When the character on screen lacks any discernible human characteristics and only their appearance and participation in a sexual act is presented.
Sexual objectification vs sexuality
In relation to this people usually bring up that sex is normal and criticising objectification is just repressing sexuality. While some critiques indeed label anything sexual as objectification, it isn’t inherently true. Sexuality is an expression of oneself. It doesn’t erase humanity but reinforces it. Sexual objectification however does the opposite. The issue here is framing. What is in the focus and why. It is the difference between erotica and pornography. Not all media with sex in it is pornographic. But the video in question of course is. The focus is on the woman’s body. The man’s face is out as he is not the product being sold in this particular case. It has no character, only the view of a sexual act. So yes, that video is a clear example of sexual objectification.
Objectification meets capitalism. Consumption of people
Since there is a demand for objectifying media under the capitalism the offer of course rises to meet it. And so objectification leaves the boundaries of personal relationships and becomes a product for sale. It doesn’t now just benefit the “consumer” through their supposed sexual pleasure, but also the middleman, someone who manufactures it with the intent of selling it. Removing the sex presented another step further from an authentic expression of desire. I don’t know whether the creator of that video made money from the video itself, was advertising some other products through it or just let it out into the world as a gift for humanity and I don’t think it matters in this instance. Because there are others who certainly did monetise the situation.
In the world of social media attention is a form of currency and there are means to convert it to good old money. Even though the incident with the video had no real significance and wasn’t going to save humanity from climate change or ease the struggles of the poor or even solve any of the many glaring issues of the game industry, numerous reporters, influencers and even artists flocked to it, hungry for that sweet sweet advertising cash or a free advertisement for themselves. Well, “free” at the point of use as for everything free in this world someone must pay.
What they were and still are capitalising on is of course the objectification of Tifa. Notice the narrative that is spread: the creator of the video, the streamer or all those screaming about it are nowhere to be found. It is all Tifa. She is in all the headlines, all the posts, all the memes and all the art. “Tifa interrupted the senate meeting”, “Tifa was railed in front of the senate”, “Tifa cheated on Cloud”, “Tifa is embarrassed”… A real human being with consciousness and will created the video, another one streamed it and others spread it everywhere, but all those very real people may as well not exist in the social narrative. Such rhetoric is easily recognised in most incidents involving exploitation of women: the rhetoric of “she did it herself”. It does not matter that the situation was completely manufactured by others, they are just “passive observers”, they “did nothing”. It was all her own doing.
This framing also completely destroys the notion that “all publicity is good publicity”. If that were true, then the creator and the senators would be jumping out of their pants to become publicly connected to the incident, but they don’t. The society dumped its garbage on the floor and then ran and hid behind a wide back of a fictional woman when an adult came to ask to clean it up.
The elephant in the post.
Now that we have established what is happening, I think it’s necessary to address the core issue. Why is objectification of a fictional character bad? After all, they are inherently “objects” as they have no real intelligence and no real feelings. So why am I so up in arms about all this? Some people “consume” Tifa as a character from ff7, some as a sexual object. So what? It’s not like she has feelings to get hurt.
I have a few reasons. Firstly, a general toothless “common good” reason. Presenting women as objects is harmful to society because it normalises such views and hence will affect real women in the future. Secondly, a selfish emotional reason. Tifa is one of my favourite characters. Even if she is not real, she feels real to me and so when she is used like this it hurts and angers me. Not the most logically supported reason, but an honest one.
The third reason is founded on my respect for art and belief that art should be treated as more than just a product. Characters are not just “things”, they are also concepts and ideas. In ff7 Tifa represents to me the struggle of humanity for actualisation of oneself through self expression. The ability of people to “create” themselves with effort and also a beautiful dream that however far you have gone from yourself someone will care for you and welcome you back. And while Tifa is fictional all these concepts are completely real for humans. Treating her character simply as an object for acquiring pleasure destroys those meanings and instead turns them into “it doesn’t matter how kind you are or how hard you work, you are nothing and if and when it would be profitable for society to exploit you, it will without hesitation”.
However, if those were the only reasons I would have probably just sulked depressively in my own dark corner instead of writing so many words about something that in the world threatened by an imminent climate catastrophe is such a non issue in the grand scheme of things. You see, I have just asked myself a question. What would have changed if in the place of Tifa was a real person? If whoever was looking for the video didn’t just typed “hot anime chick sex” in google, but streamed a video, objectifying a real person. And i personally couldn’t imagine meaningful difference. Any porn during a government meeting is obviously something that is easily drawing attention. Something that a lot of people would have an incentive to report on and then to spread and exploit and monetise again and again as the social media algorithms favour the popular topic. At what point would real people be treated differently? Who would stop and think: “wow, I better shut up, I don’t want to hurt their feelings”? The very fact that the video exists would be considered proof that yet again this person “did it themselves”. The problem isn’t just that some people are bad and they want to exploit others, the system that is already in place gives everyone the opportunity and incentive to do so. And in the rules of this system there aren’t really “people”, only products waiting to be consumed when their price is the highest. They just sometimes delude themselves that they are the consumers. That “authentic desire” I came up with earlier simply does not exist here, same as anger and sadness and happiness, all emotions are just a performance. Even though I heard the “on social media you are the product” before it is the first time it became so crystal clear to me. And this thought was really depressing and scary actually. I don’t want to live in such a world, it would not be worth saving. I want our world to be different.
Fandom stuff
So how the fandom does or should deal with all this? I am going to make a rather harsh point here: it’s far past the time the Tifa and CT fandom pulled its head out of the sand and started discussing objectification as a real problem it actually is instead of spinning it as some nebulous “win for CT” or ignoring an issue altogether by either putting the blame on “the CA cult” or brushing it aside as “the other girls are objectified too”.
And on some level I understand why such reactions persist. In the cyberpunk fantasy world of ff7 Tifa is the most realistic character. Maybe even too realistic for her own good. She has no special powers, she made herself with effort and most importantly her struggles and the way she goes through them are realistic as well: insecurity, poverty, loneliness and yes, objectification too. All the things real women have to deal with. It creates a special bond between Tifa and the fans. Tifa is strong, Tifa works hard, Tifa is always kind and forgiving and in the end in a fantasy world she is rewarded with kindness in return, in her story she overcomes objectification with grace. A good example of this was in ToTP, where while at first people in the slums didn’t care about her and viewed her as nothing but a pretty face, but then in time they accepted her to the point when one of them even attacked the Shinra guard to protect her.
And I understand the desire to preserve this fantasy. After all, there are always those ready to remind us, that objectification makes Tifa lesser, that it degrades her. And here is where they are wrong. “Presenting” someone as a sexual object or “viewing” them as such doesn’t actually make them one. Just like in real life where objectified and abused people don’t become objects, they are still people, moreover, they are victims and they need protection. Which the society is incapable of providing until it admits to itself that there is a problem and it needs fixing.
The same happens in fiction: it doesn’t matter how much porn people draw of Tifa, she is still an amazingly written character with deep characterisation and a fulfilling arc. Her treatment in the fandom is problematic and I think we should discuss it, but neither in fiction nor in real life we should ever allow others to define anyone completely. After all the only way one can really go hollow is to give up on oneself and that isn’t what Tifa would ever do.
If we choose to ignore the problem however, all we are doing is just participating in her objectification ourselves. You need not look for example any further than the responses to this very issue. People were joking about how Tifa is now a pornstar and she and Cloud are going to make such videos and never work again. This is directly opposed by ToTP in which Tifa rejected proposals to do sex work 3 times. She was living in near slave conditions, she struggled to get money, she herself admits that the money was all she was thinking about. And everybody said that if she just went to WallMarket she would be making so much more. But she still refused.
And this is a part of her character, that is being erased by those jokes. It went against the joke and so had to be discarded and as a result she is objectified. I bet the people making those jokes didn’t intend for this outcome and yet it happened. It is indeed a quiet thing to fall. In my very humble but of course completely correct opinion, this fandom needs a huge dose of self reflection. What are we doing? What is the result of those actions? If we profess that we love Tifa while continuing to exploit her then how exactly are we different from Rakesh who we all hate oh so much?
Another point I have to stress is that we shouldn’t try to hide objectification of Tifa behind CT. Like since the creator used Cloud’s asset in the video it is somehow CT. No, it isn’t, the framing tells us so. It seems that CT became such a consistent fantasy for some people that everything with a possible glimpse of it instantly becomes good and so they impose the CT from their heads onto whatever thing they are trying to excuse. Cloud and Tifa have a beautiful and deep emotional bond, yes, but there was nothing from it in that video.
Now you have probably noticed that I suggest to “talk about objectification” and “do self reflection”, but not “stop watching porn”. Well, for one latter is completely useless, even though it actually does not need to be as CT fandom has a lot of erotica fanworks where while sex is present, characters are still human. But that is beside the point. As you can also see objectification is bigger than just porn. The very society we live in pushes us to discard our “authentic selves”, however we define such concept and pretend to be someone or something more convenient instead.
The only way I see to combat this on a personal level is to be more conscious of such things, not run away from them, but meet them head on, acknowledge them and grow past them. After all, isn’t it time for the fandom claiming to understand and love the story of ff7 to stop pretending that objectification does not exist or that it is somehow “empowering” and start actually living its life without pretending?
P.S. Phew, I really feel so much lighter now. Like I have lost some weight. Separating oneself from negative emotions by writing them down actually works. Maybe I should have tried to keep a diary or something like that.
P.P.S. Throughout most of the compilation the objectification of Tifa was nearly non existent and predominately came from the fandom itself. However recent events presented such an obvious example of how good sex still sells that even the whole brilliance of Tifa’s character could not outbid it. My fear for the next parts is that it is going to affect Tifa’s character there, maybe not in concept, as her arc is important to the story, but in small things. Like the developers considered to add in the worst anime fashion the scene where Cloud walks on Tifa changing clothes or some things like that. Still I hope that wouldn’t happen, but instead Nojima will continue write Tifa beautifully, while acknowledging her sexuality, still focusing on her emotions from her own perspective.
