I have been thinking about something that really has been scratching my brain lately.
I think people really misunderstand what the objectification of women can be. They reduce it to only seeing women as pieces of meat. Which is a kind of objectification, but it is not the only one. Get it?
Every single woman in this world is much more than an only sexual being, they are a human being too, and reducing a woman entirely to her sexuality while ignoring everything else that makes her who she is, is objectification. But there is something a lot of people fail to acknowledge: there *are* women who are sexual, who embrace their sexuality, and who value sexual freedom.
Most of the people think that seeing women as “meat” is the only form of objectification, but men who say things like “when I love a woman, I can’t see her that way, i see her as pure” are also objectifying women, reducing them into objects of chastity.
Men are seen as complete human beings. They are intellect, they are strength, and they are also sexual. But when a woman is sexual, she is labeled as vulgar, as someone who doesn’t respect herself, as if she’s objectifying herself.
Sexual desire and sensuality are natural parts of being human, and if you can only respect a woman when she denies that of herself, then you never respected a woman in your whole life, to begin with.
Objectification is not only about reducing women to sex, but also about reducing them to purity, to something untouchable, to someone who would never engage with sexuality. Placing value on a woman’s “purity” based on whether she has had sex or not is also a form of objectification, even if many people don’t recognize it because it’s so deeply internalized.
If a man can be intellect, strength, and sexuality all at once, why can’t a woman be the same? Why does she have to deny her sexual side in order to be respected, instead of being seen as a complete human being?
A clear example of this is Sabrina Carpenter; she is often labeled as vulgar simply for expressing her sexuality. Even if it is an artistic choice or simply the way she expresses herself trough her music, whose talk a lot about sexuality.
The gyaru movement also emphasizes this, as it represents women who seek sexual freedom in the same way men have always had it. When a man is seen kissing many women or having multiple sxual partners, people see it as natural desire (because it is). But when a woman does the same, or even just wears revealing clothes or makes a sexual comment, she is labeled as vulgar and shamed for it.
