Objectification October 3, 2008
Posted by sarahcl in Radical Feminism, objectification/commodification, quote of the day.Tags: objectification, Radical Feminism
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[W]e need to ask what is involved in the idea of treating as an object. I suggest that at least the following seven notions are involved in that idea:
1. Instrumentality: The objectifier treats the object as a tool of his or her own purposes.
2. Denial of autonomy: The objectifier treats the object as lacking in autonomy and self-determination.
3. Inertness: The objectifier treats the object as lacking in agency, and perhaps also in activity.
4. Fungibility: The objectifier treats the object as interchangeable (a) with other objects of the same type, and/or (b) with objects of other types.
5. Violability: The objectifier treats the object as lacking in boundary-integrity, as something that it is permissible to break up, smash, break into.
6. Ownership: The objectifier treats the object as something that is owned by another, can be bought or sold, etc.
7. Denial of subjectivity: The objectifier treats the object as something whose experience and feelings (if any) need not be taken into account.
Objectification
Martha C. Nussbaum
Philosophy and Public Affairs, Vol. 24, No. 4. (Autumn, 1995), pp. 249-291.
