Dehumanizing Objectification, Are we encouraging it?

Objectification is the act of treating a person merely as an instrument of desire. (people are treated like objects, disregarding their needs, feelings)

Objectification theory (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997) postulates that many
women are sexually objectified and treated as an object to be valued for its use by others.

It broadly means treating a person as a commodity or an object, without regard to their personality or dignity leading to dehumanization. It occurs when a human’s body parts are singled out or the models are subjected to violence. Objectification is most commonly examined at the level of a society, but can also refer to the behavior of individuals. (Gandikota, 2016)

Among Psychological Consequences of Objectification on women are:

• Appearance
• Anxiety
• Reduced Flow
• Diminished Internal Awareness
• Body Shame
• Anxiety about Physical Safety

It also results to Mental health risks like

• Disordered Eating
• Depression
• Sexual Dysfunction

Exposure to Sexually Objectifying Media

Sex sells and this is true in marketing. In fact there are some prominent brands that actively use objectification to promotion like American Apprael, Go Daddy , Skyy vodka , Dolce & Gabbana , Tom Ford , Mercedes Benz , Kraft , Renault, and Reebok

Marketing Strategy of a Japanese PR Firm

A Japanese marketing firm is using girls to promote companies by wearing sticker advert on their thighs.

They can be paid up to $121 to wear a sticker on a leg for one day, and must photograph themselves in at least two locations, with the advert clearly visible, and then upload the pics to the internet. Could this be a grave abuse of women''s rights? Or perhaps it’s young women turning the tables on the advertising industry and using sovereignty over their own bodies to control the message, and get paid for it.

Author and journalist Caitlin Moran’s basic girl-power test could be applied to validate if indeed there was an abuse with this practice.

• Are the guys doing it? In this case, no, so it doesn’t yet win any prizes for feminism, although the girls involved probably can’t see the harm in it, and it does put a bit of extra money in their pockets. (Brand,2013)

We also had various intances where the platform steemit was put to a bad light for posts bordering objectifying women.

The following are just a few of these:

https://steemit.com/sex/@sean-king/sexual-click-bait
https://steemit.com/sex/@sean-king/more-thoughts-on-women-oppression-and-porn

Do we want to be a part of this?

Sources:
http://www.slideshare.net/AmritaGandikota/objectification-marketing-strategy
http://www.businessinsider.com.au/this-japanese-agency-is-paying-girls-to-put-ads-on-their-thighs-2013-1