Hey women

[Deep13]

409. I had never heard that before.

Objectification is not merely being attractive or whatever. The way I see it, objectification involves two related conditions. The first is the lack of subjectivity, that is to say personal agency to act in one's own interests. The second, in the context of gender and sexuality, is that one is acting for the gratification of someone else. Now granted, one may do that out of affection or generosity, but objectification seems to occur mostly in the commercial context. A fashion model for instance is paid a stipend to pose for a company she does not own for profits she will not share.

The point is that one cannot read modern, commercial values into a non-human society where such concepts are unknown. Bonobos are peculiar in that they are hypersexual by human standards and those of other apes. So, what they do is not really an explanation for what we do. As far as justification goes, science explains, it is not concerned with justifications. But we are apes and our instincts and behavior closely parallel other apes. The only real difference seems to be that we naturalize artificial social norms as children while that sort of thing is just innate with chimps, gorillas, and bonobos.

Capitalism has objectified all of us. We all seem to work at our own expense for the profits of a very small fraction of society. Since most people have normalized this reality, it is hard for them to see objectification in the context of gender and sexuality. Hey, she's selling her time and use of her body and when I clock in at work I do the same thing! Yeah, you are both being hosed.