General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Objectification will always be around, advertising depends on it [View all]rrneck
(17,671 posts)The title of the Fragonard is The Happy Accidents of the Swing. The painting is documentation of a woman being objectified, and apparently not minding it. And if you had actually looked at the painting, she is being propelled in the swing by another man, which is to say the objectificaiton is a collaborative effort by two men. Is that gang objectification? Well, I guess you could argue that an image of a man leering up a woman's dress isn't real objectification, but then again both the men and the woman are not real, but simulacra of men and woman. Is it possible to objectify a simulacrum? You could even call it an eighteenth century creepshot.
Read some art history. And maybe a few french philosophers if you want to indulge in pomo pontification.
And by the way, slave holders most certainly objectified actual people, not images of them.