General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: LUV capitalism!!! Study shows hyper-sexualization of women by the media has increased 10 fold... [View all]lapislzi
(5,762 posts)It's more about patriarchy than capitalism. Feudal society was patriarchical and treated women as chattel. True, as it was in many other pre-capitalist societies. Women as property is ancient. I should have been more clear.
It's capitalism that accelerated the objectification and fetishization of woman, as it did with so many other "objects." That, and the subsequent conflation of objectification and sexualization--woman as object for delectation of the male.
There was a paradigm shift around the time capitalism began to take hold in the west wherein women's roles shifted from strictly being brood mares to being sexual objects. This was a top-down phenomenon, beginning with the moneyed classes, filtering down to where you find it in every strata of western society today.
As well as art history, my background is in theoretical Marxism. So I apologize for my philosophical bias.