- Feb 12, 2012
- 6,720
- 27,507
- 161
Righteo. So I don't really "get" objectification.
From what I understand, it's a bit like this:
Some fellows are standing around a Home Depot, indicating that they work in construction and will help you with various projects. You say to your friend, "I wonder if one of those guys will help us build the fence? Because let's face it, we're both pretty stupid about fences," and your friend starts yelling at you, "How DARE YOU OBJECTIFY THAT MAN. He is not a LABORER, he is a HUMAN BEING with a SOUL and probably a family and he probably likes to walk his dogs to opera music," and you say, "how can you possibly know that?" and your friend says, "the point is, I'm disgusted you looked at a construction worker and thought he could help us build the fence. You completely objectified him." And you say, "Yes, but he is clearly a construction worker looking for work." And then you're not friends with that person anymore.
Apparently, "objectifying" someone is this huge big sin I never really knew was that big of a deal. It seems a bit like white guilt to me. If you walk in to a strip club and see an especially radical stripper doing amazing pole dance stuff, and you say, "wow, that woman sure is talented and therefore gets me hot in the pants," apparently that's objectification because all you're seeing is her performance on stage and not her inner goddess soul. But if you go to a PTA meeting, and your kid's teacher is especially well informed and seems great with the kids, and you say, "wow, she sure is a great teacher," nobody pisses on you even though you objectified her as much as the stripper. It seems to me that whenever people feel uncomfortable with something, any recognition of it is evil "objectification."
Here is my take on it:
When you freak out because someone is "objectified," it really means two things:
1. You don't really care about what that person wants for themselves. It is about you and your own feelings of guilt.
2. You instantly and equally objectify any person as being a poor lost soul who is used by cruel people that needs to be taken care of by you, because they are clearly not doing a good enough job.
When I was working at a crappy deli for $8 an hour for 8 or 12 hours at a time, nobody came up to me and said, "You're too smart for this. You need to stop objectifying yourself as a sandwich maker. You don't use your brain in this job, it's all about using your body for menial tasks. You need to finish college and do something that will fulfill you." Even though people were using me to clean dishes and make sandwiches all day, it was never an issue, because nobody is uncomfortable with a sandwich maker.
Now, with camming, when I make much more, use my brain 500% more, use life skills every day, have a better schedule, and am more empowered and in control of my life, people love nothing more than to say, "You're too smart for this. You need to stop objectifying yourself as an erotic worker. You don't use your brain in this job, it's all about using your body for sexual intent."
So let's say that you believe any number of jobs or occupations truly objectify the workers, and not just because you are uncomfortable with them. You really believe those people are being used as objects.
My response to that is... so? It is not your job to control other people's lives or pass judgement on what you think they should be doing. If you really do believe that everyone who works on Streamate is objectified or every dentist is just an object used for cleaning our teeth, it may be time to ask yourself what makes you better, smarter, and more qualified than those people to the extent where they need you (a stranger) to influence and control their lives for their own betterment.
Personally, I do not want every single person who comes in to my chatroom to want to know my innermost female emotions and experiences, so they can understand my mind and soul. It's called boundaries. And yet, some people still believe that if you don't talk to a sex worker and really get to know her, you're just using her - whether or not she wants that connection with you. Again, it's not about her, it's about you.
People "see" sex workers as objects every day, just as we see fry cooks just as people to make us food, IT workers as people there to fix our stuff, and bankers as people to hopefully not make our money disappear. I would argue that, with the exception of the genuinely sociopathic, very few people actually look at a person and say, "That person is no better than a microwave or DVD boxset of Friends. If I so decided on a whim, I would not think second about bashing in his head with a baseball bat in a reenactment of that scene from Office Space. After all, he is not a human being."
I feel when people cry objectification, it's a vague "maybe there's more to that person than what is indicated by their surface appearance, so you should probably interact with them as such" meaning to it. And yet people still treat it like it's the biggest evil the modern world has ever seen since organized religion.
From what I understand, it's a bit like this:
Some fellows are standing around a Home Depot, indicating that they work in construction and will help you with various projects. You say to your friend, "I wonder if one of those guys will help us build the fence? Because let's face it, we're both pretty stupid about fences," and your friend starts yelling at you, "How DARE YOU OBJECTIFY THAT MAN. He is not a LABORER, he is a HUMAN BEING with a SOUL and probably a family and he probably likes to walk his dogs to opera music," and you say, "how can you possibly know that?" and your friend says, "the point is, I'm disgusted you looked at a construction worker and thought he could help us build the fence. You completely objectified him." And you say, "Yes, but he is clearly a construction worker looking for work." And then you're not friends with that person anymore.
Apparently, "objectifying" someone is this huge big sin I never really knew was that big of a deal. It seems a bit like white guilt to me. If you walk in to a strip club and see an especially radical stripper doing amazing pole dance stuff, and you say, "wow, that woman sure is talented and therefore gets me hot in the pants," apparently that's objectification because all you're seeing is her performance on stage and not her inner goddess soul. But if you go to a PTA meeting, and your kid's teacher is especially well informed and seems great with the kids, and you say, "wow, she sure is a great teacher," nobody pisses on you even though you objectified her as much as the stripper. It seems to me that whenever people feel uncomfortable with something, any recognition of it is evil "objectification."
Here is my take on it:
When you freak out because someone is "objectified," it really means two things:
1. You don't really care about what that person wants for themselves. It is about you and your own feelings of guilt.
2. You instantly and equally objectify any person as being a poor lost soul who is used by cruel people that needs to be taken care of by you, because they are clearly not doing a good enough job.
When I was working at a crappy deli for $8 an hour for 8 or 12 hours at a time, nobody came up to me and said, "You're too smart for this. You need to stop objectifying yourself as a sandwich maker. You don't use your brain in this job, it's all about using your body for menial tasks. You need to finish college and do something that will fulfill you." Even though people were using me to clean dishes and make sandwiches all day, it was never an issue, because nobody is uncomfortable with a sandwich maker.
Now, with camming, when I make much more, use my brain 500% more, use life skills every day, have a better schedule, and am more empowered and in control of my life, people love nothing more than to say, "You're too smart for this. You need to stop objectifying yourself as an erotic worker. You don't use your brain in this job, it's all about using your body for sexual intent."
So let's say that you believe any number of jobs or occupations truly objectify the workers, and not just because you are uncomfortable with them. You really believe those people are being used as objects.
My response to that is... so? It is not your job to control other people's lives or pass judgement on what you think they should be doing. If you really do believe that everyone who works on Streamate is objectified or every dentist is just an object used for cleaning our teeth, it may be time to ask yourself what makes you better, smarter, and more qualified than those people to the extent where they need you (a stranger) to influence and control their lives for their own betterment.
Personally, I do not want every single person who comes in to my chatroom to want to know my innermost female emotions and experiences, so they can understand my mind and soul. It's called boundaries. And yet, some people still believe that if you don't talk to a sex worker and really get to know her, you're just using her - whether or not she wants that connection with you. Again, it's not about her, it's about you.
People "see" sex workers as objects every day, just as we see fry cooks just as people to make us food, IT workers as people there to fix our stuff, and bankers as people to hopefully not make our money disappear. I would argue that, with the exception of the genuinely sociopathic, very few people actually look at a person and say, "That person is no better than a microwave or DVD boxset of Friends. If I so decided on a whim, I would not think second about bashing in his head with a baseball bat in a reenactment of that scene from Office Space. After all, he is not a human being."
I feel when people cry objectification, it's a vague "maybe there's more to that person than what is indicated by their surface appearance, so you should probably interact with them as such" meaning to it. And yet people still treat it like it's the biggest evil the modern world has ever seen since organized religion.
First we'll have to get naked though. Trust me, it's the only way this will work.
