In February we gathered at the WeAre Clinic in Brainerd and hosted a conversation about objectification of women and women's bodies. Our Strong Women focus groups are led by facilitator Laura Connelly and supported by the MN Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
Focus Group Topic, Exploring Objectification: Any Objections to Being Objectified?
Objectification is the process of treating a person as a thing, an object. When one group of people is oppressed in society, part of what keeps oppression in place is the ability of the people in power to make the people they have power over into objects. The way that the oppression of women is different from any other form of oppression is the sexual objectification of women. Rather than ignore the fact that we, as women, have been harmed by objectification, we have to figure out what we can do to change the very structures and systems that give rise to our oppression. Typically, when women challenge the notion that we aren’t objects, rather than being heard, and valued, we are often told something is wrong with us and then given anti-depressant, anti-anxiety pills, recommendations for diets and exercise routines, and given a whole slew of self-help books. Why is that? Who decided this? What is the cost of this to women? To society? What would have to change in our lives to allow us to be more fully who we are, to be more fully human?
Focus Group Summary:
The conversation touched on multiple layers of how the objectification of women is impacting us and also the fact that while physical objectification of women is the most common thing people think of when asked about objectification there is also emotional and mental objectification of women – women are commonly portrayed as irrational, untrustworthy, immature, and stupid...
Here are some of the things we heard:
“Women’s bodies, and how they look is a currency. You can trade it for power.”
“Harvey Weinstein didn’t even know what he was doing was wrong, or see it as a misuse of power, because he thought since he was giving the women something in return for objectifying and sexually assaulting them that it was an equal transaction.”
“There is always the issue of consent when it comes to what happens with women’s bodies. People who have power over us don’t think they need our consent to do things to us.”
“Right after the Weinstein stuff blew up, I was sitting talking with friends and family and people were saying things like, ‘well that stuff is just part of life and that is just what women have to deal with.’ Or, “it’s not that bad for women any more, we just know that there is a degree of this stuff that we have to deal with and not cause any waves.”
“The way women have to carry this around all the time, made to feel responsible for the horrible ways we are treated, the weight of it, is literally weighing us down, keeping us down.”
“When we talk about our experiences, how objectification is negatively impacting us as women, people act like that is just our perception which completely diminishes the fact that it is happening and is extremely hurtful to us.”
“Women are always blamed for the abuse, and harassment they experience – like what did you say or do to provoke it, what did you wear, why didn’t you say something, did you make it clear you didn’t like it…”
“My daughter got dress coded – which is where she gets reprimanded for wearing too short of a skirt and was told it was because it was distracting to the boys.”
“As a woman, you can’t win. There is constant pressure to change who we are no matter what, too skinny, too fat, too quiet, too loud, too opinionated, too smart, not smart enough. There is a huge cost to us because of this.”
