CRITCAL TECHNO

The Designers Smashing Period Taboos Once and For All

7 surprising and outrageous stats about gender inequality

Continuing, Irigaray analyzes the position of women in male-dominated societies through a Marxist lens, writing that the system of organizing society by (fathers’) proper names is a basic form of the subordination of “nature” to “labor” and translation of “nature” into use value and exchange value that Marx believed characterized capitalism (800-1). In this system, men exploit the women without providing compensation, because such compensation would “shatter” the male monopoly over the proper name and the power it symbolizes (801). In Marx’s words, men are therefore “producer-subjects” who determine the value of women and exchange them, and women are “commodity-objects” relegated to a passive role in the exchange process (801). Additionally, since capitalist “wealth” favors accumulation of objects over their intrinsic usefulness, a woman’s value is determined by something extrinsic to herself—an exchange value in “gold or phalluses” applied to her because she is “a product of man’s ‘labor’” (801-2). “[W]omen are thus two things at once: utilitarian objects and bearers of value,” split into a “matter-body” and an intangible “envelope” of “value” (802). Because the “value” of a woman has nothing to do with anything intrinsic to herself, she becomes “a mirror of value of and for man,” alienated from her own body, and becomes “the material alibi” used to facilitate relations between men. Without at least two men to “invest (in) her,” a woman can have no value. In short, women are fetish-objects (802-6).

By Kendall Goodwin, October 12th 2012

We as a culture are in need of a serious re-education on the subject of holistic gender equality and the gravity of catcalling, but that re-education may be a long time coming so here is the Cliff Notes version: Catcalls are not compliments. Catcalls are offensive, and, frankly, obnoxious. Men, women do not appreciate or enjoy being catcalled, and catcalling will do nothing to endear you to the woman you fancy. If your intent is to compliment, there are plenty of ways to do so that aren’t offensive and don’t incorporate a whoop or a whistle… be creative. And most importantly, when in doubt, keep it to yourself.

Hyper-sexualisation: the realities of my black, female body

Objectification Theory: Toward Understanding Women's Lived Experiences and Mental Health Risks

Sexual Objectification of Women: Advances to Theory and Research
Dawn M. Szymanski,1 Lauren B. Moffitt,1 and Erika R. Carr1

Body Objectification, Self-Esteem, and Relationship Satisfaction: A Comparison of Exotic Dancers and College Women

Previous research finds that both men and women perceive sexualized women as lacking in certain human qualities such as mental capacity and moral status.

We find that women perceived as more open to casual sex are attributed less mental capacity and less moral status. We also find that participants tend to associate attractiveness with greater mental and moral status in women, but we find only limited evidence that perceived age influences objectification.

Recent evidence shows that the learned automatic response to objectify women has become culturally ingrained to such a great extent that choosing not to objectify women depletes self-regulatory resources and decreases performance in cognitive tasks.
(Perpetuation of sexual objectification: The role of resource depletion.
Tyler JM, Calogero RM, Adams KE
Br J Soc Psychol. 2017 Jun; 56(2):334-353.)

Objectification becomes especially harmful if women internalize these judgements and self-objectify, or consider themselves first as bodies over other personal characteristics
(1. Fredrickson BL, Roberts T-A. Objectification Theory: Toward Understanding Women’s Lived Experiences and Mental Health Risks. Psychology of Women Quarterly 1997; 21(2):173–206. 10.1111/j.1471-6402.1997.tb00108.x)

Women who are objectified are viewed as less than fully human, perceived to have less of a mind for thoughts or decisions and viewed as less deserving of moral treatment by others [8]. This denial of mental capacity and moral status has been found to have negative repercussions for objectified women, including increasing men’s willingness to commit sexually aggressive actions towards them [9], and decreasing perceived suffering in cases of sexual assault [10–12].
8. Heflick NA, Goldenberg JL, Cooper DP, Puvia E. From women to objects: Appearance focus, target gender, and perceptions of warmth, morality and competence. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 2011; 47(3):572–81. 10.1016/j.jesp.2010.12.020
9.Perceptions of low agency and high sexual openness mediate the relationship between sexualization and sexual aggression.
Blake KR, Bastian B, Denson TF
Aggress Behav. 2016 Sep; 42(5):483-97.
10. Loughnan S, Haslam N, Murnane T, Vaes J, Reynolds C, Suitner C. Objectification leads to depersonalization: The denial of mind and moral concern to objectified others. Eur. J. Soc. Psychol. 2010; 40:709–717. 10.1002/ejsp.755v
11.Reduced empathic responses for sexually objectified women: An fMRI investigation.
Cogoni C, Carnaghi A, Silani G
Cortex. 2018 Feb; 99():258-272.

Men who endorse social hierarchies are more likely to objectify women when their own power is threatened, according to new research published in the journal Psychology of Women Quarterly.

A third experiment with another 138 heterosexual men found that the tendency to objectify women occurred when men were subordinated to a female boss, but not a male boss.

We should think critically about how we look at women and also how we use them to relax, relieve stress, and entertain ourselves as if they are commodities. Women have more to offer, despite what we have been trained to think and the constant messages we receive from pop culture and other social cues. Whether in the music and entertainment industry, corporate America, communities of faith, or on the street corner, women are treated by men as objects or mere body parts. This has become widely accepted and embraced by mainstream society. For instance, magazines, music videos, advertisements, and commercials exploit women and their bodies. Those images we see on a daily basis condition us to see body parts instead of human beings with opinions, emotions, thoughts, and ideas. Also, take a look at fashion trends for women. Mini-skirts, low-rise jeans, thongs (that show), push-up bras, halter tops, tight-fitting clothing, etc. are all meant to bring more attention to women’s body parts. Ironically, you can often find replicas in children’s clothing stores as well. In some of these stores you can purchase pants for a two-year-old girl with sayings like “cutie pie” or “honey” embroidered across the buttocks. Here we have clothing, supposedly suitable for an adult woman, made for a child. This goes to show how early body parts become the focal point on the body of a female. Also, keep in mind that the driving force behind many of these companies is a man, most likely a well-meaning man.