Objectification (v): the action of degrading someone to the status of a mere object.
Sexual objectification is treating someone as if they are merely an object, not a person. The phrase “a means to an end” is often used when describing a woman as a sexual tool, often for a man.
Sexual objectification occurs when people perceive others as sex objects, rather than complex human beings deserving of dignity and respect. In fact, in a review of research on sexual violence, two leading experts called sexual objectification the “common thread” that connects different forms of sexual violence.
Examples of everyday sexual objectification toward women include being reduced to a body and not viewed as a whole person—some tangible actions of this are being catcalled, stared at, harassed, or touched without consent.
Women from all nationalities and backgrounds have stories very similar to Tracy Clayton, a writer and podcaster, whose first experience with being viewed as just a body was when she was in her mid-teens:
“I was walking down the street on my way home when a man came up behind me. He told me I was pretty and asked how old I was, what grade I was in. I told him; I didn’t feel unsafe because I was with friends. He floated me a couple of other innocuous compliments…. Then he said, as he walked behind me, ‘and I know that p— is good, too.’
I had been catcalled before, but that was the first time a man made me so aware of my body and all of its parts, made me feel ashamed for having them, made me want to just disappear into thin air. In that moment, I didn’t feel like a person; just flesh with no face, no name. I also somehow knew that it wouldn’t be the last time I would be made to feel that way.”
Mediums that often sexually objectify women are pop culture, and pornography. So what about men? Can they be objectified, too, especially by porn?
It’s no secret that porn objectifies women. But just because porn two-dimensionalizes women into sexual objects doesn’t mean it avoids doing so to cisgender men.
Note that while this article discusses the objectification of men and women, it has been shown that porn dehumanizes people of any sex or gender.
What’s the deal with objectification?
Consider how porn is produced with entertainment in mind, not education. It isn’t produced with the intention to accurately or safely portray healthy sexuality, either. But these powerful images can clearly affect consumers.
The long-term studies paint a very different picture than what you might hear in our porn-obsessed culture. The preponderance of evidence from a dozen or more in-depth, longer-term studies consistently shows porn consumption lowers relationship satisfaction, emotional closeness, and sexual satisfaction.Wilson, G. (2013). Studies Linking Porn Use Or Porn/Sex Addiction To Sexual Dysfunctions, Lower Arousal, And Lower Sexual & Relationship Satisfaction; Retrieved From https://www.yourbrainonporn.com/studies-reported-relationships-between-porn-use-or-porn-addictionsex-addiction-and-sexualCopy
But let’s rewind back to the objectification issue of porn. Yes, porn has all of these other documented harmful effects, but the objectification of people in porn is particularly dehumanizing.
Let’s look at the research.
Not long ago, Princeton and Stanford psychologists performed a study showing a group of men two sets of pictures, some of fully-clothed women and others of women who had been sexualized and were barely clothed.Cikara, M., Eberhardt, J. L., & Fiske, S. T. (2011). From agents to objects: sexist attitudes and neural responses to sexualized targets. Journal of cognitive neuroscience, 23(3), 540–551. https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn.2010.21497Copy
The psychologists monitored their medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), which is the part of the brain involved in recognizing human faces and distinguishing one person from another. For the most part, the mPFC part of the brain was activated with each picture. However, when the subjects of the study were shown the pictures of sexualized women, this part of the brain was not activated. Basically, the automatic reaction in their brains suggested that they didn’t perceive the sexualized women as fully human, rather they saw them as objects, focusing on their bodies and body parts.
The researchers concluded, “Sexualized women were perceived as having the least control over their own lives” and “this suggests that sexualized women are more closely associated with being the objects, not the agents, of action as compared to clothed women.”Cikara, M., Eberhardt, J. L., & Fiske, S. T. (2011). From agents to objects: sexist attitudes and neural responses to sexualized targets. Journal of cognitive neuroscience, 23(3), 540–551. https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn.2010.21497Copy
Pornography promotes what is often referred to as the “objectifying gaze.” As researchers Tracy Tylka and Ashley Kroon Van Diest note, “women in pornography are presented as the object of this sexual gaze, and they are defined according to how they will bring pleasure to the observer.”Tylka, T. L., & Van Diest, A. M. K. (2015). You looking at her “hot” body may not be “cool” for me: Integrating male partners’ pornography use into objectification theory for women. Psychology of Women Quarterly,39, 67–84. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0361684314521784Copy
The people in pornography are often explicitly presented as objects, and porn videos are listed and labeled with the specific acts they perform or physical attributes they possess so the observer can “order” porn that fits their exact expectations. With so many people consuming pornography, is it any wonder that many are developing attitudes of sexual entitlement and objectification? Reducing people to physical terms and self-serving labels is the exact type of sexual objectification that sets the stage for sexual violence.Gervais, S. J., & Eagan, S. (2017). Sexual objectification: The common thread connecting myriad forms of sexual violence against women. The American journal of orthopsychiatry, 87(3), 226–232. https://doi.org/10.1037/ort0000257Copy
But does porn reduce men to objects like it does women? Is it possible and is there research to support that? As it turns out, the answer is yes.
Researchers from the University of Amsterdam wanted to better understand and explore the actual content on porn sites. Their study analyzed three dimensions of gender inequality in porn, one of those being objectification.Marleen J. E. Klaassen & Jochen Peter (2015) Gender (In)equality in Internet Pornography: A Content Analysis of Popular Pornographic Internet Videos, The Journal of Sex Research, 52:7, 721-735, DOI: 10.1080/00224499.2014.976781Copy
There’s no shortcut to discovering what the content contains without watching it. After examining 400 popular porn videos, the study concluded that porn does, in fact, objectify men, just in a different way than women.Marleen J. E. Klaassen & Jochen Peter (2015) Gender (In)equality in Internet Pornography: A Content Analysis of Popular Pornographic Internet Videos, The Journal of Sex Research, 52:7, 721-735, DOI: 10.1080/00224499.2014.976781Copy
How are men objectified in porn?
In the study from the University of Amsterdam, the conclusion was that women were more often seen as instruments of men’s sexual pleasure in porn, and evidence of this is the number of close-up body shots of women, but that “men were more frequently dehumanized” because their faces were rarely shown.
The truth is, a lot of porn videos are made for the male experience or even filmed from their perspective. When the male character’s face is left out, the focus is clearly elsewhere—like on their genitals.
In a YouTube satire series made by a major porn site called “PornSoup,” a female actress jokes about trying to cast a cisgender male porn performer. When describing the male performers she says, “Your entire psyche sort of rests on whether you can get your d— hard, whether you have a bigger d— than everyone else.”
The series is meant to be comical—making light of typical situations that occur during porn production—but it rings true to the research. According to porn, a man’s value is based on the size and stamina of his genitalia, and that’s pretty much it. The focus is below the belt, not on him as a whole person.
The pressure to literally be “larger than life” and long-lasting leads to popping Viagra and other medications that put the performer’s health at risk.
One former performer Chris Zeischegg opened up about his experiences in the porn industry, which included being treated “numerous times for painful, prolonged erections.” He was warned by doctors about possible long-term damage from his drug habits, which led him to re-think his career in such a brutal industry.
“Stunt cocks” are another alternative to covering up a supposed male shortcoming, when a performer can’t perform or isn’t “big” enough for the role. These refer to either a fake prosthetic penis or another man’s real phallus used as a substitute when filming, with creative editing required in post-production.
In a similar way, digital photography techniques are used to alter the appearance of the female body to an unattainable level, and these tactics for men continue to portray an exaggerated fantasy.
Why this matters
Just as women deserve respect and to be humanized, so do men. We cannot confuse porn predominantly aimed at men as portraying them accurately. The reality is, it mischaracterizes people of all genders.
The people in pornography are often explicitly presented as objects, and porn videos are listed and labeled with the specific acts they perform or physical attributes they possess so the observer can “order” porn that fits their exact expectations. With so many people consuming pornography, is it any wonder that many are developing attitudes of sexual entitlement and objectification? Reducing people to physical terms and self-serving labels is the exact type of sexual objectification that sets the stage for sexual violence.Gervais, S. J., & Eagan, S. (2017). Sexual objectification: The common thread connecting myriad forms of sexual violence against women. The American journal of orthopsychiatry, 87(3), 226–232. https://doi.org/10.1037/ort0000257Copy
Men and women are not and should not be viewed or treated as objects. Objectification breeds a type of extreme pressure on both sexes to live up to an unrealistic standard, and can pave the way for sexual violence. It can lead to feelings of inadequacy, anxiety, and depression—not only to performers but also to consumers.
People are not products. This is why we prefer to choose love and build real relationships beyond a computer screen.
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