Sexualization Is Not Objectification

There is an issue regarding which, unfortunately, some otherwise rational Christian egalitarians occasionally lapse into stupidity.  I periodically see some have clarity in this particular area muddled because of the asinine statements they might hear from Christians.  In an effort to rightly oppose sexual objectification, some egalitarians might condemn, or react with negative emotions towards, nonsexual or sexual images or activities that they judge to be "objectifying."  But in order to know that objectification is present, one must know what the word actually means.  I will demonstrate that sexualization is distinct from objectification.  When people confuse the two as identical or think that one by necessity leads to the other, they have an incorrect understanding of both.

Sexualization only means to add a sexual dimension to something or view it sexually, but objectification is to mentally reduce a person down to just a single aspect of his or her personhood.  This difference is extremely clear to rational minds (and, additionally, the perception of something as sexual has nothing to do with whether it is sexual).  A person can intentionally sexualize a conversation or a display of the human body (nothing about this is Biblically immoral), but no person can actually make aspects of his or her personhood disappear by emphasizing one of them, and no person can make others objectify him or her, sexually or otherwise [1].  It takes only moments of reflection to prove these things to oneself.

People are free to sexualize their own activities and emphasize their own sexuality.  Onlookers are free to internally appreciate activities or bodies in a sexual way.  As long as no one mistakes nonsexual activities or the human body as being inherently sexual, no one has committed any logical errors.  As long as no one objectifies, covets, or wants to commit a defined sexual sin, no one has engaged in moral evil on a mental level.  And as long as no one is reduced down to just their sexuality in the mind of another person, no one has actually been objectified--and no one is responsible when another person objectifies them.  Only an objectifier holds responsible for objectification.


[1].  https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2017/09/the-cause-of-sexual-objectification.html