Free Report Example on Objectification

Introduction

The females have to go through an experience within their culture that usually objectifies their bodies based on the sexual perspective. It normally perceives both girls and women as beings that have been socialized to internalize the observer's perspective, hence the physical selves being their key primary view. That is generally referred to as self-objectification, which leads both girls and women to focus more on physical appearances. Self-objectification eventually affects their behaviors, including increased anxiety and reducing the possibility of realizing the states of their internal bodily. Therefore, it is important to offer a clear analysis of the meaning of objectification and how it occurs.

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Meaning of Objectification

Objectification is understood as the treatment of an individual as either an object or thing. It is perceived as a form of disavowing the humanity of another individual. It mainly focuses on the person's sense of self, which is the social construction of an individual hence reflecting how others may perceive them. That is used as a key precursor of objectification, which perceives the physical body as one of the most significant components used in understanding the self-concept (Poon et al., 2020). Objectification of the women is mostly focused on physical attractiveness, while on the men is based on physical effectiveness.

Objectification focuses more on the sexualization of the female body being perceived as the cultural milieu that the girls emphasize. That contributes to how the girls are raised, treating themselves as objects that everyone needs to be looking at and even being evaluated based on their appearance. It results in external pressure, which eventually encourages the female to preoccupy most of their time focusing on their physical appearances. For example, heavier girls have a lesser likelihood of being accepted in colleges than their thin counterparts (Holland et al., 2017). The physical attractiveness of women plays a great role in their popularity compared to men.

How Objectification Occurs

Objectification mainly occurs when people put more consideration towards the sacred qualities of the mundane items. One of the most significant ways through which objectification occurs is through contamination. That is the process through which the individuals that have already been objectified become sacred in their way. An example of such an event is when people desire to touch an object that had initially been touched by a famous personality. Additionally, objectification can occur through the transformation of profane items to becoming sacred.

Conclusion

Objectification can be understood as either a trait or a state. That is therefore, it is important to explain its meaning and how it occurs. Due to the concept of objectification, the females spend more of their time focusing on their physical attractiveness. In contrast, men focus on their physical effectiveness. That makes it important to understand how objectification occurs, and one of such significant processes is through contamination.

References

Holland, E., Koval, P., Stratemeyer, M., Thomson, F., & Haslam, N. (2017). Sexual objectification in women's daily lives: A smartphone ecological momentary assessment study. British Journal of Social Psychology, 56(2), 314-333. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/bjso.12152

Poon, K. T., Chen, Z., Teng, F., & Wong, W. Y. (2020). The effect of objectification on aggression. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 87, 103940.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022103119303816.