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9 Subtle Ways Women Are Taught To View Themselves As Objects

''You often hear the term "objectification" to describe media depictions of women, but it also comes from a less expected source: women themselves. Over the course of their lives, there are many subtle ways women are taught to view themselves as objects. This internalized objectification can lead to low self-respect, body image issues, and lack of awareness of one's own autonomy.

While it may seem like objectification is something entirely separate from, say, wage inequality, it's really at the heart of a lot of feminist issues. If you look at misogyny in all its myriad forms, it usually comes back to the idea that women are objects, not subjects. By "object," I mean something that exists to fulfill someone else's desires, and by "subject," I mean somebody who has their own desires. Someone can be both an object and a subject — for example, you can be an object of your partner's affections, and they can be an object of yours, while both of you also remain your own subjects — but "objectification" specifically means reducing someone to complete objecthood.

If you are socialized as a woman, it is very likely that you have learned to view yourself as an object. Here are some subtle means by which our society marginalizes women and denies them their subjectivity...''

by SUZANNAH WEISS