Feminism is tricky. Sometimes I want to remind women (and myself) that it’s really hard to turn an idea on its head. Or, as Audre Lorde once put it in her essay, ‘The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House.’ Stop Objectification is a new website that asks women to send in a picture of a body part and then explain why they are more than that particular body part. I’ve already talked about how I think reclaiming the femme body is difficult (or impossible, or even unimportant), but I also think it’s silly when campaigns that seek to empower women choose to focus on the body which is what I see happening here. Check out their video and join me inside for one more feminist quandary for us to tackle!
So here’s what I do like about the site. First of all, it should be acknowledged that any real attempt to challenge ideas of objectification is better than nothing; I’m glad one more person decided to do something with their ideas. This is important. But the idea is just as important and there’s something about the idea of this site that doesn’t sit well with me. Telling women to send in pics of their bodies and then write about how they are more than their body seems counterproductive. However, many women send in photos of their face, and those are on the site as well, which I can appreciate.
The best part of the site, IMO, can be found in the captions, which are superimposed over the body parts:
FITNESS, HEALTH AND WELLNESS IS MY POWER
FIGURE SKATING STARTING AT THE AGE OF 4 HAS GIVEN ME INDEPENDENCE
STARTED COLLEGE WHEN I WAS 16…PAID FOR IT ON MY OWN.
I STARTED A MUSIC BLOG TO PROMOTE MY FAVORITE ARTISTS
MY HAIRSTYLE GIVES ME FREEDOM FROM THE TRADITIONAL FEMININE STANDARDS.
ORGANIZATION IS MY SUPER POWER; AND WITH IT I FEEL EMPOWERED.
NEVER GAVE UP ON FINDING A JOB THAT ALLOWS ME TO BE CREATIVE EVERYDAY
These are great! And I understand that every website needs a visual, but I don’t see why each caption needed a woman’s body part attached to it. All this makes more sense if you go to the site, lol. But even in the video, you can see what they’re trying to do and I kind of hate it! It’s that thing where it’s embracing the idea of women and their bodies as sexual objects but then trying to show you how they’re more than their bodies or more than sexual objects. Sexualizing women to show that sexualizing is bad? I personally don’t think that ever works. She’s sexy… but she has a degree! What? Why can’t you just talk about the degree then?! When you focus on the body and then try to throw in the degree thing, you’re trying to use the master’s misogynistic tools to dismantle his misogynistic house; you can’t do that with complete success, in my opinion.
I like that this is a simple idea; it reminds me of the Who Needs Feminism campaign. But it’s still problematic to me, on a lot of levels.
What do you guys think? Is a website like this one empowering? Or does it embrace too many problematic ideas, even as it seems to fight against them?
The site asks women to send in pics of their “most powerful” body part, not their “sexiest” body part. I appreciate that. (However, some of the participants either missed that or are really taking “what straight men and/or the media find attractive is powerful” to heart. Though that can be an interesting statement.)
I do think the site seems a little bit confused. If we’re showing our most powerful body part, why are we also explaining why we’re “more than that”? I mean, it’s cool to recognize that we’re more than any body part — powerful or otherwise, but it just strikes me as an odd endeavor. Are we celebrating our powerful body part or diminishing its importance? Either one can be okay, but I think the website is either unclear on its mission, or has unclear wording!
The homepage says “most powerful” body part, but the submission page says “favorite” body part. So, yeah, mission confusion or unclear wording.
All that said, I totally agree with you that this is problematic: “She’s sexy… but she has a degree! What? Why can’t you just talk about the degree then?!”
It ends up seeming like a website devoted to the absurd and insidious notion that women have to be sexy no matter what. It’s our job. It’s cool also to have a PhD, but you must be sexy.
If they wanted to de-objectify women, they could (for example) show a single body part in a sexy way and then show the rest of that woman’s body (including her head). She should be in her natural state — not waxed, plucked, made up, hair done. And there should be text about her achievements, preferences, disappointments, etc. Show that the body part represents nothing compared to the whole person.
There’s been nothing like having a daughter to make me feel conflicted about feminism as it is today. On the one hand, I *want* feminism to be about choice, my choice, any woman’s choice. My own feminist mother thinks I am going backwards because I choose to stay home with my kid. And I never want to tell a woman how to dress, but then I want to hide young girls’ bodies under clothing that covers their bits because I want people to just see them as PEOPLE, and not judge them based on how appealing their bits are. I never want anyone to judge my beautiful, funny, adventurous daughter by how she dresses or wears her hair or how thin she is, or isn’t, or any of that. I don’t quite get that site, either. Why focus on the body parts? It seems confusing.
I do find this problematic. I’m guessing their intended audience is women. Unfortunately women and men objectify the female form in different ways. With women, we will see another woman’s great legs or beautiful hair, perfect boobs and we will either call that woman a bitch based solely on her appearance or we will compare ourselves to that woman and find ourselves lacking.
I get what that video is trying to do-I think-I’m just confused about their intended audience and I’m wondering if they even thought about it. What women is going to look at that video full of models and feel empowered? That video would just confuse men. How that’s supposed to stop men from objectifying women is beyond me. Yes there’s more to them, but we’d rather stare at their legs.
I don’t see “I’m a great mom.”
omg. I hadn’t even watched the video until I read your comment (I’d gone to the website instead). I think it’s AWFUL. It’s worse than the website. To me, the only point it makes to women and girls is that we have to be sexy in addition to everything else we might achieve. And since the video *is* objectifying women in addition to pointing out their achievements, I feel like its message to men and boys is that it’s *fine* to objectify women, no matter how accomplished they are. (“Leer at the female neuroscientist, the CEO, the author!”) As if that message needed to be broadcast any further.
I officially thing this whole thing is horrible!
Shannon, as much as I like your posts I think that many women use the word feminism loosely and don’t even know what it’s about. As a young man who belongs to more than one minority group I believe in equality. I’m fed up of feminists making fun of men. Why on hell a feminist site will show a short guy as the coffee guy for the tall power feminist??? Furthermore, why they are portraying that duty as something underneath the aforementioned woman???
The main principle behind feminism is the EQUALITY AMONG MEN AND WOMEN alike. It doesn’t mean superiority of women above all living beings on Earth. Regarding all the hot feminists presented in the video I say good for them. It’s brilliant when a woman can succeed while looking her best without using sex as the tool to succeed but her talents and brain instead. A woman doesn’t need to stop taking care of herself or dress manly to have success in a men world.
Agreed! Feminism shouldn’t be confused with reverse sexism.
Good point about the man in the video (I hadn’t even noticed he was short). I agree that they shouldn’t be portraying an assistant position as something laughable. It was probably to point out the general expectation that the man would be in the higher position and the woman his assistant, but still unnecessary.
However, to your last sentence — I think the issue for many women is the reverse: there is tremendous pressure on women to look attractive (in a specific sort of way) in order to be successful in a man’s world. The way women politicians’ appearance is scrutinized and critiqued is one example — the standards to which they are held compared with those to which male politicians are held.
This video…. I dunno. To me it says, “I’ve got tits! A tiny waist! Shapely legs! But guess what, I’m smart. Still, look at these tits! And legs! And did you check out my ass while I was dancing?!” All the women are tall and skinny as well… like they’re the only type of women that get objectified? I’m confused…
The site is targeted just to the super-smart, super-successful with a super-model body feminists LOL. But seriously the site is a waste of space using the wrong methods to attract public.
Campaigns like this (or, more accurately, mindsets like this) are the next wave of hurtle that women will overcome. The really insidious thing about ads like this is they promote the idea that it’s okay to objectify people, as long as you remind yourself after the fact that they have other qualities. It’s as if they think that being aware that you’re objectifying someone make the objectification okay.
The fact that women promote and participate in programs like this saddens me to no end. For people hoping that men will change their views on women, it’s disheartening to see that even women can’t get it together…