When A Man Loves A Woman['s looks and nothing else]

You know what I like? Hot guys. I like hot guys with cut up torsos, armour abs, firm fanny, and muscular thighs. My husband's got all of that. And I love placing my hand on his hard midsection whilst I'm in his embrace. Wanna know what else he's got? A great heart and a full mind. And that's what really wins me over. 

You know what my husband likes? Hot ladies. He likes hot ladies with well groomed hair, big breasts, curvy midsection, big bum, and thick thighs. I've got all of that. And he loves grabbing my bum and breasts whilst I'm in his embrace. You know what else I've got? A great heart and full mind. And that's what really wins him over.

Now eliminate the whole great heart part. Have you noticed how superficial my husband and I sound? Calm down now, we're all like this. It's safe to assume that every adult has sexually fantasised about people who've appealed to their senses. It's totally normal to have thoughts like that. But you know what isn't normal? Completely stripping someone of their humanity and reducing them to a sexual object. Yeah, we're going there.

Sexual objectification of women is more prevalent than you might think. And in fact, you might be doing it yourself without realising it. Let's start with the obvious question, what is sexual objectification anyway? Sexual objectification, by definition, means to only admire or acknowledge the physical aesthetics of an individual. Women are the primary victims of this, and yes I say victims for reasons I'll elaborate on here. And unfortunately, nobody seems to care how much of a problem it really is. Why is this? Because it reinforces the idea that women are to be seen and not heard. Sexual objectification is actually a root for a lot of the oppression that women go through.

Here's a pretty good example of the sexual objectification of women. 

This right here is an ad for Lynx deodorant, which is what we call Axe in the UK. Axe has been the centre of bountiful criticisms from women and men alike. Not only does Axe encourage men to be macho and obnoxious alpha male garbage, they also portray women like sex objects as shown here. Let's try breaking this down a bit. First, she's pulling a turkey from an oven, reinforcing the whole "women belong in the kitchen" bullshit that stopped being funny after 5th grade. She's also bending over, her bum in clear sight and rather shapely. She has a lustful look on her face that seems to be calling you to her. Nothing about this ad has anything to do with deodorant except for its half arsed tagline "can she make you lose control?". Now let's take a look at a man's ad.

This is an ad featuring David Beckham. It's from his stint with Calvin Klein. Notice anything different here? David is in his underwear standing like a statue in a somewhat dignified manner, like he knows he's got it on lock (which he definitely does btw). He's in an appropriate setting for an underwear ad. His body is not on display, he's displaying his body. The woman in the Lynx ad was being used for a man's gaze. How many men would've actually been enticed to buy Lynx deodorant from seeing that ad? Not many I presume. Their attention would be drawn to the woman in the ad and nothing else. 

The directors of both ads were guys, meaning that men sexually objectify other men as well. Now some might say "but women objectify men's muscles like men objectify women's breasts". True, true. But you don't see women on the street shouting shit like "hey come at me ya fine piece of balls" or "what I wouldn't give to swing you over my head by the dick" at guys do you? When women are flirtatious, they typically offer themselves to you as a subordinate, and media capitalises on that part of our subconscious and exploits it for men's accessibilities. Also, this helps reinforce why women take up the majority of rape victims. Could that be a slippery slope? Possibly. But just because something hasn't happened, doesn't mean it won't. Remember, sexual objectification removes the character of a woman and makes her into a sex object. Rape does not involve respect either. They're cut from the same cloth. 

So what's the answer to this? Sexually objectifying more men is certainly not the way to go. What can instead be done is stop portraying women in media with their physical attributes taking the forefront. It really isn't hard to see women as something other than sexual arbitrators. And ads like the Lynx ad slipping into our everyday culture helps not. This isn't to say you can't appreciate how attractive someone is, I myself get comments on my appearance daily so it's nothing I'm not used to. But just know when to draw the line between aesthetic appreciation and sexual objectification. If you know that, then I'm sure you'll be fine.