Women as mere sexual objects?

M@LaiKa · (#1 (**permalink**))

I have been arguing with a work collegue of mine who overtly stated that Latino women (she being one) have undergone are seen as sexual objects by western cultures more so than black women....i beg to differ! :?

But it made me think that in this country all women of enthnic minority groups are seen as objects of sexual facination by our white counterparts, worse still everyone seems to be fine with this! how???!!!! Am i the only one who thinks this is essentially WRONG??

whatswrongwithyou? · (#2 (**permalink**))

I can sort of understand what she means. In a society governed by a media that perpetuates beauty as light or white, it makes sense when she says that Latino women have it worse. She is the acceptable face of black beauty. Western features with an chocolate tint. therefore she'll be more harassed.

M@LaiKa · (#3 (**permalink**))

But what about the following:

1. The degradation of black women slaves through history..raped by their owners?

2. The continual "child bride" brutalities in Ethiopia?

3. The rape and persistant degradation of young oriental girls?

4. The genital mutialation udergone each year by african and arab girls.

I dont think Latin or whitewomen have been subject to as much degradation as other ethnic women.

CashMoney · (#4 (**permalink**))

to quote a famous comedian

'My wife is a sex object. Everytime I ask for sex she objects'

YankeeJamaRican · (#5 (**permalink**))

@Timeline... good points

@Malaika... with due respect, it sounds like you are engaging in "more suffering than thou" discourse which is NEVER constructive. Objectification of women is a unilateral construct, across all cultures... to what purpose is it to quantify and intertwine your identifyas a black woman with level of victimisation?

Mezmerized · (#6 (**permalink**))

YankeeJamaRican wrote:

Quote:

@Timeline... good points

@Malaika... with due respect, it sounds like you are engaging in "more suffering than thou" discourse which is NEVER constructive. Objectification of women is a unilateral construct, across all cultures... to what purpose is it to quantify and intertwine your identifyas a black woman with level of victimisation?

Quote:

ROTF....Cmon now, you know the poor soul wouldn't be able tograsp a word you say here. Just do what i did and walk away.....

Sooofresh · (#7 (**permalink**))

well

dunno about anyone else, but if the guy is not 6ft tall+, with 8 pac, defined biceps, calfs etc, chiseled jaw, tight bottocks.................and other things!

then I am not interested.

@Cashmoney

LOL....................jokes

YankeeJamaRican · (#8 (**permalink**))

D'oh!!!

Cheers, Mez... i guess I did sound a bit heavyhanded.

Blackthought · (#9 (**permalink**))

Timeline wrote:

Quote:

M@LaiKa wrote:

Quote:

But what about the following:

1. The degradation of black women slaves through history..raped by their owners?

2. The continual "child bride" brutalities in Ethiopia?

3. The rape and persistant degradation of young oriental girls?

4. The genital mutialation udergone each year by african and arab girls.

I dont think Latin or whitewomen have been subject to as much degradation as other ethnic women.

[line]

I liked the fact that you pointed out so many things that you feel is wrong about the way society treats women... but then you seemed to fail on looking at both side of the arguement....

Just a few pointers:

It seems as though you are only looking at the overt, obvious behaviors under the umbrella of "objectification". There are many other psychological and even socially acceptable means to perpetuate and justify the treatment of women as sexual objects to be used and discarded by men. Look at rape trials

Will there even be a trial if a man accussed a woman of rape?

and how the victim is blamed for what she wore and what time she was out and whether she gave any "misread signs" ect. because women are assumed to be useful to the periodic pleasures and desires of a man and if one is walking alone at night with tight clothes on, or if she has already had sex with many other men previous to the event or if she smiles at a passing stranger she could be deemed not fit to identify violations to her own body. Women even have to fight for whether or not they are allowed to make a choice to stay pregnant with an unborn child or not. Women have to fight in order to gain control over their own bodies while with men...it is a TAKEN FOR GRANTED REALITY that they own their own bodies.

Well what about the father's rights... on the whole... I mean she didn't get pregnant by herself now did she?

Think of the societal terms that we use causually:

I virgin "saves herself" for her husband.

Don't "give it up" too soon.

Even the separation of the woman into parts is acceptable: "She has a nice ass/legs/breasts" and those characteristics are acceptable to worship rather than the WHOLE woman.

Ermm I think if you check again you probably find that this one also goes both ways... I mean I don't feel like digging around threads... but there are few threads where men are decribed the same way by women... so whats your point.....confused3

It is clear that women are seen as objects to be "saved" or "given" or even "taken" by men. It has become part of the very fabric of our reality.

I think its clear that your opinion are biased towards women alone... IMOgive or take I don't thinknogender has it easy nor harder.....

M@LaiKa · (#10 (**permalink**))

@ YankeeJamaican.

Point accepted! i should know better than to fall victim to that old trap! However I cant help but find it patronising when i here commebnts made with little thought or foundation. Thank you for your feed back i will bear that in mind.

M@LaiKa · (#11 (**permalink**))

@ YankeeJamaican.

Point accepted! i should know better than to fall victim to that old trap! However I cant help but find it patronising when i here commebnts made with little thought or foundation. Thank you for your feed back i will bear that in mind.

M@LaiKa · (#12 (**permalink**))

@ timeline...very true! Such is the universal imbalance of things. I recently read an artcle in a south african newspaper that south african bus drivers had excused their rape and harrassment of young school girls just becuase they wore short school skirts.

whatswrongwithyou? · (#13 (**permalink**))

Black Thought

I might of agreed with you if not for these two points

Men have made whole sale business empires from the objectification and the abuse of women. **** videos, music videos, naked scenes in films and so on, government laws imposed to ensure that men retain inheritences leaving woman obligated financially and sexually to men and so on.

Point two, women like men are prone to dissecting the male physique too, some well known authoress such as Jane Austen have noted in books their admiration for the male thigh. However, unlike men, women do not succumb to these observations by pronouncingit to all and sundry loudly in the street or leering lecherously at a man walking by.