Lecture on "Phenomenological Dimensions of Self-Objectification"

Phenomenological Dimensions of Self-Objectification

Self-objectification is commonly taken to be harmful. Recent research has drawn attention to the negative impacts of frequent selfie-taking, and feminists for decades have pointed to the pernicious effects that the objectification of women has on their self-images and ways of being in the world. However, I will argue here that most critiques of self-objectification pertain to treating oneself as a thing, but not necessarily to treating oneself as an object. Drawing on the existential phenomenology of Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, I suggest that encountering oneself as an object is a key aspect of our perceptual, affective, and cognitive lives, and thus is not 'bad': it is not the same as treating oneself as a thing. In fact, failing to self-objectify may in some cases reflect a failure to recognize one's own condition as an object for others.