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Good afternoon! Are we having[br]a transformative afternoon so far?

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Well, I am here today[br]to talk about a lie.

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In specific, a sexy lie.[br]I know there are lots of lies,

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some of them are sexy,[br]some of them are very unsexy.

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But I'd like to talk specifically[br]about the lie or the idea that

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being a sex object is empowering.

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And I'd like to convince you[br]that it is not empowering.

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First by talking about what[br]sexual objectification is

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and then moving on to theoretical and[br]data driven analysis of why it's damaging,

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and, lastly, provide[br]you a plan of action

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so you can both navigate[br]objectification culture

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and change objectification culture.

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So let's jump right in-[br]what is sexual objectification?

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It's the process of representing[br]or treating a person like a sex object

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one that serves another's[br]sexual pleasure.

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What's so interesting about[br]sexual objectification

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is that we used to have[br]a vocabulary for it.

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In the 60s and 70s, we were concerned[br]about sexual objectification

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and its harm on girls and women.

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In the 80s, 90s and today,[br]we've actually been relatively quiet

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when it comes to public discourse.

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And so even though our sexual[br]objectification culture is more amplified

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we see more images,[br]and 96% of them are female,

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of sexually objectified bodies,

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we don't have a vocabulary[br]to talk about it.

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And young people have even mostly[br]lost the ability to identify it.

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As a friend of mine said,[br]it's like being raised in a red room,

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pulled out of that red room[br]and asked to described the color red.

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So I built on the work of others,[br]and I put together a sex object test,

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and if the answer is "yes"[br]to any of these 7 questions

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then you are looking[br]at a sexual objectifying image.

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First, does the image show only[br]parts of a sexualized person's body?

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In other words,[br]does a part stand in for the whole?

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This woman's derrière, for example,[br]in this advertisement.

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Does the image show a sexualized person[br]as a stand in for an object?

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In this image a woman[br]becomes a table.

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Does the image show[br]the sexualized person as interchangeable?

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That is, as one of many items[br]that can just be swapped out.

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Does the image affirm[br]the idea of violating

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the bodily integrity[br]of a sexualized person

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and that person can't consent?

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In other words,[br]is that person being acted upon

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as though she is a sexual object?

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Does the image suggest that[br]the sexual availability of the person

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is the defining characteristic[br]of that person?

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The text for this ad reads:

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"You know you're not her first,[br]but do you really care?"

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And it's being used to sell[br]pre-owned vehicles.

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Does the image show[br]a sexualized person as a commodity?

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Something that can[br]be bought and sold?

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In this advertisement, you see[br]women in a vending machine

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and a man is choosing a woman[br]and this is to sell men's shoes.

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And, lastly, does the image treat[br]the sexualized person's body as a canvas?

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And I'm not talking about inking[br]or tattooing that a person decides

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but rather marketers using the body[br]as a specific type of canvas.

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New objectification culture[br]has emerged in the past ten years

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and it's marked by two things.

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One is an increase in the number of[br]sexually objectifying ads and television,

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movies, video games, music videos,[br]magazines and other mediums.

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And the second advertising component,

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is that the images have become[br]more extreme, more hypersexualized.

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So, why are we experiencing[br]this now?

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It can really be boiled[br]down to technology.

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New technology has increased[br]the sheer number of images

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that you are exposed to every day.

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So in the 70s we saw[br]about 500 ads a day.

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Now we see about 5,000 ads a day

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and children ages 8 to 18[br]spend an average of 8 hours a day

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hooked up to devices where[br]advertisers can reach them.

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So what do advertisers do?[br]They cut through the clutter

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with increased emphasis on violence,[br]hyperviolence and hypersexualization.

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So how is this not empowering?

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I want to make an appeal[br]first to logic.

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When we're talking about sex objects,[br]we're talking about dichotomies.

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In Western thinking, we think[br]of black and white, yes and no.

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Two opposing categories.

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When we're thinking about sex objects,[br]we're thinking about

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the object-subject dichotomy.

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Subjects act, objects[br]are acted upon.

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So even if you become[br]the perfect object,

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the perfect sex object,

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you are perfectly subordinate because[br]that position will always be acted on.

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So there's not power in being a sex object[br]when you think about it logically.

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But beyond that this idea that sex sells-[br]I'd like to challenge that directly

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because the fact is, if sex sold,[br]most women are heterosexual

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and we are sexual beings

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so why wouldn't we see[br]half naked men everywhere in advertising?

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(Cheers and laughter)

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I would like to propose...

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(Laughter)

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I would like to propose something else[br]is being sold here.

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To men, they are being sold this idea[br]constantly that they are sexual subjects.

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They are in the driver's seat.

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It makes them feel powerful to see[br]images of objectified women everywhere.

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And for women, we are being sold

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this idea that this[br]is how we get our value

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and this is the way to become[br]the ideal sex object.

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Which is why, instead[br]of sex selling,

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these ideas of subjectivity[br]and objectivity are being sold.

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So we see men's magazines[br]with scantily clad women

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and we see women's magazines[br]with scantily clad women.

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Moving now to the research.

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Self-objectification[br]is a phenomenon

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where we, girls and women,[br]view our bodies as sex objects.

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And all of us do[br]to a greater or lesser extent.

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This varies somewhat by sexuality[br]and somewhat by ethnicity

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but, by and large,[br]all women face this in the US.

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So self-objectification,[br]10 years of research,

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mostly done by psychologists.

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We know that it has[br]some pretty severe effects.

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I'm going to run through the list

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but I want to concentrate on[br]just a few of these items.

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First, the more[br]we think of ourselves

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and internalize this idea[br]of being sex objects,

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the higher our rates of depression.

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We also engage in habitual body monitoring

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much more when we view[br]ourselves as sex objects.

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What is habitual body monitoring?

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The men in the audience,[br]this might be news to you.

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It is not news to the women[br]in the audience.

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We think about the positioning[br]of our legs, our hair,

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where the light is falling,

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Who's looking at us?[br]Who's not looking at us.

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In fact in the 5 minutes[br]I've been giving this talk,

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on average the women[br]in this audience

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have engaged in habitual body[br]monitoring 10 times.

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That is, every 30 seconds.

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Eating disorders[br]are much more prevalent

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with those who see[br]themselves as sex objects,

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as well as body shame.

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And depressed cognitive functioning.

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If we're engaging in[br]habitual body monitoring,

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it simply takes up more[br]mental space

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that could be better used[br]completing math tests

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completing your homework.[br]It just sucks our cognitive functioning.

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Also sexual dysfunction.

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So this idea that sex sells.

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Isn't it strange that if you think[br]of yourself as a sex object,

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and we're raised in a society

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that raises little girls[br]to view their bodies

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as projects to work on[br]and be sex objects

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that it actually gets in the way[br]of good sex.

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So what tends to happen is that women[br]who are high self-objectifiers

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actually engage in what's called[br]"spectatoring" during sex acts.

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So instead of being involved and engaged[br]in the pleasure and what's happening

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you tend to view yourself[br]from a third party perspective,

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a spectator's perspective

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where you're worried about[br]rolls of fat hanging out,

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what that leg looks like.

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So, again, it gets in the way[br]of sexual pleasure.

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So if there is anything I can pitch to you[br]about why you don't want

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to live in a culture that[br]sexually objectifies

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it diminishes your[br]sexual pleasure.

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It also lowers self esteem,[br]it lowers GPAs

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and it's not negligible the difference[br]that I found in my research.

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It is the difference between[br]going to graduate school

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and not going to graduate school[br]for college women.

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It also lowers political efficacy or[br]the belief you have a voice in politics.

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And it lowers your ability[br]to get along with other women.

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We engage in female competition.

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We see male attention as[br]the holy grail of our existence

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and so we compete with other women[br]for our own self esteem,

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because we see it as this finite resource,[br]this cherished finite resource.

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So we go into parties

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and we know where we are[br]in the pretty girl pecking order

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And when another woman[br]is valued for being a sex object,

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it actually makes us feel[br]bad about ourself.

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What can we do about this-[br]a plan of action.

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First I'd like to propose[br]some personal actions.

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Because what sexual objectification[br]does is actually set up a sexy ceiling

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that damages or harms women

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personally, politically[br]and professionally.

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I want to focus on the personal here.

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What can we do?

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We can stop consuming[br]damaging materials - girls, women,

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because we know within the first 3 minutes[br]that our self esteem goes down

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when we're looking at[br]fashion magazines.

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We can stop competing with[br]other girls and women.

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When we see a woman[br]who is getting attention for this

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we can understand that[br]she is part of a system

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where the rules[br]are stacked against us

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She is not a problem,[br]she is a symptom of a problem.

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And we can stop seeking attention[br]for our bodies.

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We raise our little boys[br]to view their bodies

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as tools to master[br]their environment,

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We raise our little girls[br]to view their bodies

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as projects to constantly[br]be improved.

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What if women started[br]to view their bodies

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as tools to master[br]their environment?

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As tools to get you[br]from one place to the next.

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As these amazing vehicles for moving[br]through the world in a new way.

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And for boys,[br]be a supportive ally,

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understand what's happening[br]around you,

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What's going on in the minds[br]of the women around you.

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Don't evaluate girls and women[br]based upon how they look

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evaluate them for what[br]they say and what they do.

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Finally, use your[br]position of privilege strategically

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to speak out against objectification.

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So moving beyond the personal[br]to the political,

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You can boycott,[br]you can simply refuse

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to consume materials that[br]sexually objectify girls and women.

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You can contact media producers[br]when something is offensive to you.

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You can produce your own media.

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Get behind the camera!

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Write! Act! Direct!

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And you can also engage in[br]new media activism.

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There's an incredible[br]world at your disposal

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to bring about political change.

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And I want to provide[br]just a few examples.

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First, Sociological Images,[br]a blog run by Dr. Lisa Wade

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worked with students to pull[br]Abercrombie & Fitch's padded bras

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or padded swimsuits for toddlers.

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And they ran a campaign where[br]they blogged about it,

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it got some press coverage.[br]There were some petitions

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and they pulled the product[br]nationally from their stores.

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This is my hero.[br]Her name is Julia.

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She's a 14 year old who got[br]change.org to put a petition together-

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85,000 signatures,[br]and she went to New York

0:11:25.592,0:11:27.371
and Seventeen magazine agreed

0:11:27.395,0:11:32.142
that they would not Photoshop[br]any of their models from here on out.

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So, lastly, I'll leave you with[br]this idea of imagining a different world.

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I'd like you to imagine a world[br]where girls and women

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don't spend an hour[br]every morning

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putting on their makeup[br]and doing their hair.

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I'd like you to imagine a world,

0:11:53.684,0:11:57.019
where women are valued for[br]what they say and what they do,

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rather than the way they look.

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I'd like you to imagine a world where[br]instead of spending time on appearance

0:12:06.398,0:12:10.185
we actually directed our energies[br]to dealing with serious problems.

0:12:10.209,0:12:13.681
Like human trafficking,[br]sexualized

0:12:13.705,0:12:16.721
violence, homophobia,[br]poverty, hunger.

0:12:16.745,0:12:20.769
And, lastly, because you are[br]the architects of your future.

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I would like to remind you that sometimes[br]architects have to demolish paradigms

0:12:25.817,0:12:28.269
in order to build a better world.

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So my question for you is:[br]what better world will you build?

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Thank you.

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(Applause)