WEBVTT

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Good afternoon! Are we having
a transformative afternoon so far?

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

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

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some of them are sexy,
some of them are very unsexy.

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But I'd like to talk specifically
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
that it is not empowering.

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First by talking about what
sexual objectification is

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

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and, lastly, provide
you a plan of action

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so you can both navigate
objectification culture

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and change objectification culture.

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

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

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one that serves another's
sexual pleasure.

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What's so interesting about
sexual objectification

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is that we used to have
a vocabulary for it.

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

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and its harm on girls and women.

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In the 80s, 90s and today,
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
objectification culture is more amplified

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

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of sexually objectified bodies,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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then you are looking
at a sexual objectifying image.

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

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

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

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

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In this image a woman
becomes a table.

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Does the image show
the sexualized person as interchangeable?

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

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Does the image affirm
the idea of violating

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the bodily integrity
of a sexualized person

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and that person can't consent?

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In other words,
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
the sexual availability of the person

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is the defining characteristic
of that person?

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The text for this ad reads:

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

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

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Does the image show
a sexualized person as a commodity?

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Something that can
be bought and sold?

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In this advertisement, you see
women in a vending machine

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

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

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

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

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New objectification culture
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
sexually objectifying ads and television,

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movies, video games, music videos,
magazines and other mediums.

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And the second advertising component,

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is that the images have become
more extreme, more hypersexualized.

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So, why are we experiencing
this now?

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It can really be boiled
down to technology.

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New technology has increased
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
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
spend an average of 8 hours a day

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hooked up to devices where
advertisers can reach them.

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So what do advertisers do?
They cut through the clutter

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with increased emphasis on violence,
hyperviolence and hypersexualization.

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So how is this not empowering?

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I want to make an appeal
first to logic.

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When we're talking about sex objects,
we're talking about dichotomies.

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In Western thinking, we think
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,
we're thinking about

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the object-subject dichotomy.

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Subjects act, objects
are acted upon.

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So even if you become
the perfect object,

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the perfect sex object,

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

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

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

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

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and we are sexual beings

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so why wouldn't we see
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
is being sold here.

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To men, they are being sold this idea
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
images of objectified women everywhere.

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And for women, we are being sold

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this idea that this
is how we get our value

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and this is the way to become
the ideal sex object.

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Which is why, instead
of sex selling,

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these ideas of subjectivity
and objectivity are being sold.

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So we see men's magazines
with scantily clad women

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and we see women's magazines
with scantily clad women.

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Moving now to the research.

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Self-objectification
is a phenomenon

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

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

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This varies somewhat by sexuality
and somewhat by ethnicity

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

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So self-objectification,
10 years of research,

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mostly done by psychologists.

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We know that it has
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
just a few of these items.

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First, the more
we think of ourselves

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and internalize this idea
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
ourselves as sex objects.

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What is habitual body monitoring?

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

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It is not news to the women
in the audience.

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We think about the positioning
of our legs, our hair,

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where the light is falling,

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Who's looking at us?
Who's not looking at us.

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

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on average the women
in this audience

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have engaged in habitual body
monitoring 10 times.

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That is, every 30 seconds.

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Eating disorders
are much more prevalent

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with those who see
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
habitual body monitoring,

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it simply takes up more
mental space

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that could be better used
completing math tests

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completing your homework.
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
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
to view their bodies

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as projects to work on
and be sex objects

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that it actually gets in the way
of good sex.

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

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

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

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you tend to view yourself
from a third party perspective,

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a spectator's perspective

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where you're worried about
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
of sexual pleasure.

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

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to live in a culture that
sexually objectifies

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it diminishes your
sexual pleasure.

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It also lowers self esteem,
it lowers GPAs

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

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It is the difference between
going to graduate school

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and not going to graduate school
for college women.

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

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

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We engage in female competition.

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We see male attention as
the holy grail of our existence

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

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because we see it as this finite resource,
this cherished finite resource.

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So we go into parties

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and we know where we are
in the pretty girl pecking order

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

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it actually makes us feel
bad about ourself.

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

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First I'd like to propose
some personal actions.

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

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that damages or harms women

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personally, politically
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
damaging materials - girls, women,

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

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when we're looking at
fashion magazines.

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We can stop competing with
other girls and women.

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When we see a woman
who is getting attention for this

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we can understand that
she is part of a system

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where the rules
are stacked against us

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She is not a problem,
she is a symptom of a problem.

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And we can stop seeking attention
for our bodies.

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We raise our little boys
to view their bodies

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as tools to master
their environment,

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We raise our little girls
to view their bodies

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as projects to constantly
be improved.

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What if women started
to view their bodies

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as tools to master
their environment?

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As tools to get you
from one place to the next.

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

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And for boys,
be a supportive ally,

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understand what's happening
around you,

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

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

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evaluate them for what
they say and what they do.

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Finally, use your
position of privilege strategically

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to speak out against objectification.

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So moving beyond the personal
to the political,

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You can boycott,
you can simply refuse

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to consume materials that
sexually objectify girls and women.

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You can contact media producers
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
new media activism.

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There's an incredible
world at your disposal

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to bring about political change.

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And I want to provide
just a few examples.

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

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

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or padded swimsuits for toddlers.

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And they ran a campaign where
they blogged about it,

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it got some press coverage.
There were some petitions

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and they pulled the product
nationally from their stores.

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This is my hero.
Her name is Julia.

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

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85,000 signatures,
and she went to New York

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and Seventeen magazine agreed

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that they would not Photoshop
any of their models from here on out.

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

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

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don't spend an hour
every morning

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putting on their makeup
and doing their hair.

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I'd like you to imagine a world,

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where women are valued for
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
instead of spending time on appearance

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we actually directed our energies
to dealing with serious problems.

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Like human trafficking,
sexualized

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violence, homophobia,
poverty, hunger.

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And, lastly, because you are
the architects of your future.

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

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in order to build a better world.

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

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Thank you.

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(Applause)