Surely the ultimate mark of something being 'bad' is the demonstration of harm. The recent liberalisation around gay and trans rights is based upon this foundation. Someone being gay isn't harmful to anyone. So what about objectification?

Objectification is also entirely inconsistent as the 'harmed' party is never consistent. For example look at these examples and indicate who is harmed and who is at fault:

  1. A female actress empowering herself by dressing provocatively at an awards ceremony.
  2. A female actress being objectified by wearing form-fitting clothes in the movie for the above awards ceremony.
  3. A pornstar being objectified by the industry.
  4. An Onlyfans 'star' being empowered by embracing her sexuality.
  5. A game company objectifying women through their attractive female character.

I mean surely if 1 isn't a problem then 5 cannot be a problem as the target audience is exactly the same. Why is there a variation between 1, 3 and 4?

Is objectification bad because it affects the woman in question being objectified? The answer has to be no due to 5 simply having nobody to harm. And 1 and 2 are entirely contradictory in this context.

Is objectification bad because it affects the people who are witnessing it? Well it cannot be this either, due to 1 and 4. If it was bad in this way then there should be no such thing as 'empowerment'.

However, there is a test for if something is 'objectification'. It is this:

'Objectification is male access to female sexuality or sexual gratification without a woman directly benefiting'.

Apply the above to any situation to check if it is objectification. Sex dolls? Objectification. Slutwalks? Not objectification. The level of objectification is based upon how much the woman gets out of it, which is why Onlyfans is less objectifying that porn.

You can even apply it to the everyday. A woman can wear what they want to benefit from their sexuality directly through interactions, but if you look at her she does not benefit, so you are objectifying her and it's bad.

So, objectification is just gatekeeping sexuality, it's not an actual thing and shouldn't be taken seriously.