Objectification is a myth.

pie-mart · 2026-05-29T16:04:15+00:00

I think you're using an extremely narrow definition of objectification.

Objectification doesn't require someone to literally forget that another person is human. Almost nobody argues that men look at women and suddenly believe they are chairs or vending machines.

The issue is reducing a person primarily to what they can provide for you while disregarding their thoughts, feelings, autonomy, or humanity when those things become inconvenient. By your definition, objectification would barely exist at all because most people are aware that other people are human beings.

A gold digger can absolutely objectify a man. She knows he's human, but if she only values him for his income, status, and ability to provide resources, she's reducing him to a utility. His worth becomes tied to what he can give her financially rather than who he is as a person.

Likewise, a man can objectify a woman by treating her primarily as a source of sexual gratification while showing little regard for her desires, boundaries, comfort, goals, or individuality.

In both cases, the person isn't literally being viewed as a non-human object. They're being reduced to a function.

That's why objectification and dehumanization exist on a spectrum. Most objectification isn't the extreme clinical inability to recognize another person's humanity that you see in severe psychological disorders. It's the tendency to prioritize what someone provides over who they are.

We already recognize this concept in everyday life. Employers can objectify workers by seeing them only as labor. Parents can objectify children by treating them as extensions of themselves.

Partners can objectify each other for sex, money, status, emotional support, or social validation.

The fact that someone knows another person is human doesn't mean they're treating them like a full human being.

That's the distinction you're missing. Objectification is not "I literally think you're an object." It's "your value to me is overwhelmingly tied to the function you serve in my life."

procrast1natrix · 2026-05-29T15:51:40+00:00

I'll bite.

What do you call it when a person has a brain, accomplishments, plans, ambitions, and then somebody else ignores all of that because they have an attractive ass?

If there's a better word for it, let's talk that out.

Edit/ to make it more obvious, I specifically degendered this reply in an effort to make it clear that both men and women suffer at times from objectification. Perhaps I was too subtle.

jibaeja · 2026-05-29T15:50:36+00:00

You just admit men “can be assholes about their sexual attraction to women”, meaning you recognize the severely skewed entitlement and lack of consideration men can have for woman’s boundaries regarding their bodies, yet you double down that objectification does not exist. Literally opposing statements. Lol. Fascinating cognitive dissonance in this sub sometimes.

Present-Afternoon-70 · 2026-05-29T16:11:00+00:00

The bartender you give an order to is objectification. It doesn't mean you dont see them as human the way your using it. Its that you dont treat or consider them as a fully 3 dimensional person. You just see a bartender.

leosandlattes · 2026-05-29T16:11:11+00:00

You are arguing the most autistic interpretation of what objectification is, instead of the concept wherein people treat others as commodities and tools, or reduce them to a singular aspect, e.g. a sex dispenser, a wallet, etc.

No one says it is dehumanizing to be into women. It is dehumanizing to treat women like they exist only to incite desire in men and provide men sexual pleasure.

Your posts on this sub are complete garbage, it’s fascinating.

ihatesmelly · 2026-05-29T16:25:35+00:00

It is. Because when you see us as sexual opportunities and not people, that is the definition of objectification. If we saw men as breadwinners and providers only that would similarly be objectification. You remove the humanity and only focus on the benefit.

Outside_Memory5703 · 2026-05-29T16:06:35+00:00

“Even if you just want to fuck her and not much else” sounds pretty objectifying

Seeing someone as just a body is objectifying, by definition

Ok_Use7 · 2026-05-29T16:18:34+00:00

I’m not an asshole even I know when I’m objectifying lol.

Why are a lot of y’all so scared to look in the mirror?

lesliecarbone · 2026-05-29T16:19:57+00:00

Were southern slave-holders all "[p]sychopaths, sociopaths, [or] hardcore narcissists"?

jorts-enthusiast · 2026-05-29T16:37:57+00:00

Being into women isn’t objectification and I don’t think people really argue that it is?

Regardless, your definition of objectification isn’t THE definition of objectification. Objectification doesn’t mean seeing someone as a literal object, it means treating someone as a commodity or a tool, disregarding their humanity.

For example, a woman that only dates men for their money. She’s probably well aware that the men she’s dating have thoughts, feelings, and desires. She just doesn’t care. It’s not that people who objectify others cannot see the humanity in others (I do agree with you that there are a much smaller subset of people who literally cannot see other people’s humanity) it’s just that they are placing more of a priority on what they do for them. So a woman who only dates men for their money sees them as primarily a source of income. A man who pays for sex sees the women he’s hiring as a means to get sex. He probably is aware that they are humans and can see the humanity, but he is more concerned with the fact that they can give him something he wants.

PandaTaco90 · 2026-05-29T16:11:12+00:00

Some of y’all are so far gone it’s no wonder yall can’t get women

ThatBitchA · 2026-05-29T16:40:24+00:00

It's definitely not a myth.

Hooters, the restaurant, is built on the objectification of women.

Twin Peaks, another restaurant, is the "peak" of objectification of women.

Playboy magazine, objectified women.

Sports Illustrated Swimsuit is objectification of women.

That volleyball scene in Top Gun is objectification of men.

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NiaMiaBia · 2026-05-29T15:59:13+00:00

Pure lies 🤦🏽‍♀️

People have objectified others since always.

Not to get too far in the racial weeds, but a lot of things were justified because we were seen as “not human.”

Dehumanization is well documented.

tiny__jelly · 2026-05-29T15:59:57+00:00

Today I learned I live in a city full of sociopaths. Considering the amount of catcalling I endure in a year, that must be it!

ThrowRAGlobeVase · 2026-05-29T17:20:58+00:00

You’re thinking about objectification too literally. It’s a spectrum. On one side, it’s valuing the other person solely for what they can give you, like you would in object; on the other, it’s through the lens of complete empathy where their pain is greater than your pain, and what you “get” from them isn’t the main source of the connection.

Both men and women objectify each other. Women tend to become sex objects, men tend to be success objects.

Golurkcanfly · 2026-05-29T17:26:46+00:00

You can quite literally reduce people to mere artifacts. You see this all of the time. Most forms of oppression are about stripping away the personhood of individuals. It's why in many examples, people are referred to by "it" to linguistically render them as non-person entities.

Feeling_Ad_1034 · 2026-05-29T16:07:14+00:00

I've said it many times, and I'll say it again.

Women want to be objectified: ONLY the right guy at the right place at the right time.

Women DON'T want to be objectified otherwise. Level yourself up to be more likely to be "the right guy" and read the room (again, experience helps. Lower your standards at first and start swinging).

Women are very good at signaling when they would like to be objectified.

Title	Objectification is a myth.
Author	FuuraKafu
Upvotes	3
Comments	131
Date	May 29, 2026 3:45 PM UTC (1 month ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/PurplePillDebate
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/PurplePillDebate/comments/1tr5x24/objectification_is_a_myth/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/PurplePillDebate/objectification-is-a-myth.1581572 https://theredarchive.com/post/1581572

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