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An exploration in one girls submission to the Patriarchy

Objectification- A Guide.
Martha Nussbaum (1995, 257) has identified seven features that are involved in the idea of treating a person as an object:

  • instrumentality: the treatment of a person as a tool for the objectifier's purposes;
  • denial of autonomy: the treatment of a person as lacking in autonomy and self-determination;
  • inertness: the treatment of a person as lacking in agency, and perhaps also in activity;
  • fungibility: the treatment of a person as interchangeable with other objects;
  • violability: the treatment of a person as lacking in boundary-integrity;
  • ownership: the treatment of a person as something that is owned by another (can be bought or sold);
  • denial of subjectivity: the treatment of a person as something whose experiences and feelings (if any) need not be taken into account.
Rae Langton (2009, 228–229) has added three more features to Nussbaum's list:

  • reduction to body: the treatment of a person as identified with their body, or body parts;
  • reduction to appearance: the treatment of a person primarily in terms of how they look, or how they appear to the senses;
  • silencing: the treatment of a person as if they are silent, lacking the capacity to speak.
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