Psychology behind Self-Objectification 

We all might have heard a term called objectification. It means treating a person as an object. But we usually refer to this word as objectifying women. Hence, here objectification refers to treating a woman as an object which means the feelings and emotions go unnoticed. We all raise our voices against this so-called “Objectification of Women”. Have you ever heard or thought about something called “Self-Objectification?” 

Objectification 

Objectification involves two persons one who objectifies and the other one who is being objectified. 

According to Martha Nussbaum, an American Philosopher recognized seven features in objectification: 

1. Instrumentality (considering an individual as a tool to be utilized) 
2. Denial of autonomy (failing to acknowledge their self-determination or autonomy)
3. Inertness (portraying one is incapable of action) 
4. Fungibility (thinking a person is interchangeable with other objects.)
5. Violability (treating them as they lack in boundary-integrity) 
6. Ownership (holding the authority, or thinking they can be either bought or sold)
7. Denial of subjectivity (rejecting their feelings, emotions and sense of self) 
8. Rae Langton added three more features to Martha Nussbaum’s list: Reduction to body (limit oneself to their parts of the body) 
9. Reduction to appearance (treating a person just to their looks) 
10. Silencing (make them feel they are incapable of speaking) 

Objectification theory suggests that women are taught to see themselves through the eyes of others. This unconsciously makes a woman concentrate more on her outer appearance and habituate her to body monitoring, which in turn leads her to react sensitively to the criticism or shame she faces from others. And that reduces the opportunity for a woman to experience peak motivational states and internal bodily states. 

Self-Objectification 

Objectification can also occur with a single person, where the one who objectifies the person and who is being objectified is the same. That is what we call, self-objectification. 

Recently I was reading a book called “Toilet Seat”, in which the author speaks about the objectification of women. She says that objectifying a woman has become a normal and acceptable thing in our society than any other thing that we label as taboo, say for example: to speak about sex or sex education. She gave a beautiful example of how self-objectification is instilled in a girl child from a young age.

In Indian families, if a boy dresses up in casual jeans and T-shirts. They’ll praise them and say “You look like a prince, no matter what you wear”. But it takes a lot of effort to dress up so well for a girl, she has to wear bangles, bindi, jewellery and so on. And the parents will give a compliment like your charming prince will come one day and take her away once she grows up into a beautiful woman. A girl is taught to believe that dressing up and showcasing her beauty is essential to her life.

This strongly impacts her mind, unknowingly pressuring her to always present herself as elegant and gorgeous. Society constantly tells a girl that she must dress up and wear makeup to be acknowledged as beautiful. We as a society often fail to embrace the inner beauty of a woman. 

Self-objectification has two dimensions: 

1. body surveillance, habitual act of monitoring oneself. 
2. body shame, the result of not being in an ideal size imposed by society and media.

The impact of body surveillance 

When I was young, I remember a woman writer saying, “Women are capable of doing more, thinking more, but they stop themselves at a certain point of time, they limit their own potential.” I didn’t understand what she meant. But now I realize she may mean that it happens because of the different roles a woman takes on in her life or the limitations she sets to stay in her comfort zone. Along with this, I want to add a key concept, called ‘flow’. 

Csikszentmihalyi calls flow a state of being immersed and exerting effort in a physically and mentally challenging task. And it will be really enjoyable and rewarding. By experiencing flow one can feel true living, creative and being uncontrolled by others. He argues that to experience flow one should lose self-consciousness. As women are internalizing the the perspective of others about themselves, they become more self-conscious and lose the chance to attain the flow. 

The Impact of Body Shame 

When a teenage girl is demanded to look like the ideal size expected by the society and media. It creates a lot of psychological changes in her. This demand pushes them to practice strong diets and skipping meals. Sometimes leads to wrong diet practices that create a threat to their life. Teenage girls are more likely to suffer from anorexia nervosa than teenage boys. 

Who is responsible for Self-objectification in women? 

It is not only men to be blamed for this situation. A woman internalizes this from a young age, influenced by her parents, teachers, or later by her partner. As a result, women’s constant preoccupation with themselves has become a natural process. So, it is not easy to stop a woman from objectifying herself. The change is needed in the whole society. It is the responsibility of every single person to stop objectifying or make the other person to feel objectified by themselves. 

What can we do to prevent Self-objectification? 

• Let’s accept a woman if she says no to makeup, if she’s ok with a simple way of dressing. Let her focus on the career she wishes for, and don’t push her to be self-conscious it may break the flow along with the inner self. 
• Don’t encourage a girl child to objectify herself. 
• Make them realize they are beautiful by nature.