Is it empowering for women to sexualize themselves?

[Twinrova]

[EmbraceThePain]

Empowering?


No, I don’t think so.


Men have already sexualized and objectified women in a variety and numerous of ways throughout history and society.


Even today.


I think this has caused many issues for everyone.


Why would it be good for a woman to do to herself what men have been doing for the longest time and that has caused so much negativity?

[Twinrova]

You said it.

[Berethor]

It's empowering for women to look attractive, as it's one of the main female attributes.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MenAreStrongWomenArePretty

[thegirlfromthething]

It can be, if women decide to do it because they want to and not because they were pressured or want to appease other people.

[Twinrova]

But objects don't have intrinsic value like people. We value objects based on what they can do for us. Shakira demonstrated in the moment captured in the photo that her value comes from pleasing lonely, 60 yr old men. That is especially how young people will see it.

[Twinrova]

This is why it is generally a good idea not to objectify yourself.

[thegirlfromthething]

Sexualization doesn’t always equate to objectification. You can purposely look and act sexy and still see yourself as a human being with value beyond your ability to arouse or gratify others.

[Twinrova]

Lots of people have unrealistically positive appraisals of themselves. How do you think the viewers percieve them though? It just seems like it would be degrading to recognize that your worth comes from your posterior, and not your talent, or mind, etc...

[thegirlfromthething]

Even if the viewers see her as a sex object the woman can still be empowered because of the way the sexualization makes her feel about herself. And sometimes women don’t sexualize themselves in front of an audience- they can do it alone for their personal benefit. One of my friends has nude selfies she doesn’t send anyone and she just keeps them for herself because they make her feel sexy. And sometimes I wear sexy clothes when I’m alone that I wouldn’t wear in public because I like the way I look in them.

[Twinrova]

I'm not saying this isn't something subjective, but think about the cultural impact of behaviours like those exhibited in the question's photo. Younger people are watching you be exalted for your posterior, not your talent. It would be hard to argue that for Nikki Minaj, Cardi B, Kim K, Iggy Azalea, etc... their rear-ends aren't a centeral part of what makes them famous. This is teaching the next generation that a woman's worth is largely tied up in their bodies. I'd think that this would be inimical to the goals of feminism, no?

[thegirlfromthething]

If these women choose to sexualize themselves and are okay with people finding them sexy then I don’t think it’s anti-feminist. And even though there are more women known for being sexy, there are also more women known for being brave, intelligent, successful, and strong. People are seeing that there are all kinds of women and they have options so they can choose to be what they want. I don’t mind if some women sexualize themselves and make their bodies their main commodity because there are so many other women doing different things and highly sexualized ones like the Kardashians are just one example of how women can be.

[Twinrova]

Yes, and there are men who make sexual objects of themselves. However, the difference between the rate at which women do this, and at which men do this is like comparing an elephant to a mouse. We can say that in our culture. There isn't a mainstream celebrity, male equivalent to J-lo, Cardi, Nikki, Kim K, Iggy, etc... Also, I'm sure you wouldn't argue that the elevated rate of Body Dysmorphic disorder, anorexia, and self-image issues in general among women isn't due at least in part to the pernicious effects our culture reproducing itself. Think about it: you see synthetic women being praised for objectifying themselves, this in turn has an insidious effect on the standards young girls set for themselves, because they can never attain the gargantuan amorphus blob that is Nikki Minaj's ass. There is a reason this problem mostly exists on one end as far as sex is concerned, and that is because we feed into a culture where women are exalted for sexualizing their bodies by giving them our praise.

[Twinrova]

I just realized how terribly I wrote this. Lmk if you don't get my point and I'll redo it. I'm sorry.

[thegirlfromthething]

The kind of sexualization you’re talking about, where women wouldn’t have changed themselves if they didn’t feel pressured to look a certain way, I would not consider empowering. It’s okay for girls to see sexualized women as long as they understand that they don’t have to sexualize themselves to be empowered or get people’s approval. There is plenty of content about women who are empowered and got approval for non-sexual reasons but girls aren’t paying as much attention to that.

[ChocoBrownieMonster]

Women want to enjoy their bodies until it grows old. Ofcourse it's empowering when they receive money for it.

[Twinrova]

But that is clearly a bad argument. I can do a lot of degrading things for money. They don't become a positive because I make money off of them.

[ChocoBrownieMonster]

it's bad in your eyes? but it's not bad in the eyes of the owner of their body. There are people out there who want to be degraded with no money involved. I dont think they'll say they feel empowered.

[Twinrova]

I'm not saying this isn't something subjective. The impact that sexualizing women has though, is that it makes most younger people come to perceive a woman's worth as being tied up in her body. When J-Lo, or Nikki Minaj, or Kim K, or Cardi B, or Iggy Azalea, etc... are exalted for their posterior and not their talent, that is the message the next generation receives. I'd think that because this kind of behaviour supports this worldview it would be inimical to the goals of feminism, but many feminists seem to throw their support behind this kind of behaviour. Weird.

[ChocoBrownieMonster]

Feminists don't want men deciding anything for them. But they'll still blame men for whatever happens after.

[Twinrova]

Lmao there was actually a director who recently blamed her low grossing film on men being sexist. They had cast a mostly female team - which has done well in other movies in the past - but because her movie flopped it is my fault for being sexist or something.

[ChocoBrownieMonster]

😂😂☝️ Yeah and what's funny is that female movie producers seem to have a young boy living with a mother who freely walks around naked. And one went to the extent of showing a teen boy having sex with a woman. But switch it round, shock horror

[hellacray]

It is unless it's in video games or cartoons.

[Twinrova]

Wuht?

[hellacray]

Sigh... It's empowering for women to sexualize themselves. However in video games and cartoons if girls are drawn too sexy feminists gets pissed. So... Things like being a porn actor, stripper, or modeling with very little clothes or nude are seen as empowering. It shows that they are comfortable with their bodies and will not let society say what they can or can't do with their bodies. However... When they see cartoon characters or video game characters that are too sexy looking. They start saying it's objectifying women and they want to cancel the company or whatever. It's kind of ridiculous how real women objectifying themselves is seen as ok and empowering. However a video game character gets a bunch of crap.

[3dbrah]

I feel that this is an entertainment industry problem. Most women are totally blind to it however. They can't look beyond the glamour and shiny bits of showbiz. Its to their own detriment.

[Anonymous]

yes i for 1 am glad women are really empowered nowadays to walk around in basically no clothes as if they're wearing a turtleneck and sweatpants. Life is good.