Objectification of Women- Concerns and Solutions

Objectification of Women- Concerns and Solutions

She, in her early twenties, walks into the orthodontic clinic accompanied by her concerned father. He wants to get her teeth straightened so she could qualify for better matrimonial prospects. A struggling model wants to get her lips augmented by a cosmetic surgeon. A college student wants to get her hair done to look more attractive. The shopping mall down the road sees hundreds of ladies every week purchasing designer clothes, accessories, cosmetic products and perfumes. What is common in all these examples? The need to look good... for others... for strangers!

O

bjectifying a person is to see a person as an inanimate object instead of a human being who has a heart and a soul. What is an object? An object is essentially a thing that you use and later discard. There are no emotions attached to the object. You are not required to treat an object with honour, respect or dignity. You need not empathise with the object or speak out words of encouragement to appreciate it. You need not apologize to the object if you happen to hurt it. You simply use it, benefit from it and forget about it.

What else is an object? In a typical simple sentence, we have the subject, the verb and an object. Kamran drives a car. Zahid kicked a ball. Here, Kamran and Zahid are the subjects. The sentence revolves around their activity. It is entirely up to their discretion what they want to do with the car or the ball, the latter being mere objects. The car and the ball have no say in the matter. They are totally under the command of their masters. In this sense, an object is an entity that is totally subservient to the wishes of someone else, is owned by someone else, and has no authority to even decide whether or not it can or should be used.

When human beings are objectified, they lose their human dimension. He and she are relegated to it. They are seen as mere objects that can be used as per the will of the subject. They come to be seen as resources that can either be an asset or a liability. So, instead of benefiting from the qualities of the person, one tends to make use of the person. The humane factor is lost in the corporate world where an employee is merely a post holder who can be promoted or laid off depending only upon certain output statistics in his record, with utter disregard to his personal circumstances. This is also true in a war, where it becomes easier to kill an innocent child, a breadwinner or a mother of two the moment they have been objectified as enemies. You might recall the figure of speech ‘personification’ that we had learnt in school wherein inanimate objects like rivers, trees and mountains are decorated with human qualities of loving, caring, being courageous.... What we are discussing here is a complete antithesis of this idea!

Objectification, when narrowed down to a woman, becomes all the more scary and unnerving. Women, from the beginning of time, have been looked down upon as the lesser sex, with people even debating whether they possess a soul or not. They were, and still are widely being treated as sex objects, whose sole purpose in life is to please the male, being perceived as nothing more than an alluring assortment of a pair of breasts, legs and buttocks, vagina and nice looking face. People who treat others like objects are treating them merely as someone who exists as a backdrop for someone else’s story. This makes it very easy for eve teasers to pass inappropriate comments, ogle and grope women on the streets, in public places, on the bus and in the train. The entire system of prostitution and visual pornography rests on this very mindset that allows a man to gain erotic gratification from a woman without knowing her as a person and having no interest in her qualities as a human being. This is probably why she is termed an ‘item’ in a dance number, because that is precisely what she has been reduced to!

Even as you read this article, women are being objectified in the workplace, in the kitchen and in the bedroom in the most demeaning manner. Let us see how....

Industry:

Have you ever wondered why the receptionist at the front desk of an office is almost always a lady? Except for some establishments where their contribution is indispensable, their presence at the reception desk is only in the capacity of a beautiful object meant to welcome men. What lends credence to this point is the way in which they are required to present themselves at the workplace. While men may very well wear overcoats over their suits, women in the same office are made to wear knee-high skirts in the name of corporate etiquettes! Why does an air hostess have to look so attractive? Being a dental surgeon, I am privy to the fact that their selection hinges upon how beautiful they are. Many of my orthodontic patients have been aspiring air hostesses who wanted to have their teeth in line in order to qualify for the job of cleaning the aisles of aircrafts and serving meals to its passengers!

Sexual harassment of ladies at the workplace is a natural outcome of this mentality. Since women employed at the workplace are seen as mere objects by their male colleagues (either consciously or subconsciously), it becomes instinctive for them to have utter disregard for their emotions or dignity as human beings. They don’t respect them as they respect their fellow male co-workers; rather, feel completely justified at treating them as objects of their carnal desire. A lewd remark here and a pat there becomes so casual an act that it is counted as part of the existing work culture, not worth a raised eyebrow.

Advertising:

It’s been several months now since that ad was first aired on TV but I am still unable to fathom why a cement commercial should have scantily dressed women carrying cement bags in the most seductive manner. Should it not rather focus on the other (if not equally important) requirements of builders and civil engineers like the qualities of the cement? What exactly are they selling when they have an almost naked woman lying on a sports bike that is usually purchased by men? Why do you need women panting for their breath to sell a deodorant that masks male body odour? Just type ‘objectification of women’ on the Google tab and you can see images of products being sold that have apparently no relation to the body parts of the women that are selling them. And why cement bags, even sandwiches have now become objects of lust, it seems. Some of these ads are so disgusting and morally degrading that it has now become difficult to read the papers or watch television in the presence of other family members!

Domestic:

This is by far the most common and underrated form of objectification of women. The principal reason why women are being ill-treated in our homes is that we don’t view them as fellow human beings with whom we can discuss our matters and share our concerns. What a person seeks in his prospective bride decides his attitude towards women. Does he pick out a well-endowed beautiful woman from a pile of photographs, or does he want a companion to hold his hand through thick and thin? Does he desire a woman he can enjoy in bed and show off to his friends or does he desire a lady who would be the comfort of his eyes and a caring mother to his children? Does he hanker after a woman who would earn for him or does he want to make her the queen of his house? This issue has been astutely taken up in a Hadith wherein Prophet Muhammad ﷺ has advised us to look into the inherent qualities of a lady instead of falling for her beauty, lineage or wealth. (Gist of a Hadith narrated by Abu Hurairah and recorded in Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim)

The dual face of an objectified woman

Injustice to Women:

Objectification of women has caused severe gender injustice at the individual and collective levels.

Since the man-dominated society ceases to see her as a person of mind and soul, it suppresses her and usurps her basic rights. She is verbally, physically and sexually abused with no scope of deliverance whatsoever. She might not even be allowed to complete her foetal stages if her owners decide against the need of entertaining this liability!

But what is more disturbing is that women too seem to have resigned to the fate of being an object; being groomed from their childhood to accept this unfortunate fact and submit accordingly in order to gain acceptance from the misogynist society they are born in, or be ready to be branded by the most uncouth of words. They have surrendered to the fact that they can live and grow in this patriarchal society only if they consent to play the role of a manoeuvrable object in the hands of their masters. This is precisely why the girl in her early twenties visits an orthodontist, the struggling model visits a cosmetic surgeon, the student spends hours and money in the parlour, and the mall witnesses jaw-dropping footfalls and sales. There is an abject sense of insecurity and inferiority complex that this prevailing mentality nurtures within them. They come to see themselves as vulnerable objects that are owned and controlled by others, bought by others, used by others and discarded by others. She battles her inner self to see reason in her existence and finally ends up placating her emotions and whatever is left of her self-esteem, compromising with her desires and allowing her individuality to blur out in the horizon.

There are some women who indulge in self-objectification, whereby they tactfully use their beauty to their own advantage and harness this potential to make their way up the ladder. On the other hand, women who are not as physically attractive as they are required to be end up feeling depressed and forego their ambitions. This retards their normal intellectual and emotional development and they do not attain the success they deserve.

What can be done about it?

This mentality has become so pervasive in society over the years that it cannot be rectified by simply legislating laws against it. And a lingering question is: ‘Who would bring in the much required Gender Justice?’ Not men, obviously, they being the primary culprits behind the entire issue. Not women either, who have demanded more than their share in the name of feminism. True justice can only be delivered by God, who has created both men and women and can be the only One who can judge in this regard without favour or prejudice. Let us see what principles God has laid down by means of His final revelation, the Qur’an and the final messenger, Prophet Muhammad ﷺ....

External measures:

In order to protect women from being objectified and abused, Islam has made known the high status it has allotted women. As a mother, she holds three ranks over the father and paradise is said to lie beneath her feet which can be attained by her selfless service. As a daughter, she has been made the ticket to one’s entry into paradise if she is brought up graciously and lovingly at par with her brothers, and as a wife her rights over her husband have explicitly been laid down. She has been allowed to work and earn, but she has also been given full rights over her earnings and her relatives’ inheritance. She may attend the workplace, visit markets and travel, but she has been instructed to not mingle freely with men, cover herself modestly and advised to speak in a rough and clear tone, so as to allay any indication that she is open to be used as an object at the hands of others. Sister who have reverted to Islam have time and again pointed out that they have found the Hijab to have liberated them from being objectified by the preying eyes of men. Prostitution, pornography and any indecent portrayal of women in advertisements and beauty pageants has also been strictly prohibited.

Internal measures:

Islam envisions a society where women understand their self-worth and live a dignified life. At the same time, the general psyche of men has also been reformed so that they may view women with the honour and prestige they deserve. Men have been directed to treat their wives with kindness, and fear God with regards their rights due unto them, reminding them that they have been created from the same pair of Adam and Eve as themselves. The Prophet has told us that the best of men are those who are good to their family members, reiterating his appeal to be good to women even on his deathbed.

Conclusion:

Objectification of women is an age-old malaise that has become more severe with the advent of modern technology and civilization. As a consequence, it has led to grave injustice meted out to women, playing with her emotions, her psychology and her growth and development, taking away her rights and degrading her to a level far below the status she deserves in society. Islamic principles, if applied in letter and spirit, can alone end this injustice, bring her out of this abyss and grant her all that is due to her.