The word “object” has very different meanings depending on how you pronounce it. One way to say it is OBject (emphasis on the “ob”), as in “sex object”; another way to say it is obJECT (emphasis on the “ject”), as in, “I object to that characterization of women.”
Old-school feminism was about objecting. In the late ‘60s, women began talking to each other about their common experiences and realized that they were objects in their own homes: wife, mother, cook, laundress, nurse, maid, consort. They also started talking about how women were perceived outside the home (if they were perceived at all), in the media, in the arts, in the culture at large. They began to understand that they were unwittingly limiting their personal power by allowing themselves to be treated as objects.
New-school feminism was about understanding the power in being an object, the power in being the object of (generally) male affection. The term “sex-positive feminism” was coined to reflect our growing understanding that as long as we give consent, we can do anything we want with our bodies and still be feminists. Sexual freedom was considered an essential part of women’s freedom, and sex workers were welcome to share their unique perspectives. We came to own our sexuality and desire and could call ourselves “object” with pride.
Now-school feminism is about … Hmm … let’s see … Anna Nicole’s dead, Paris is in jail, Lindsay’s passed out in the back seat of a car. For better or worse, Girls Gone Wild, Suicide Girls and paparazzi crotch shots are intensifying the “pornification” of America. By having The Conversation, OBJECT is trying to figure out if there’s something more, and if not, how we can create it.
The fact is, we don’t think we have to pick one meaning of “object” over another. As women, we contain multitudes. We objectify ourselves and we object to our objectification. We are the sacred and the erotic, the Madonna and the whore, the virgin and the slut (sometimes all in one day). Integrating our selves is key to realizing and celebrating who we are. OBJECT is about understanding who we are as subjects.
How do we begin to integrate our selves, define ourselves, honor ourselves? By, among other things, setting our own boundaries and breaking through those set for us. OBJECT is about supporting each other in this challenge. No matter how you say it, OBJECT is about presenting each other with alternatives, options and choices that are right for each of us as individuals. |
