Is Objectivity Subjective?

First, I want to start off this post by thanking Rhonda "Roxanne" Richardson and Aminata "Nu Nu" Steele for providing the mental stimulation, to sit in front of my Hewlett-Packard for more than just facebook and classwork. I appreciate the motivation from both of you.


A few days ago I put a status on facebook that went something like this: "...you can't be objectified, if you don't lend yourself to objectivity." The status wasn't really meant to ruffle any feathers, but of course it did. It was actually reminiscent of a post that I wrote almost a year and a half ago entitled,"Ladies, Don't You Feel Disrespected?" That post received the most feedback that I have received since I started the blog close to 2 years ago.

The post was basically me trying to appeal to women readers who may be supporting artist that objectify them in their songs and videos. There were a few things I could've addressed in a post of this nature, but I chose to take the angle of women who subconsciously or unknowingly support this behavior with their actions. Instead of feedback about what I wrote, most people told me what I should've written. Nothing really wrong with that because I love all types of feedback. However, I do have a problem with being verbally attacked because not everyone shares my opinion.

So, back to my facebook status. After the status I immediately got a response from "Nu Nu" basically saying that regardless of what women do, no one should be objectified. This I totally agree with. We went back and forth for awhile unwilling to relent our own point-of-view and then it dawned on me, she was the person who anonymously ripped me in the first post I wrote. This caused me to go back and read all that I had written in that post to help me accuately write this one without being misconstrued.

I do not agree with how women are objectified today. I rarely watch music videos, but I do listen to some songs that may be offensive, or more appropriately, should be offensive to all women. Thus I will say, in that right, I am a part of the problem.

Now that I got that out of the way, I write this post to be part of the solution. While I do agree with "Nu Nu" that nobody should be objectified, people are objectified. Standing around saying something is wrong without any proposition of making it right is sleeping in idealism and is probably why our society is the way it is today. Yes, looking at a woman in a music video as an object is wrong, but allowing yourself to be looked upon as an object, and then being angered by being objectified is a bit hypocritical. How can you get mad at the cycle that we are all perpetuating? My status was an attempt, after my reflection, to try to get others to relect on their actions. Needless to say, it turned into a finger pointing session. There is no such thing as more wrong. Wrong is wrong, and if we look at it like one party is more wrong that the other, someone is going to assume that they are a little right.

As most of the formats of my posts, this post is meant to provoke thought. I try not to staddle the fence with an issue, but this particular subject is a lot more broad than one post can report. After reading the rest of "Nu Nu's" comments and comments from the post I wrote initially, I have continue to write on this issue. Thanks again for the motivation "Roxanne" and "Nu Nu"