Objectification, Leading to....?

Great post, honey. The woman in that picture you posted is totally hot!!! Oh wait....

I think you hit the nail on the head with this question: "if objectification of women ... is one of the direct or indirect causes for the disrespect towards women that results in behavior such as rape, slavery, or discrimination, then clearly it needs to be decried."

Exactly. That's the big if. And if everyone's failure to send me See's dark chocolate truffles causes cancer in kittens, then you all need to get off the stick, you selfish monsters! (Dark butter creams save kitties just as effectively, by the way.)

The objectification myth is very powerful and manipulative rhetoric. By tying something universal and inevitable -- looking with sexual interest -- to one of the most horrible crimes known to man, via a vague but sort-of plausible theory, feminist ideologues have created a cause that can't be debunked (or won). As long as humans like to look at (and be) attractive people, there will be media "objectification" for them to criticize, safe in the knowledge that nothing will ever change.

The only problem is that this discussion does nothing to reduce rape, and distracts everyone from the reality of gender in the world.