Let’s talk about worth, but before we do, I think we need to talk about objectification. 

Objectification Defined

To objectify means to treat a person as an object and consequently not as the subject of their lives, or as today’s generation says so eloquently, it prevents people from being the “main character” in their story and rather relegates them to a “NPC” or a “non-playable character.”

When we think of objectification we often think about the objectification of people who identify as women. This is because women have experienced this devaluing of personhood for generations. “Objectification theory posits that girls and women are typically acculturated to internalize an observer’s perspective as a primary view of their physical self” (Fredrickson and Roberts, 1997). It is important to note that objectification does not only mean sexual or physical objectification. Objectification happens any time a human is made to feel like the object instead of the subject. Objectification happens to people who society characterizes as less than or not the norm. Any individual or group who has experienced oppression and/or discrimination based on who they are has experienced objectification. This is how abuse is allowed to take place. This is how abuse of power is perpetuated. The contorted and abusive logic of objectification teaches that if someone is no longer the subject then it really does not matter how they are treated. Objectification can also lead to self-objectification. This is when one begins to think of oneself as the object and not the subject, when external messaging becomes so internalized that it becomes the messaging one uses towards oneself. 

How Objectification Happens and What Happens When it Does

The French philosopher Michel Foucault often writes about power and objectification, including his beliefs on how people become objectified in society. He elaborates on what he calls dividing practices, scientific classification, and subjectification. Dividing practices refers to the practices that place people inside or outside of the group. Scientific classification refers to the pathologizing and labeling people endure that make them objects to be analyzed by someone else who is the subject. And lastly, subjectification refers to people taking on the role of becoming either the subject or the object. He states that “men [have] learned to recognize themselves as subjects of “sexuality”” (The Subject and Power). This implies that cis-men are most likely made into the subjects. 

We see these modes evident in macro-societal abuses like racism, sexism, antisemitism, homophobia, islamaphobia, bi-phobia, ableism etc, as well as in micro-level behaviors like emotional, physical and sexual abuse within a family system. All the -isms serve to render humans as powerless or othered and give people in power the right to cause harm. 

On a familial level, when children are brought up in homes that are abusive or neglectful they begin to feel powerless. If parents do not make children the subject of their own lives by showing them delight, letting them see themselves reflected in their parents and being a secure place of return when they make mistakes, then children start to feel as if they are only pawns in someone else’s story and that their personhood does not actually exist. They often internalize that they are here to serve their parents. This can lead to either self objectification or internalization of the objectifying messages in our society, messages that tell people they are not enough, their bodies are not the right shape, they are too much, they take up too much space, they are lazy, and ultimately that they are bad. 

In other words the systems we live in, both macro and micro, have the power to make us feel like an object – controlled, demeaned, and not enough. 

Objectification and Worth

How is objectification directly related to worth? In our capitalistic society objects have a price tag. We are brought up as children to ask: “how much is this object worth?” When we make mistakes and spend too much money on an object we are schooled on this immediately. “Don’t you see that this shirt is not worth this amount of money because it does not meet these criteria.” We learn very quickly how to assess how much an object is worth, we learn the criteria, and in this learning we feel powerful. When we are able to get an object for less than it is worth we are congratulated and made to feel as if we have power over the system. So many people respond to compliments about their objects by saying how little they spent on them and how much they are actually worth. 

The problem with this is that we apply this exact same logic to ourselves. If many of us are made to feel like objects because of the systems we live in both macro and micro, then we also learn to judge our worth based on criteria. Now you may be thinking, what criteria? The criteria that people use to assess their worth are usually those that have been taught to them by the larger system and/or our family system, and these criteria are directly related to objectification. These criteria reinforce the heteronormative, cis-gender, fatphobic, able-bodied messages that surround us. These messages keep us as objects and not as subjects.

Worth Without Criteria

I often wonder what our society would look like if our collective worth was based on absolutely no criteria. How different would our systems be if we did not believe that one person or group of people had more worth than others? How would we all feel if we remembered that we have inherent worth and that there is nothing we have to do to earn it? What would happen if our society taught that no amount of grinding, earning, explaining, or subjugation will change our worth? How would our children feel if parents reinforced their inherent worth? And how much better would parents be able to parent if they were taught to see their own worth? 

In order to do this we will have to reclaim our main character status by challenging any system that tries to objectify us. I know this is not an easy task, and I know that people need support and resources to be able to begin the process of challenging objectifying systems. I also know that as you read this you may think there is no way you will be able to challenge any external messaging today.

Remember… 

You still have worth.

You will every day,

No matter what you do, 

How you do it, 

When you do it, 

Who you are doing it with,

And what you look like doing it.