On Objectification
So I’m told not to objectify
When I see a cat, I shouldn’t see a cat
But a living being
What if I have a teddy bear
Is that not an object
Should I not play with a teddy bear
Oh, but I shouldn’t objectify a human
Shouldn’t objectify a woman
Shouldn’t see a woman
As an object —
The woman —
A living one is not an object —
She moves
On her own
Unlike a teddy bear
A doll or a robot
So — I can’t have sex with something
That does not move
Like a photo
Or a teddy bear
A robot or a doll
I should have it with something
That moves
Not an object
But a living and moving —
What —
Living and moving object
Not a dead and unmoving object
Like a cadaver
I see —
But I can eat —
A dead and unmoving object
I can also eat
A living and moving one
So — I can eat a dead and unmoving object
Play with a dead and unmoving object
See objects — living and dead
Moving and unmoving
But I shouldn’t see
Things that are
Living and moving
As objects
Unless they are objects
Like photos
So — can I objectify then
Or can't I
Can I objectify a living and moving
Person —
And have sex with her
Or a living and moving
Animal
And eat it
Or shall I subjectify a living and moving
Person
And then have sex with her
And subjectify a living and moving
Animal
And then eat it
How’d I subjectify another
By asking her —
Of course
I’d ask her — are you a subject
And then if the answer is yes
Then I’d have sex with that subject
Two subjects —
Having sex
Is that what is meant by
Not objectifying
Another person
Is it because we are all subjects
And only subjects should have
Sex with one another
And objects can’t
Shouldn’t
Or a subject shouldn’t have sex
With an object
Only with a subject
A subject can eat an object
That object — the hen —
That I eat
Is that not a subject
I don’t ask her whether she’d like to be eaten
I kill it and eat it
But I can’t do the same with humans
Against the law
Barbaric
Cannibal
So — how does an object become a subject
How does a subject become an object
Am I really an object or subject
Or both
And what about the other
Are they one or the other
Or both
Am I really not
Subject to myself
And object to another
And is it not the same
With everyone else
A butterfly is an object for a cat
An antelope for a lion
A fish for a crocodile
A man for a woman
And a woman for a man
Is that not how it always is —
Has been
I don’t chew on my own fingers
But on fish fingers
Fish — an object
I never eat a subject — only an object
Never have sex with a subject
Only with an object
The subject in me does not have sex
Does it
The subject in the other doesn’t have it either
It’s only the object
That has sex with an object
So — how can I not objectify
If I didn’t
Who would I have sex with
And ever —
Come to be