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TREATING WOMEN AS SEX‐OBJECTS
Author(s) -
Swanton Christine,
Robinson Viviane,
Crosthwaite Jan
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
journal of social philosophy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.353
H-Index - 31
eISSN - 1467-9833
pISSN - 0047-2786
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9833.1989.tb00456.x
Subject(s) - dehumanization , object (grammar) , interpersonal communication , grasp , field (mathematics) , psychology , social psychology , sociology , psychoanalysis , epistemology , gender studies , philosophy , computer science , linguistics , mathematics , anthropology , pure mathematics , programming language
In this paper we have two related aims. First, we aim to present an account of what it is to treat women as sex‐objects. 1 Like other philosophical writers in the field, we hold that the central idea in an account of such treatment is the failure to treat women with proper respect in sexual behavior. This idea has been cashed out in terms of using, 2 and in terms of dehumanization or failure to accord equal rights to freedom and welfare. 3 However, we believe that there is a central deficiency in most such philosophical accounts of treating women as sex‐objects, namely, a failure to outline in any detail a theory of interpersonal norms so that one can grasp in more concrete terms what it is to avoid treating a woman as a sex‐object. We aim to rectify this deficiency by presenting a model of interpersonal norms based on the work of the social psychologist Chris Argyris. 4