To Him I Was an Object: Sexual Assault and Body Image
That’s how Elizabeth Smart — who was kidnapped at age 14 and raped daily for 9 months — describes her kidnapper’s perception of her. To view or treat someone as an object, or a compilation of parts to be judged and consumed, is to dehumanize that person. Objectification is dehumanization. The presence of female objectification in media and public settings is inescapable. Nearly nude, thin-yet-curvaceous, Photoshopped body ideals are used to sell absolutely everything — including the promise of happiness, health, and desirability — to girls and women who will spend their lives (and their money) trying to attain such ideals.
In a culture that is so comfortable viewing women’s bodies as objects available for our own mental consumption, it should be no surprise that many women’s bodies are violently used as objects for physical consumption without their consent. In the U.S., it is estimated that almost 20 percent* of women have been sexually assaulted, most of which involved completed rape. This is one of the most objectifying and dehumanizing acts a person can experience. As a result of this trauma, most survivors of sexual assault experience body image disturbance in some form, from preoccupation with appearance to severe eating disorders. Reports show 30-60% of patients in treatment for eating disorders have been sexually assaulted.**