THE OBJECT CALLED WOMAN

Have you noticed the increase in the number of hotels and supermarkets in Kubwa?

Have you asked why real estate firms and some churches just use ladies to drive sales or church growth via evangelism? Believe it or not, these are silent ways of Objectification. Objectification is a portrayal of a woman or female as an object of sex.

Sadly, firms then capitalize on this to put women in the forefront of their adverts (those big billboards in Kubwa and surroundings, TV commercials or even those radio adverts inviting you to a programme or to a church service), basically to entice male/men to patronize their goods and/or services.

Some may argue that women are hardworking, which is why they are used in this kind of business. Let’s not divorce the truth that it’s all a ploy to entice the male/men who look and listen (while imagining the sexual “finishings”).

The sad part of these frames of objectification is that it makes the menfolk think that women are for sex alone. I hate to say it truthfully, but that is the wrong lens to view females through. This same issue makes women begin to lose their self-worth, and they begin to compete amongst themselves. You then see a sudden increase in women going for plastic surgeries, as self-surveillance goes on the increase, and women become more image-conscious. The ladies in the real estate businesses, hospitality (hotels and restaurants) begin to hate each other and compromise (sexually and financially) as they have been stationed in these tasks by their bosses/employers who are selfishly using objectification to drive up sales (profit) through these females/women.

We have to be real and stop objectifying women, as it has extreme results like femicide (hatred for females and eventual killing) and rape (forceful sex or sex without consent). This is the time to restore the dignity of women by stopping objectification in all its forms. We must respect women for who they are, and immediately stop looking at their bodies as rewards for a work well done. That is so wrong.