Chike's picture and objectification on the internet

So what is objectification?

If I am walking down a street and I see a majestic view, maybe it is the sunset or a flower and I stop and say, “What a majestic sunset.” Or “What a beautiful flower.” Have I objectified it?

According to German philosopher Immanuel Kant; "Objectification is the regarding of someone as an object, something to use". A person is an object and “is cast aside as a lemon which is sucked dried.”

A clear picture of objectification would be prostitution and pornography.

American foremost feminist and lawyer Catharine Mackinnon states that; “A sex object is defined based on its looks. In terms of its usability for pleasure such that both looking, and the quality of the gaze include the points of view {which} becomes eroticized as part of sex itself.”

What Catharine is saying is that a sex object is just seen as a thing to be used. Immediately a sex object is seen, the content of the objectifiers mind is sex, how to use such person to fulfil their sexual fantasies.

When a teenage boy goes through porn sites, he is not seeing the woman and thinking "Oh...I wonder what her life dreams are?" but "How can I use her to fulfil my sexual desire?"

The objectifier and the person being objectified can be one.

Sometimes we objectify ourselves. It is believed that "women (and men) are under constant pressure to correct their bodies and appearance and more generally treat their bodies as things to be decorated and gazed upon."

We try our hardest to seem appealing to gain praise and admiration from people.

Objectification could be good or bad depending on the context. Objectification is negative when it occurs in a situation where consent, equality and respect are absent.

In a relationship or marriage, your partner can still see you as someone to fulfil their sexual needs, it is hardly bad when you both consent to such use of each others bodies.

Thirst traps

There is the polarization of the internet with seemingly sexy pictures, called thirst traps. A thirst trap is a common word for self-sexualisation which occurs when people put certain things or accessories that makes them appealing or erotic.

Young people know which pictures gets liked on the internet and they post such pictures to gain popularity among their peers.

There seems to be a thin line between objectification, self-objectification and self-sexualisation.

When people post thirst traps, what do they think would be the reactions from humans who are sexual beings? Does this give people the right to objectify them?

This is the summation of all I have been saying pictures like Chike's would definitely spark reactions, it is obviously appealing but it is objectification when it is overtly lewd, sexual, disrespectful and creepy.