The Santa Monica Philosophy Meetup – Sexual objectification (the ethics of)

Hello Philosophy Fans!

The monthly Meetup is this Sunday, Apr. 27 at 5 PM – 7 PM Pacific Time. We're meeting by Zoom this month; join in by phone or by computer with a microphone and (preferably) a webcam. Shortly before the meeting starts, I'll send a Zoom invitation with the link and some reading notes.

If your plans to attend have changed, please update your RSVP.

The winner of the email vote and the topic for Sunday is:

IS IT WRONG TO SEXUALLY OBJECTIFY PEOPLE? If it's wrong, why is it wrong? Or, under what circumstances is it wrong? Does it matter ethically whether it's a male objectifying a female, or a female objectifying a male, or same-sex objectification? And, what exactly does it mean to objectify someone sexually; what is it you are doing when you objectify someone?
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READINGS for the topic – I have two readings for you this time, totaling 10 pages of text. One is a two page article and the other is a series of three, linked blog posts. Inspire and clarify your thinking on the issues by reading this stuff and pondering the topic!

https://aeon.co/ideas/why-sexual-desire-is-objectifying-and-hence-morally-wrong
Why sexual desire is objectifying – and hence morally wrong. This 2-page article from Aeon magazine advances the controversial thesis that sexual desire itself is morally wrong, at least in part. It's by Raja Halwani, professor of philosophy at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He specializes in the area, and is author of the book Philosophy of Love, Sex and Marriage (2010).

Seven Types of Objectification. Blogger Luke Muehlhauser has three consecutive blog posts that are, combined, eight pages long, and are exactly on our topic. You should read them in order. The posts summarize a few famous philosophers on objectification, including Martha Nussbaum and Rae Langton. Though he called his blog Common Sense Atheism, these particular postings have nothing to do with religion. Note that the original links are broken, but I found the posts on The Internet Archive (The "WayBack Machine"):

https://web.archive.org/web/20120414051653/http://commonsenseatheism.com/?p=10271
Seven Types of Objectification (part 1)
https://web.archive.org/web/20120418095237/http://commonsenseatheism.com/?p=10323
Seven Types of Objectification (part 2)
https://web.archive.org/web/20121006201949/http://commonsenseatheism.com/?p=10330
The Problem with Objectification
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Don't forget, if you have some philosophical question or issue that you want to talk about at a future meeting, email it to me!

See you there,

Brian