Inescapability of Objectifation

This class thus far has left me in a wierd place in terms of my thoughts about being a woman and projecting myself as such.  There has been moments, for example, with the Butler essay, when I have felt confident in the steps I have taken to disrupt the expectations of my gender.  There has been other times that I am left feeling that there is literally no escape from being oppressed and even further by being oppressed by my own choices.  After watching the Beyonce videos and taking a closer critical look at women in pop culture, I am concerned about the image that is being projected as progressive and positive to women in our society.  I do not see how the way women like Beyonce or Lady Gaga present themselves is doing anything beyond turning themselves into objects.  This has led me to further analyze the way women present themselves and question whether or not we can escape from turning our selves into objects. Yet  this too is complicated, because  the intentions that go into the way women present themselves is always different.  I do believe that Beyonce as a pop star uses her sexuality as a tool to gain popularity and make money, and therefore I do not believe she is making a strong feminist statement by any means.  But, on the other hand, are women who are simply born with traits that are typically attractive able to present themselves in a way that is not objectifying themselves, or should they even have to?  How are we supposed to feel comforatable in our own bodies if we are not comforatable being thought of as objects to someone, anyone that is ready to percieve us that way?

 I realized through this that I do not know how paint to women, that I am afraid to paint women, because I am afraid to objectify them.  It seems inherent in the art making process that to make a visual representation of something or someone, you must first think of them as an object to make a copy of it or them.  So, know I begin to wonder if our sense of sight or our cultural focus on viewing and being entertained by viewing does not immediately make an object out of what we are looking at.  If peoples bodies are being presented to us for a purpose that only serves ourselves are we not thinking of these bodies as an object in relation to our own subjecthood?  And if this is the case, then perhaps objectification is not always a bad thing. This leads me to wonder: where is do we draw the line?  Is all objectification oppressive?  Is the way to feel comforatable in our bodies to feel comforatable with being thought of as objects?  Or is this asking too much?