The concept of objectification owes much work to Simone de Beauvoir regarding the basic dualism of human consciousness between the Self and the Other. There is this general mental process where humans classify the world into 'us' and 'them'.
Women are universally viewed as the Other across all cultures, a role which is both externally imposed and internalized, and which means that women are generally not truly regarded as fully human. An important point of de Beauvoir's was that this Othering effect is the same whether women are viewed as wholly inferior or if feminity is viewed as mysterious and morally superior: "Otherness and full equality can not exist."
Now, when it comes to sexual objectification - this concept can be understood as the viewing of people solely as de-personalized objects of desired instead of as individuals with complex personalities and desires/plans of their own. This is done by speaking/thinking of women especially as only their bodies, either the whole body or as fetishizes body parts. ("Damn, but that booty doe. I gotta tap that.")
SEXUAL ATTRACTION IS NOT THE SAME AS SEXUAL OBJECTIFICATION. Objectification only occurs when the individuality of the desired person is not acknowledged. Pornography, prostitution, sexual harassment, and the representation of women in mass media are all examples of common objectification.
Another informal term that bugs me is: 'Jungle Fever.' Now you might think how is that jungle fever as a term is racist? And here is my response to that.
A fetish is racist because you do not treat them as equal to yourself. You have a mindset of what that person is supposed to look and act based on their race. A fetish is not a healthy attraction. It is a disgusting fixture on an individual based on their race. By fetishizing someone, you are stripping one's own individuality and reducing them to their race, which you probably view them as a stereotype.
Jungle fever - the word jungle. What comes from the jungle? Animals. In society, animals are not equal to humans, and that is what you are doing by proclaiming you have jungle fever.
(YES YOU READ IT PENNY SPARROW AND OTHER RACISTS. ANIMALS ARE NOT EQUAL TO HUMANS.)
Now you are probably going to comment on this and say: "But my (insert race here) friend/significant other does not mind that I have jungle fever. Stop taking it so seriously."
Booboo. Do not use your friends race to justify your fetish/racism. Your friends are not your ticket out of racism. Just because your (insert race here) friend does not have a problem with it, does not make it okay.
Assigned Readings: Just For Control.
Dawn M. Szymanski and Stacy L. Henning. Sex Roles. Volume 56, Numbers 1-2. January 2011.
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11199-006-9147-3
Dawn M. Szymanski, Lauren B. Moffitt and Erika R. Carr. Sexual Objectification of Women: Advances to Theory and Research. The Counselling Psychologist: Sage. 2011.
https://www.apa.org/education/ce/sexual-objectification.pdf
