Sexuality (Key Ideas)

Overcoming objectification

Ann J. Cahill

The second edition of Overcoming Objectification: A Carnal Ethics provides a critical analysis of the widely used (particularly in feminist philosophy) concept of objectification, and offers a new concept (derivatization) in its stead. Cahill suggests an abandonment of objectification due to the concept’s dependence on a Kantian ideal of personhood, an ideal that fails to recognize sufficiently the role the body plays in personhood and results in an implicit vilification of the body and sexuality. Phenomena associated with objectification are ethically problematic not because they render women objects, and therefore not-persons, but rather because they construct feminine subjectivity and sexuality as wholly derivative of masculine subjectivity and sexuality. Women are not objectified as much as they are derivatized: turned into a mere reflection or projection of the other. Cahill argues for a sexual ethics grounded in difference, carnality, and intersubjectivity. The preface to the second edition traces new scholarly contributions to conversations regarding sexual ethics, feminist engagements with Kant, intersectionality, and trans philosophy. With original and far-reaching insights regarding the structure of gender inequality, this work will be of interest to students and scholars in the humanities and social sciences alike and will be of particular use to those interested in sexual ethics, sexual assault, and dominant media representations of gendered bodies.

Come as you are

Emily Nagoski, Blanca González Villegas

***A "NEW YORK TIMES" BESTELLER*** An essential exploration of why and how women's sexuality works--based on groundbreaking research and brain science--that will radically transform your sex life into one filled with confidence and joy. Researchers have spent the last decade trying to develop a "pink pill" for women to function like Viagra does for men. So where is it? Well, for reasons this book makes crystal clear, that pill will never exist--but as a result of the research that's gone into it, scientists in the last few years have learned more about how women's sexuality works than we ever thought possible, and "Come as You Are" explains it all. The first lesson in this essential, transformative book by Dr. Emily Nagoski is that every woman has her own unique sexuality, like a fingerprint, and that women vary more than men in our anatomy, our sexual response mechanisms, and the way our bodies respond to the sexual world. So we never need to judge ourselves based on others' experiences. Because women vary, and that's normal. Second lesson: sex happens in a context. And all the complications of everyday life influence the context surrounding a woman's arousal, desire, and orgasm. Cutting-edge research across multiple disciplines tells us that the most important factor for women in creating and sustaining a fulfilling sex life, is not what you do in bed or how you do it, but "how you feel about it." Which means that stress, mood, trust, and body image are not peripheral factors in a woman's sexual wellbeing; they are central to it. Once you understand these factors, and how to influence them, you can create for yourself better sex and more profound pleasure than you ever thought possible. And Emily Nagoski can prove it.