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.Langton s Reduction to Body is a central fea-ture of many of my examples.(Indeed, it is that very identification withbody that I hold to be a potentially valuable part of sexual objectification inthe context of respect and trust.) I failed to single it out as a separate cate-gory because I took it to be implicit in several of the others, such as Denialof Autonomy and Denial of Subjectivity, but Langton seems correct whenshe says that it deserves separate recognition.Reduction to Appearance isalso an important one to focus on, suggested by several of the others on mylist but surely not entailed by any of them.Both Reduction to Body andReduction to Appearance turn out to be key aspects of Internet objectifica-tion, so it is important to recognize them explicitly.So often, high-achievingwomen are treated, on Internet gossip sites, as if they are no more than aphoto, or a set of body parts.Finally, Silencing is surely linked closely tothe categories of autonomy-denial and inertness, but again, it is a distinctidea, and an important one to add when we consider Internet harassment,since one of its most persistent effects is to prevent women from expressingfeminist views or maintaining feminist websites. 72 The Internet and Its ProblemsAnother suggestion of Langton s is also valuable, both in general and inthe Internet context.She suggests that autonomy-denial has two species thatneed to be carefully distinguished.9 One case is the failure to ascribe auton-omy in the first place, as with a child or a domestic animal.A very differentcase is what she calls autonomy-violation: the objectifier forcibly removes, orcurtails, the woman s autonomy.Autonomy-violation is pervasive in porno-graphic sexual objectification.Langton s distinction is implicit in some of myexamples, but I do not give it the theoretical weight that it deserves.I would,however, qualify Langton s analysis in the following way: sometimes thesexual objectification of women involves simple autonomy-denial as when awoman is infantilized, treated as a lower species, or is simply not accordedfull adulthood.That sort of autonomy-denial figures in pornography, promi-nently including Internet pornography.Nonetheless, as Langton says, the more common pornographic sce-nario involves autonomy-violation: the scenario represents the woman asan agent, attempting to control her own destiny, and the man removes thatfreedom; sexual pleasure is found in the ability to exert control over thewoman s options, removing her ability to refuse consent, to depart fromthe situation, and so forth.This distinction is particularly important whenwe think about Internet defamation, for often what is resented is a wom-an s freedom, agency, and good name, and pleasure is taken in destroyingthese things first in fantasy, and then, given the Internet s power to af-fect job opportunities, in reality.The objectifier puts the objectified personin a position of helplessness.Not knowing where the abuse is coming fromor how to stop it, but affected by it pervasively in her daily activities, sheloses agency and employment opportunities.In the spirit of Langton s analysis, I think we should add a similar distinc-tion in the area of subjectivity.Sometimes one may deny subjectivity bytreating a person as a thing that has no inner world, a mere automaton.Thathappens at times in pornographic scenarios, and it happens ubiquitously inhuman treatment of nonhuman animals.There is also, however, subjectivity-violation, in which pleasure is taken in invading and colonizing the person sinner world.Threatening and demeaning behavior often has the effect oftaking over someone s thoughts, making the person unable to focus on workand friendship in the usual way.A great deal of the harm caused by porno-graphic Internet attacks on women involves subjectivity-violation. Objectification and Internet Misogyny 73Objectification and ShamingTo objectify is to treat as a mere thing, a tool of the purposes of the objecti-fier, an entity whose subjective feelings need not be taken into account, orwhose feelings, like her autonomy, may be willfully violated.Given that theobjectified is a human being, objectification confers a spoiled, or stigmatized,identity, and is thus a species of shaming.10All societies inflict shame on relatively powerless groups, asking them toblush for what they are.Penalties based on the idea of shame are one com-mon manifestation of this tendency: people are asked to wear a sign, or asymbol, identifying them as bearers of a stigmatized identity, or placed inan undignified position (i.e., in the stocks or pillory) for public viewing.Shame justice is justice by the mob: the dominant group are asked to takedelight in the discomfort of the excluded and stigmatized.Women, so often an underclass in many societies, are stigmatized inmany ways, but gender-based objectification is one very prominent form ofsocial shaming
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