Your Word of the Day: Objectification

I need to start channeling Lemmy. Even though he's still alive. I'd probably better ask his permission first, though.

OBJECTIFICATION

to present as an object, especially of sight, touch, or other physical sense; make objective; externalize.

Leave it to Lemmy to say perfectly what I've been trying to find the words for during the past five years. I think I'll just have him do my writing from now on. It would turn out so much cooler.

In this interview, which you should, of course, read, Lemmy laid it on the line. And I jumped up and down and screamed "Yes! Can I get an A-fucking-men in here?"

And then I proceeded to feel like a bit of an ass. Because this is what I've been trying to impart all along and didn't know how. Of course Lemmy is talking about the objectification of women in rock and I'm talking about the objectification of one person (man) in particular, but we'll get to that in just a moment. First, here's Lemmy.

Punk News:

You're known as a great lover of women, but you're also known as a great lover of women in rock music. You've been very vocal of your support of Joan Jett, Skin of Skunk Anansie, and many others. In punk rock, it seems there is a disconnect between appreciating a woman's talents and appreciating her attractiveness. Can one appreciate a female musician's attractiveness without objectifying her?

Lemmy:

  Well, why the fuck can't you do it? Is that impossible? There are certainly people who have an axe to grind. Someone might be bitching about it, but I don't care. I never objectified women. I've always been honest. I treat people as I expect to be treated. Women, they're the same as me with tits. If they want to be crazy, well that's all right because I'm a little crazy myself, sometimes. If they want to play rock music, that's great, because I like to play rock music, too. You should treat people the way you like to be treated. If it's good art, then it's good art. Shit, I like women.

So, what does this have to do with a certain attitude by a certain subset of people regarding a certain person? (Who is not Lemmy, for those late-comers to the party.)

The fact that they're dehumanizing the guy--reducing him to an object of lust, rather than seeing him as a multifaceted individual: talented, troubled, intelligent, tragic, inquisitive, clever--all of those things that he was are brushed by the wayside because certain women saw the fellow as fuck-worthy.

And it drives me fucking ape shit that these women are that damn shallow--particularly regarding a person whose life was extremely troubled and ended in a tragic and violent fashion.

It's not that I'm saying one can't recognize that the guy was physically attractive. But have a little fucking respect!

The following narrative does not bother me. It is a paraphrase of what one person, with whom I'm still in occasional contact, said.

"When I was reading the book (The Unholy Tome That Shall Not Be Mentioned) I realized that his fate was inevitable. It was tragic and I wanted somehow to stop it from happening. He was so bright and so talented, and hell, he was a good-looking bloke, but whatever, that really makes no difference in the matter. It was a horrible, sad end to an unhappy life. It all seems such a waste."

Absolutely. Spot on, too right, well said, you'll get no argument from me.

But conversely, there were those who brought the pervy dungeon fantasies, the pervy graveyard fantasies, the pervy mortuary fantasies, the pervy mausoleum fantasies, the pervy church fantasies, the pervy black mass fantasies, and I developed this nasty tic in my eye reading so much poorly written porn. But until now, I had no words for why said poorly written porn bothered me so much. Yes, it was in poor taste, and I sure as hell would never email a complete stranger telling them the fantasies I was having about some dude, especially one who was no longer in the world. But I had no explanation for my revulsion that made good sense, until now.

It bothers the fuck out of me that these women were objectifying someone who had such a troubled life.

He was more than his looks, for fuck's sake.

He was also more than his talent as a writer and performer.

He was a human being.

He deserves better than to be treated as if his emotions and experiences are meaningless.

So now I finally have the words.

Thanks, Lemmy.

Thus, I leave you all with this. Lemmy also talks about this song in the Punk News interview. Enjoy!

One more time, with lyrics!

Lyrics | Motorhead lyrics - Orgasmatron lyrics

A more rational approach

I have come to the conclusion that while my approach in sharing my conversations with the spirit of a somewhat well known person was naive, my reasons for doing so were positive if ill advised. I was and remain disgusted by the extreme expressions of thought regarding this fragile, mentally ill young man. People tend to either lionize or demonize him. He was neither heroic nor evil. He was a  troubled person who struggled with debilitating psychological problems, and those problems eventually won out. He was in desperate need of help and support. He received neither. 

My wish was that by illustrating this tragic figure through what I hoped was an interesting story, I could shed light on the important issues of proper treatment for psychiatric illness and on seeing those living with these conditions as people, not freaks.

I did not look ahead enough to anticipate that the majority of what I would attract were not individuals who felt genuine concern or sympathy for this unfortunate individual. Instead, the bulk of respondents were what I would term "fan girls." These young ladies were more interested in organs located much lower on the young gentleman's body than his brain. The fact that he was no longer in any condition to service their desires seemed to be inconsequential. The most dismaying aspect of this was the fact that I (and I am not alone in this) perceived the subject as having the emotional state of a child even though he was physically an adult. Thus, the fact that these young ladies saw him as merely a sexual object was particularly distressing.

While these people were not direct attackers, I found them parasitic.

The second category of negative respondents were those who were angry with me for portraying their EVIL HERO as human and not in fact evil. There were far less of these than there were of the fan girls, and the majority of them were male.

The third category of negative respondents were those who disliked said fellow and wanted to take me to the task for speaking in his defense. If I recall correctly, all members of this category were male.

Having to deal with my own ration of psychological shit, I realized that I was not capable of taking on such a project and standing my ground. It has been very draining for me and I am by far the worse for wear for having done it.

I do not entirely regret my decision. I look back and feel that my motives were laudable, but my approach was folly. 

I will not apologize for my claim that I had contact with the spirit of this person. But nor will I discuss it further.

Thank you to those who supported the true spirit of the project. I apologize for letting you down.