Dissociation, Self-Objectification, and Pornography

One of the most important things I have learned through my research is that self-objectification is not simply about caring about appearance. It represents a shift in consciousness — a change in how we experience ourselves.

Instead of experiencing my body as the place from which I lived, I began to experience it as something to be viewed from the outside. My attention moved away from my own internal experiences and toward how I might appear to others. I became more focused on being seen than on being present.

This is what objectification theorists describe as self-objectification. Fredrickson and Roberts' (1997) Objectification Theory argues that living in a culture where women's bodies are routinely sexually evaluated can lead women to internalize an observer's perspective of themselves. Rather than experiencing the body primarily as a source of action, sensation, and identity, women may begin to monitor themselves as objects to be judged.

Looking back, I understand this process as a form of dissociation. I was not completely disconnected from myself, but I was less embodied. I spent more time monitoring my appearance than listening to my own emotions, desires, and physical experiences. Instead of asking myself what I wanted or what I was feeling, I was often unconsciously asking how I was being perceived.

Research on self-objectification has linked this constant self-monitoring to psychological consequences, including increased body shame, anxiety, reduced cognitive performance, and diminished awareness of internal bodily states (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997; Calogero, Tantleff-Dunn, & Thompson, 2011). The body becomes something to manage rather than something to inhabit.

"The body becomes something to manage rather than something to inhabit."

This process does not occur in isolation. Women and girls are surrounded by cultural messages that encourage them to view their bodies as objects of evaluation. Sexualized media, advertising, entertainment, and digital platforms can reinforce the idea that the body's primary value lies in how it is seen by others. Over time, the external gaze can become internalized, shaping how women relate to themselves.

For me, pornography became part of this larger pattern. The concern was not simply that pornography depicted sexual acts. The deeper issue was that it reinforced a particular way of seeing human beings — as bodies available for observation, evaluation, and consumption. It encouraged a relationship to sexuality based on watching and performing rather than experiencing and connecting.

This connection between pornography and self-objectification has been explored by feminist scholars who argue that pornography can reinforce objectifying attitudes by presenting sexuality through a framework of visual consumption and unequal subject-object relationships (Dworkin, 1981; MacKinnon, 1987). Empirical research has also examined how exposure to sexually objectifying media may influence body image, sexual attitudes, and perceptions of oneself and others (Ward, 2016; Wright, Tokunaga, & Kraus, 2016).

Recovery, for me, has meant learning to inhabit my body again rather than constantly manage how it appears. It has meant shifting attention away from being seen and toward experiencing my own life from within.

This is why I critique pornography. My argument is not rooted in opposition to sexuality or sexual expression. It comes from a concern about any cultural practice that encourages people to become observers of themselves rather than fully present participants in their own lives. When sexuality is separated from embodiment, connection, and subjectivity, it risks becoming another place where human beings learn to see themselves as objects.