Seven Ways to Treat a Person as a Thing
- Instrumentality: The objectifier treats the object as a tool of his or her purposes.
- Denial of Autonomy: The objectifier treats the object as lacking in autonomy and self-determination.
- Inertness: The objectifier treats the object as lacking in agency, and perhaps also activity.
- Fungibility: The objectifier treats the object as interchangeable (a) with other objects of the same type, and/or (b) with objects of other types.
- Violability: The objectifier treats the object as lacking in boundary-integrity, as something that is permissible to break up, smash, or break into.
- Ownership: The objectifier treats the object as something that is owned by another, can be bought or sold, etc.
- Denial of Subjectivity: The objectifier treats the object as something whose experience and feelings (if any) need not be taken into account.
Cue many thoughts about Elena Gilbert on The Vampire Diaries.