Sexual Objectification: May Be Hand in Hand with Sexual Addiction

As research continues into the factors involved in sexual addiction and pornography addiction, a new term is becoming more utilized – "sexual objectification." Through exploring sexual objectification and what it means, people living with the complex condition of sexual addiction may gain new insights.

When a person is engaging in sexual objectification, the person they’re having sex with or viewing in an online pornography setting is not an individual any longer; instead they have become an object for sexual purposes. Over time, this objectification can be diverted upon the individual themselves. As sexual addiction progresses, which can be fueled by long-held emotional intimacy problems or self-esteem issues, a person can come to believe that they are also an object meant for sex and not a real person.

Complications of sexually objectifying someone else – or themselves – can be severe for people living with sexual addiction. This can include a continually declining self-image, a tendency to take more risks with sexual behaviors or chronic depression. Eventually, everything becomes part of a sexual perspective – and people can attach sexual labels to themselves and others at an almost compulsive level.

Sexual objectification can lead to a number of complications including:

• A person continues to view others as material for sexual stimulus, and may make outward and inappropriate remarks about others.
• Especially when sex addiction is present, the person may deliberately avoid interaction that could involve feeling or emotions, focusing solely on the sex acts.
• As the addiction progresses, signs of sexual objectification may also include the person desiring to have recreational experiences that also involve sex, or avoiding situations that may not have sexual imagery or potential for sexual stimuli.

Professional treatment for sexual addiction can include addressing the person’s thought patterns which are typically uncontrollable when they are caught up in the addiction. This helps them to place people in a "whole person" context and release the grip of sexually objectifying thoughts.