A reflection on how we, as men, have spent millennia reducing half of humanity to objects—and why this might be the root of most societal problems.
I'm going to say something uncomfortable: We men have made a terrible mistake. For thousands of years—maybe since the beginning of civilization itself—we have treated women as objects. As property. As toys. As things to own, control, and use.
And I believe this single error might be at the root of almost everything wrong with our society.
Let's Start with Honesty
Before going further, I have to be honest with myself. I grew up in a society where this objectification was normalized. In Nepal, in India, in most of the world—we inherited patterns of thinking about women that were passed down for generations.
I'm not writing this from a place of moral superiority. I'm writing this because awakening (Bodha) means confronting uncomfortable truths. And this is one of the most uncomfortable truths of human history.
The Historical Record
Look back at almost any ancient civilization:
- Ancient Greece — the birthplace of democracy—didn't allow women to vote, own property, or participate in public life. Aristotle called women "deformed males."
- Ancient Rome — Women were legally considered property of their fathers, then their husbands. They had no independent legal existence.
- Medieval Europe — Women who showed intelligence or independence were often accused of witchcraft.
- Ancient India — Despite some periods of relative equality, the practice of sati (widow burning) showed how little a woman's life was valued without a husband.
This isn't about blaming our ancestors. It's about recognizing a pattern that has shaped everything.
The Object Mindset
When you treat a human being as an object, several things happen:
1. You Remove Their Voice
Objects don't speak. Objects don't have opinions. When we treated women as objects, we silenced half of humanity's wisdom, creativity, and perspective.
Think about what that means: for thousands of years, the entire human story was written by only half the humans. What did we miss?
2. You Remove Their Agency
Objects don't make decisions. They are acted upon. A woman's choices—who to marry, whether to have children, what to study, what career to pursue—were made by men. Her body was not her own.
3. You Create a Hierarchy of Value
If women are objects, then men become "real" humans. This creates a fundamental inequality that infects everything: laws, religions, economies, cultures.
"When you reduce half of humanity to objects, you don't just harm women—you dehumanize yourself. The oppressor and the oppressed both lose their full humanity."
The Modern Mirror
You might think: "But that was the past. We've evolved."
Have we?
- The global pornography industry is worth over $100 billion—built almost entirely on the objectification of women's bodies.
- Advertising still uses women's bodies to sell everything from cars to toothpaste.
- In many countries, women still need male permission to travel, work, or open a bank account.
- The gender pay gap persists in almost every profession, in every country.
- Violence against women remains a pandemic that kills more women than cancer, war, or traffic accidents combined.
The forms have changed. The core problem hasn't.
Why This Affects Everything
Here's the connection most people miss:
When you learn to see one group of humans as objects, you learn to objectify.
Once that mental pattern is established, it spreads:
- Nature becomes an object to exploit
- Workers become objects to use
- Animals become objects to consume
- Other races, religions, and nations become objects to dominate
The ecological crisis, economic inequality, racism—all share a common root: the ability to look at a living being and see a thing.
And we learned that first with women.
A Word to My Fellow Men
If you're a man reading this, I'm not asking you to feel guilty. Guilt without action is useless. I'm asking you to wake up.
Ask yourself honestly:
- Do I unconsciously see women as less capable, less rational, less complete than men?
- Do I consume entertainment that treats women as objects?
- Do I speak over women, dismiss their ideas, or explain things they already understand?
- Do I expect women to serve me in ways I wouldn't expect from another man?
These are hard questions. But consciousness means looking at the uncomfortable parts too.
What Does Real Change Look Like?
It's not just about laws, though laws matter. It's about deep reprogramming:
In Our Thinking
Every time you catch yourself making assumptions about women—pause. Ask where that thought came from. Question the inherited programming.
In Our Consumption
What media do you consume? Does it treat women as full human beings with their own stories, or as decorations for male stories?
In Our Relationships
Do you treat your mother, sister, wife, daughter as complete humans with their own desires, dreams, and paths? Or do you have expectations of how they should serve your needs?
In Our Silence
When other men objectify women in front of you—through jokes, comments, or actions—do you stay silent? Silence is permission.
The Spiritual Dimension
Almost every spiritual tradition at its core teaches that the divine is neither male nor female—or is both. In Hinduism, Shakti (divine feminine energy) is literally the force that makes everything happen. Without it, Shiva (consciousness) is a corpse.
Many ancient cultures worshipped goddesses. Then something shifted. Religion became a tool to enforce the objectification that had already begun.
But the original understanding remains: the feminine and masculine are equal, complementary, and both sacred.
Objectifying women isn't just a social mistake. It's a spiritual blindness.
"The way a society treats its women reveals its level of consciousness. We are only as evolved as our treatment of those we could choose to exploit."
The Takeaway
Every woman is:
- A complete human being with her own story
- Capable of anything a man is capable of
- Not here to serve, please, or decorate anyone's life
- Deserving of the same freedoms, respect, and opportunities
This shouldn't be revolutionary. It should be obvious. The fact that it still needs to be said shows how deep the programming runs.
If we want to build a better world—a world with less violence, more equality, more sustainability—we need to start at the root. And the root is this: no human being is a thing.
She is not a thing. She never was. And until we fully understand this—in our bones, not just our words—we will keep building broken societies.
The awakening starts now. One man at a time. One thought at a time. One relationship at a time.
🙏
— Rajnish Bodha