Is 36 year old David Hasselhoff sexual?
or am I sexualizing him by noticing that he's very attractive?
Discussion
Look at that luscious hairy chest. Who wouldn't lol!
do you think that "find someone sexually attractive" = "sexualize them" ?
I think I can find people attractive and they not be sexualized. However if I state that I find someone "sexually attractive" my mind is sexualizing by attributing a sex role for that person.
That is in part what I see presented to me. The human mind is capable of reading context and sending and receiving signals about things not specially said and maybe not implied.
Bayside deliberately sexualized their characters and those who watched understood the context.
So yes, I suppose I do equate sexually attractive with sexualization. Other wise I would just find someone attractive. There's a nice difference between the works beautiful and sexy. I feel those two words work well too delineate what you asked me.
You start by saying that thinking about having sex with someone is "sexualizing them" (this is a basic thought crime) (also for clarification, is it necessary to say something? like if I tell someone "I'd love to fuck Hasselhoff" then I'm 'sexualizing' him, but if I only think it and keep those thoughts to myself I'm not?)
but then your third paragraph says "Bayside deliberately sexualized their characters" which is clearly a different meaning. Can you get more precise about what you mean here?
Is either one of these meanings negative? Is it a bad thing to do?
Well, in my opinion, I believe there is over arching admiration of beauty. Within that beauty there is a wide set of ways that may appeal to "my" humanity. As a heterosexual male I am sexually attracted to women. So though I may find another male very beautiful, even a spectacle to look at and admire, my brain does not map any innate sexual appeal. Whereas that may be different with a woman. And that experience that I go through might be different for someone else so I'm not generalizing in any way here.
I may just see pure beauty and not be inspired sexually when looking at a woman and I may also be sexually attracted to a woman. There is nothing inherently wrong with my naturally arising distinction of either one.
I don't think there is anything wrong with sexualizing so long as it's not harmful to the self perception of the person being sexualized. Words don't have to be spoken and I think we get in turbulent waters when we say something like a "thought crime" especially when there are some thoughts that do not translate well in language and are best tied to emotion.
There Is something to be said about the concept of common courtesy and how that ties to the local, physical, shared human environment. It's important to always engage others with common courtesy and not assume nor extrapolate the meanings or intentions of one's actions unless it blatantly speaks to something outright malicious or perverse (by way of the dictionary definition of perverse: showing a deliberate and obstinate desire to behave in a way that is unreasonable or unacceptable, often in spite of the consequences.)