Top image credit: Bin Thiều

I have been sexually harassed more times than I would like to remember. I have also let men objectify me in order to get my way.

While I’m not proud of the latter, I mention this apparent contradiction in the same breath because sexual harassment is inseparable from the kind of power that women get from being objectified. Basically, you can’t have one without the other.

And before we get sidetracked into any unrelated debate, it is the power that comes with having a female body and the favours men hope to extract from it that we’re talking about here.

When a woman decides to wear a shorter skirt and a low-cut top to her driving test because she’s told it will increase her chances of passing, it’s power. When a woman bats her eyes and puts her hand on the arm of a waiter to get him to bump her to the top of a waiting list at a full restaurant, it is power. I could go on.

Likewise in my personal life, I know that dressing in a revealing, skin tight dress will get me certain favours if I play my cards right, such as free drinks on date night.

I also understand that if I laugh more, maintain eye contact, and put on a full face of makeup before interviewing men (usually) over the age of 40, I am likely to get more candid answers.

As a female friend once aptly put, “It’s amazing how easy and simple-minded men are. You just smile at them and give them a bit of attention and they’ll do whatever you want.”

Nonetheless, if we want to weed out harassment, we have to first address the broader culture that teaches men to objectify women and women to both accept and embrace it.