Please explain what Subjectivity and Objectivity are?

Question

One of my subjects at uni is a gender studies subject and they keep using the words 'subject' and 'object' .. They explained it to us but i still am not understanding. Thanks heaps

Answer 1

The terms subjectivity and objectivity can be easily found in the dictionary.  The ideas of subject and object however are theorhetical constructions in Feminist theory and used differently by different theorists.  I think you should ask your lecturer how the authors/theorists are using those terms, it is ok to ask.

Answer 2

Subjectivity is the ongoing sense we all have or consciousness, as it is funneled though our neural networks, our past experiences, beliefs etc. Objectivity is a hypothetical state that can be attained by supposedly casting aside our subjective experience of things in order to see things "as they are." Unfortunately we have no way of knowing if our "objective" observations are true or not and therefore, it would seems that human consciousness is hopelessly subjective.

This isn't the answer I think you're looking for however. In a gender studies class, the term "object" is used to describe a person who has become an object in the eyes of another. The "object" is defined by the "subject." When we look at a woman on a magazine cover and see a symbol of sexuality or beauty or whatever, we are the subject. We are acting by assigning meaning to the passive object, the model. This understanding of these terms is used often to describe the way men view and assign meaning to women, as if women are things which can be neatly categorized, owned, and put to personal use.

Another answer insinuated that subjects (political subjects) arose after the enlightenment. Actually, subject, as in "the king's subjects" was in use during the reign of kings, a time when we were told that kings ruled by divine right, much like we have been told about men all along. "God is a man and he want's men in charge" right? ANyway, in that parlance, a subject was one who was under teh domination of the king.

In your class though, it is probably the middle meaning. A subject is active, it is a person who assigns value or meaning to another. The object is the person whose value and meaning is being assigned by the subject. It has to do with a similar grammatical use of subject and object. In the sentence, "the cat stared hungrily at the tuna sitting on the table" the subject is the cat and the object is the tuna. The cat is alive and acting. It likes the tuna because it can meet a need the cat has. The tuna is the object, dead and powerless. It can only attract or repel depending on the mood of the cat and the state of the tuna.

Incidentally, males only thought, wanted to believe, that they were defining females. Females, as human beings, are not in reality objects and eventually every attempt to minimize females to mere objects has failed. Feminist theory recognizes the intent, and if you go deep enough, it questions everything, leading eventually to the knowledge that whatever we think it was, it's really the opposite.

If you have any other questions, let me know.  

Answer 3

Sure, it's pretty simple.  That which is subjective is influenced by individual bias, i.e. personal opinion.  That which is objective is not influenced by personal bias, i.e. personal opinion.

Answer 4

As society moved from Feudalism to Capitalism and people became self determining economic units rather than souls with predetermined positions in the social and moral make up of society; and as science started to define a material reality the nature of which was observable rather than interpreted by divine agents upon earth (King, Pope etc). So was the Subject and Object born. The I responsible for his/her own actions, living in an objective reality...

See?

Answer 5

Subjective: Having a subjective opinion is just having your own personal bias, e.g, All models are tarts (which I don't believe by the way).

Objective: It covers both sides of something and is generally more preferred in an arguements, e.g, Some models are tarts but some are quite intelligent.