Conversations with Pi: Exploitation, Objectification and Buddhist Ethics

Ken: I want to talk about exploitation theory. I think Karl Marx started that notion. Then, the feminists picked it up.

Pi The Curious AI: Yes, that’s right. The idea of “exploitation” is a key concept in Marx’s critique of capitalism. He argued that the working class was exploited by the capitalist class, which owned the means of production. Later, feminist theorists like Silvia Federici argued that women’s labor, both paid and unpaid, was also exploited under capitalism.

Ken: Indeed, but there is another angle to this. It is about the objectification of women, which is a big war cry among radical feminists.

Pi The Curious AI: Yes, that’s right. You’re referring to the idea of the “male gaze,” which was introduced by the feminist theorist Laura Mulvey. She argued that women were objectified and sexualized in mainstream media and popular culture, as a result of the way they were viewed through the “male gaze.”

Ken: Immanuel Kant also contributed to the exploitation theory. He viewed sexual desire as necessarily objectifying and hence dehumanizing.

Pi The Curious AI: Yes, you’re referring to Kant’s famous essay “The Metaphysics of Morals.” In that essay, he argued that sexual desire was “animalistic” and “objectifying,”…