Originally Posted by
Oneironaut
I suppose the most important point to highlight, after your post, is that the barrier between "using someone for a bunch of purposes" and "just accepting someone for who they are, knowing that there are possible purposes they may serve" is arbitrary. It's not something that can really be quantified, so some people will see it differently than others.
I'd suppose that a great deal of what separates one from the other is that the latter is looked at as a whole, looking at those "possible purposes" more as "benefits" than anything else. Those that see in terms of the former don't see the entire scope. They only see "Well, women are just good for this:" and "pssh. She's just a woman." Etc. There is a fundamental difference between someone who accepts a woman yet is conscious of what advantages their company could provide, and someone that reduces a woman to those advantages. See what I mean?
The "big issue," like many things, is subjective. Not everyone is going to see it, because it's not always right out there in the forefront. The main idea is that, for all intensive purposes, women should be seen as (in terms of "role") no less dynamic than men. They should not be reduced to this or that, for doing so is nothing short of ignorance and degradation. Women take themselves just as seriously as men take themselves (if not more) and it is only without that sort of awareness that someone could try to reduce a woman to "nothing but a sex/culinary/laundry slave," there to perform at the man's whim.
Even as a man, if someone (or, especially, an entire group of people) short-change you and see you as less than you are really worth, are you not going to stand up for yourself? Are you not going to defend yourself and what you know you really represent? Are you just going to let them talk down to you, and tell how little you are actually worth?
For your sake, I hope not...and that is "the big issue," when it comes to why women should not be objectified. It is no more or less complex than the issue of why any individual should not be treated like less than they are worth.