A feminist approach to a theory of dehumanization: evaluating dehumanization of women in contemporary digital social environments

Abstract

Dehumanization has facilitated the worst atrocities in humanity’s historical record and continues to facilitate some of the gravest cruelties in the world today. While there is substantial work on dehumanization within philosophical and scientific disciplines, there remains an incongruence within the theoretical conceptualizations of dehumanization leading to the neglect or denial of the dehumanization of women. Some contend that dehumanization most characteristically occurs between racial or ethnic groups, but dehumanization may be a more general and deeply embedded aspect of human nature, more robust and perilous in its potential to victimize any member of a distinct group, even where group memberships might otherwise overlap with one another in more affiliative ways. As our social environments are evolving in lockstep with our communication technologies, the recognition of and response to the dehumanization of women remains inadequate and morally inexcusable.