The sexual objectification of women and girls 
that pervades society is a major ethical 
challenge that demands more systematic 
philosophical response. I claim that we may 
frame this problem in Heideggerian terms. I 
begin with a sketch of what modern sexual 
objectification is: from the dehumanizing 
images that saturate everyday life to the 
statistically pervasive practices of sexual 
violence. These abuses tend to be covered up 
through being cast as simply women’s 
expressions of sexual liberation that are 
naturally different from men’s. I show how 
these experiences are phenomena in Heidegger’s 
sense; and how recent initiatives to make them 
visible are incipient forms of Heideggerian 
phenomenology. I suggest that they 
pre-philosophically indicate a needed feminist 
neo-Heideggerian criticism of modernity. 
Heidegger shows a destructive side of modern 
freedom that has resulted in an expanding 
objectification of the natural world. Our 
criticism would show something similar happening 
to women and girls.