“Desdemona is presented in the play as a sexual subject who hears and desires, and that desire is punished because the non-specular or non-phallic sexuality it displays is frightening and dangerous.”

Karen Newman: Femininity and the monstrous in Othello.

To what extent do you agree with this view? 

The only time Desdemona is spoken about by other characters is as a sexual object, Iago is crude about her and  Roderigo and Othello are obsessed with the idea of her. When Cassio innocently kisses her hand Iago sexualises it. Even though Desdemona is completely pure and cant even say the word 'whore' the male characters ignore this and create and over sexualised version of her to fit to their own ideas of what women are like. Because Desdemona cant understand thats shes being seen in this way she doesn't understand what  impression she creates by acting in certain way eg letting Cassio kiss her had or by asking Emilia to put the wedding sheets on the bed . The men in the play see her in a sexual way but when she actually acts like that she is punished for it, she is killed for having an affair that Othello has made up she has given up her life for him and adhered to everything he has told her to do but he still thinks that she is disloyal because he would rather listen to Iagos view of her than to Emilia - the person closest to her , because he already holds the view that women are deceitful . I don't think she's punished for being a promiscuous woman , I think she is killed for being an attractive woman that has been oversexualised by every man in the play to the point that its easier to kill her than to confront their own views about how they see women.