"While I'm sure that is a valid point, it still seems to me that these
shanty songs expressed the stereotyping of 'exotic' women and
objectifying them in ways that would not have been considered acceptable
were these women White."

Well...uh...no. Sailors, lumbermen, cowboys, and in general the
classes of men who lived and worked with other men and encountered
women by and large in a (ahem) 'recreational' setting only pretty
much regarded women as commodities. At least them as they didn't
marry.

It was very much a two-way street. The women of sailortown regarded
Sailor Jack as a mark carrying six months pay.

Both parties were part of the cycle of poverty where both parties
were objectified by many if not most of the people they encountered.

Jack would receive a months advance, spend as little as possible
on gear, then head for some rum shop and/or brothel to have a bit
of a good time before going to sea for six months or a year. When
he came ashore with six months or perhaps three years pay, he'd
find another rum shop brothel to have a bit of fun. Even if he
had every good intention, the chances of encountering someone
(a barman, landlady, or whore) ready to take advantage of him
or even drug and rob him were rather good. In such a condition,
he'd have not choice but to find the crimp, who'd give him that
month's advance (less his commission) and so the cycle would
continue.

It was in the more 'civilized' seaports where this was worst...
San Francisco, New York, Boston, Liverpool, etc. Where most
of the women were white, very white, thank you. Conversely,
Jack ashore seems to have been more safe in less 'worldly'
country.

Indeed, it seems that in some places, such as Valparaiso
and the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) and perhaps as Bligh's
men found out, Tahiti the local women were much less of
a hazard. They'd exchange their favors for lesser consideration,
in some cases they seemed interested in Jack because he was
different (e.g. blonde or blue-eyed), and they didn't 'steal
and pawn his clothes.' It's no wonder many captains allowed
these women to ply their trade on the ship, rather than allowing
the men ashore in the tropics!

To attempt to mold this world to fit some 21st century feminist
or racially egalitarian agenda is just silly. It was a different
world, then. If you sat Sailor Jack down and said 'aren't you
objectifying these women' he'd likely reply 'I don't know what
objectify means but I aim to f*** one or two of 'em before I
ship out.'

Good heavens, this was the time when a man's wife was not much
more than his property, regardless of class. And regardless, in
many cases, of his genuine and true affection for her.

This was also a time when that same man could be hanged for
slapping an officer.

Then again, my own grandfather was sent to the coal-mines
as he entered his teens, and to his bosses he was nothing
more than a pair of hands which, if it perished in a cave
in or explosion (or coughed its lungs out in its sixties)
was just a matter of numbers on a balance sheet. I can't
see how Sally Brown's objectification did her much more
harm than William Henry Bullough's did to him, a hundred
years later.