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Feminist theory has extensively explored the sexualization of women’s images across time. Women are sexually objectified in music videos, TV series, ads, cinema, video games, and other types of audiovisual content. Scholarship has acknowledged, for instance, that women’s visual objectification in news, publicity, and cinema can lead to discrimination and gender-based violence. Audiovisual content is especially impactful, while digital content has a broader and more immediate reach than other types of content. On the one hand, the consumption of music videos and other digital content among minors is rising. On the other hand, music videos influence the normalization of gender violence and gender stereotypes in girls and boys. Despite its importance, until now, there is no conceptual framework of the sexualization of women in music videos. What elements compose the sexual objectification of women in music videos? What dimensions does it encompass? Can they be operationalized to serve as a basis for further analysis? Based on a literature review and analysis by three gender experts of five of the most popular music videos on YouTube in 2020, this article offers a new framework that can serve as a reference. This topic is especially relevant in the age of platforms because, once these videos are online in the public domain, they become the basis for biased algorithmic decision-making. La teoría feminista ha explorado la sexualización visual de las mujeres. Los estereotipos de género y la sexualización se encuentran en videos musicales, cine, series de televisión, anuncios, videojuegos y otros contenidos audiovisuales. El contenido audiovisual es especialmente impactante dado que la cosificación y sexualización de las mujeres en las noticias, la publicidad y la ficción puede conducir a la discriminación y la violencia de género. Entretanto, lo digital tiene un alcance más inmediato y amplio que otro tipo de contenidos. Por un lado, el consumo de los vídeos musicales y otros contenidos digitales entre menores está en aumento. Por otro, los videos musicales influyen en la normalización de la violencia de género y los estereotipos de género en las niñas y los niños. A pesar de su importancia, hasta ahora no existe un marco conceptual de la sexualización de las mujeres en los vídeos musicales. ¿Qué elementos componen este tipo de sexualización? ¿Qué dimensiones abarcan? ¿Pueden generar un marco teórico con variables observables que sirva para realizar otros estudios? Basándonos en una revisión de literatura y el análisis de tres expertas en género de cinco de los videos musicales más populares en YouTube en 2020, este artículo ofrece un marco que puede servir de referencia para futuros estudios sobre la influencia de los vídeos musicales. Este asunto es especialmente relevante en la era de las plataformas porque, una vez en el dominio público, estos vídeos sexualizantes se convierten en la base para una toma de decisiones algorítmicas sesgadas. This article has been generated as part of the ARES research program (Analyzing Antifeminist Resistances), supported by the Spanish State Agency of Research.

The objective of the present study was to examine gender stereotypes and sexualization in Italian television advertisements aimed at children. For this purpose, content analysis method was used to analyze 185 commercials broadcast from 6 pm to 8:30 pm over the three Italian television channels dedicated to children which attract the largest audience share. In order to allow comparison with previous research on gender stereotyping, two raters coded a series of variables common to similar investigations (i.e., verbs used in the ads, voice-over, voice-over message, setting, pace of the ads, activities performed by the main characters). Results indicate that gender stereotypes are still prevalent in Italian children’s television commercials. Furthermore, although the level of sexualization of children is low, we found that girls tend to be more sexualized than boys, especially in terms of “adultification.” Our findings provide an updated picture of children’s advertising in Italy by also expanding the literature on gender role stereotyping and sexualization in television commercials.

Abstract. The current study examined the links between viewing female and male sexualized Instagram images (SII) and body image concerns within the three-step process of self-objectification among adolescents aged 13–18 years from Germany ( N = 300, 61% female). Participants completed measures of SII use, thin- and muscular-ideal internalization, valuing appearance over competence, and body surveillance. Structural equation modeling revealed that SII use was associated with body image concerns for boys and girls via different routes. Specifically, female SII use was indirectly associated with higher body surveillance via thin-ideal internalization and subsequent valuing appearance over competence for girls. For both girls and boys, male SII use was indirectly linked to higher body surveillance via muscular-ideal internalization. Implications for the three-step model of self-objectification by sexualized social media are discussed.

Detta projekt söker efter vägledande principer för en kunskapsproduktion kring fetischistisk sexualitet. Detta har utförts genom diskursanalytiska och genealogiska studier av hur fetischism konstrueras i olika sociokulturella sammanhang. Analysen indikerar att fetischistisk sexualitet existerar i en marginaliserad position i ett maktrelationellt landskap, där yttre grupper har olika incitament till att återge fetischism på bristfälliga, sexualiserande och andrafierande sätt. Detta medför olika problem vad gäller kunskapsproduktionen kring fetischistisk sexualitet och kan antas bidra till upprätthållandet av nuvarande sexualnormer. För att minimera dessa kunskapsproduktionsproblem föreslås åtta vägledande principer: En ansvarstagande kunskapsproduktion som utgår från subjektet; medvetenhet om stereotyper och om patologins kvardröjande ok; användande av icke-andrafierande terminologi; medvetenhet om könsorienteringsnormen; medvetenhet om politiserade begrepp; undvikande av låsning i subkulturell identitetspolitik; en förståelse för den abjektas möjligheter att tala; samt bruk av intrasektionell analys. Dessa principer kan förstås bidra till ett tillgängliggörande av forskningsfältet kring fetischism samt bidra till en allmän förståelse för sexualitet bortom kön. This project aims to find guiding principles for a knowledge production around fetishism. This has been conducted through discourse analysis and genealogical studies of the construction of fetishism in central contexts. The analysis indicates that fetishism is marginalised in a weave of power relations, where external interests have incitaments to vilify, sexualise and otherise fetishistic sexuality. This is understood to potentially cause various problems when it comes to knowledge production around fetishism. In order to minimise these problems, eight guiding principles are suggested: A knowledge production based in the subject; awareness of lingering pathological notions and stereotypes; usage of non-othering terminology; awareness of the sex/gender orientation norm; awareness of politicised definitions; awareness of subcultural identity politics; an understanding of the abject's ability to speak; and usage of intra-sectional analysis.

Media representations play an important role in producing sociocultural pressures. Despite social and legal progress in civil rights, restrictive gender-based representations appear to be still very pervasive in some contexts. The article explores scientific research on the relationship between media representations and gender stereotypes, objectification and sexualization, focusing on their presence in the cultural context. Results show how stereotyping, objectifying and sexualizing representations appear to be still very common across a number of contexts. Exposure to stereotyping representations appears to strengthen beliefs in gender stereotypes and endorsement of gender role norms, as well as fostering sexism, harassment and violence in men and stifling career-related ambitions in women. Exposure to objectifying and sexualizing representations appears to be associated with the internalization of cultural ideals of appearance, endorsement of sexist attitudes and tolerance of abuse and body shame. In turn, factors associated with exposure to these representations have been linked to detrimental effects on physical and psychological well-being, such as eating disorder symptomatology, increased body surveillance and poorer body image quality of life. However, specificities in the pathways from exposure to detrimental effects on well-being are involved for certain populations that warrant further research.

Objectification theory posits that living in a culture that relentlessly sexualizes the female body results in an increased risk for women to become sexually objectified, such that women become valued for their physical bodies and sexual features (e.g., breasts) more so than the qualities that define them as a person (e.g., mind and personality) (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997; Nussbaum, 1995). Moreover, objectification has implications for how we view women, as research shows that when participants focus on the appearance of a sexualized woman, they ascribe to her fewer human attributes (e.g., warmth, competence, and morality) and less human nature than a non-sexualized woman (Heflick & Goldenberg, 2009; Heflick et al., 2011). As such, sexually objectified women become viewed as less than fully human. Research has extensively examined this question as it relates to sexualized and non-sexualized female targets (Heflick et al., 2011) and found continuous support for it (Bernard et al., 2018). Further, this link has been expanded upon to show that when sexualized women are seen as less than human, this then gives way to a myriad of negative consequences or unfair treatment directed toward them (Loughnan et al., 2013; Rudman et al., 1975; Saez et al., 2022). This body of research however has largely overlooked one group of women: pregnant women. Women’s pregnant bodies have been found to be threatening on account of their creatureliness (Morris et al., 2014; Goldenberg et al., 2007), and this concern has been found to play a role in the objectification of women’s bodies (Morris et al., 2014; Roberts et al., 2002). Given the recent increase in the sexualization of pregnant women in western media (Jolly, 2019) and the repeated documentation of the unfair treatment of pregnant women (Vedam et al., 2019) the current study has been established to investigate how the sexualization of a woman gives way to unfair treatment directed toward her through her dehumanization and how this relationship may vary as a function of her pregnancy status.

Fail videos showing mishaps/accidents are very popular on YouTube. But is this genre affected by sexism, that is, are women portrayed more often than men in an objectifying, sexualized manner in the video clips (H1), and are women more likely than men to be the target of gendered online hate speech in the video comments (H2)? Quantitative content analyses of 500 video clips (derived from 50 videos) and of 1,000 video comments (derived from 5 “male” and 5 “female” videos) from YouTube’s most popular fail video channel FailArmy were conducted. Women in fail videos were portrayed in an objectifying, sexualized manner twice as often (H1), and were the target of gendered hate comments nearly five times more often (H2) compared to men. Future research could analyze videos and comments from additional fail channels and investigate the reasons for the sexualized portrayals as well as for the audience’s hateful reactions.

Fraternities and sororities are popular organizations within university life. Even though their activities are usually secretive and protected, social media offer a chance for the public to understand these groups. In the present study, we investigated how sexualization is communicated on fraternities’ location pages on Instagram. Applying a multi-dimensional coding scheme composed of 12 sexualization variables, we analyzed 600 Greek life posts from 49 fraternities. Among the posts, we found (a) body shots, (b) revealing clothing, (c) sexualized mouths, and (d) breasts/chests to be the most frequently used sexualization cues. In addition, there was a positive association between the number of sexualization cues in a post and the number of likes the post received. The results also point to gender differences: fraternity posts portraying only women included a greater number of sexualization cues, on average, than posts showing only men or mixed genders. Also, gender of individuals in the pictures moderated the relationships between sexualized mouths/buttocks and likes. Implications for gender inequality and risks of sexualization are discussed.

In this paper, I seek to analyze how notions of humiliation, disgust and contempt inform "images of brutality" regarding LGBT deaths claimed to have been the result of hate crimes or LGBTphobia. Based on data collected during the monitoring of the LGBTI+ movement’s activities in Paraiba between 2012 and 2016, in-depth interviews with its activists, and access to judicial proceedings related to those deaths, I focus especially on the narratives around: a) a scene of attempted murder provoked by a military police officer who, in a street downtown Joao Pessoa, shot a travesti at close range, one who worked as a prostitute and refused his flirt; and b) the case of the "serial killer of travestis", a military police officer accused of five murders in a town in the countryside of Paraiba. Thereby, my main purpose is to discuss the relevance of demeaning practices for the configuration of what is taken as brutal, including police violence. Above all, I seek to understand the narrative sexualization of the one who demeans, humiliates, feels disgusted and despises others, and whose act of raping or killing is identified as a gesture of pleasure or raises questions about desire.

Findings consistently illustrate the negative association between women’s sexual objectification and their sexual functioning. At the same time, some scholars argue that sexualized self-presentation may be a way to embrace one’s sexuality and may signify empowerment. To date, no studies have explicitly explored the potential differential contributions of self-objectification and self-sexualization to multiple aspects of women’s sexual agency. Towards this end, we surveyed 556 undergraduate women to examine how body surveillance, self-objectification, and self-sexualization differentially predict women’s sexual assertiveness, sexual satisfaction, feelings of entitlement to sexual pleasure, condom use self-efficacy, and sexual esteem. Path analysis demonstrated consistent negative links between body surveillance, one behavioral manifestation of self-objectification, and sexual agency outcomes, but revealed both negative and positive links between measures of sexualization and sexual agency. This complex set of associations highlights the value of studying self-objectification and self-sexualization both in tandem and separately, so that researchers can develop a better understanding of the implications of each for women’s sexual agency.

This article presents data from a study of Black men and masculinities at a predominantly White university. I argue that the campus racial climate on predominantly White universities are important sites of boundary work where fear and sexualization of Black masculinities are normalized in ways that shape Black men’s social relations on college campuses. In doing so, I will share narrative data of how Black male college students perceive the campus racial climate, with a focus on how they are feared and sexualized in predominantly White spaces. I also analyze the ways in which they managed race, gender, and sexuality within school spaces, and situate their gendered performances within the context of the boundary work of the university. Attention will be given to their agency in how they respond to White fears and sexualization of Black men.

Utjecaj je popularne kulture na mlade dobro opisano i istraženo mjesto u literaturi, no politika prikaza ženskosti ima ambivalentno mjesto u rasponu od emancipacijskih do porobljavajućih interpretacija seksualiziranih izvedbi ženskosti. Zato postoji potreba za lokalnim empirijskim istraživanjima konkretnih interpretacija popularno kulturnih slika, narativa i diskursa kod različitih društvenih skupina. Ciljevi su ovoga istraživanja mapirati osnovne teme, argumente i načine pregovora koji se pojavljuju kada srednjoškolci u fokusnim skupinama interpretiraju nekoliko video spotova popularnih pjesama u Hrvatskoj, s posebnim fokusom stavljenim na izvedbe ženskosti. U radu će se prikazati pregled relevantne literature u kojoj se govori o razvoju glazbenih video spotova, kao i o ženskosti, rodnim stereotipima i rodnim ulogama, na koji način ih učimo te gdje nam se sve prikazuju. Nadalje, rad donosi prikaz žena u medijima te ukazuje na seksualizaciju žena u glazbenim video spotovima i potkrjepljuje primjerima. U radu se također analizira literatura o utjecaju glazbenih spotova na mlade, vođeno pitanjem na koji se način mladi identificiraju sa svojim idolima i likovima iz glazbenih video spotova te se prikazuju primjeri toga kako mladi vide tipičnu pjevačicu. Kako bismo mapirali osnovne teme i narative u istraživanju su se koristile fokusne skupine u kojima su sudjelovali srednjoškolci u dobi od 16 godina s područja Đakova. Sudionicima su prikazana tri glazbena video spota o kojima se raspravljalo prema prethodno osmišljenom vodiču za pitanja. Rezultati pokazuju da se kao najčešće teme u raspravama srednjoškolaca o izvedbama ženskosti u glazbenim video spotovima pojavljuju objektivizacija i seksualizacija žena te muškarci kao ciljana publika. U raspravi o značenju prikupljenih podataka naglasak se stavlja na pitanje utjecaja na mlade. The influence of popular culture on young people is a well-described and researched place in literature, but the politics of the representation of femininity has an ambivalent place, ranging from emancipatory to enslaving interpretations of sexualized performances of femininity. That is why there is a need for local empirical research on concrete interpretations and reception of popular cultural images, narratives, and discourses among different social groups. The goals of this research are to map the basic themes, arguments and ways of negotiation that appear when high school students in focus groups interpret several music videos of popular songs in Croatia, with a special focus on the performance of femininity. The paper will present an overview of relevant literature that talks about the development of music videos, as well as femininity, gender stereotypes, gender roles, how we learn them, and where everything is shown to us. Furthermore, the paper presents the portrayal of women in the media and points to the sexualization of women in music videos and supports it with examples. The paper also analyses the literature on the influence of music videos on young people, guided by the question of how young people identify with their idols and characters from music videos, and shows examples of how young people see a typical female singer. To map the basic themes and narratives, the research uses focus groups in which high school students aged 16 from the Đakovo area participated. Participants were shown three music videos that were discussed according to a previously designed question guide. The results show that the objectification and sexualization of women and men as the target audience appear as the most common topics in the discussions of high school students about the performances of femininity in music videos. In the discussion about the meaning of the collected data, emphasis is placed on the issue of impact on young people.

Follow-up study to test whether manipulating state self-objectification influences Sex is Power Beliefs, Enjoyment of Sexualization, and Self-Sexualizing Behaviors.

Aquest article presenta un estudi de cas sobre tres campanyes publicitaries de roba interior i calcat, dirigides a nenes i adolescents en el context de la promocio de la temporada escolar a Xile, el febrer de 2020. Els anuncis van causar controversia social i mediatica al pais. Els usuaris de les xarxes socials van acusar les marques de sexualitzar imatges de nens i adolescents amb finalitats comercials i comercials. Basat en una analisi interpretativa de les peces grafiques implicades en les campanyes, aquest article reflexiona sobre la representacio de les nenes i adolescents que apareixen a les imatges. Aquesta investigacio observa un recurs als estereotips de genere femeni caracteristics de la industria de la moda, ampliat fins a la infancia. Tenint en compte que la publicitat es un dels principals eixos discursius centrals en la construccio social i mediatica de la infancia, aquest article analitza el risc de normalitzar les estrategies de comunicacio publicitaria que apel·len a la seduccio i erotitzacio dels cossos infantils i adolescents a traves dels mitjans de comunicacio, tot i ser i codis d’autoregulacio vigents al pais.

In 1979, General Zia ul-Haq promulgated the Hudood Ordinances to provide Islamic punishments for several offenses, but the prosecution for extra-marital sex (zinā) has been disproportionately higher. Based on the analysis of reported judgments, I argue that the higher rate of prosecutions for zinā was a direct result of new laws. Despite carrying the name “Hudood”, these Ordinances specified several taʿzīr offenses with the objective of ensuring prosecutions. By incorporating ḥadd and taʿzīr offenses for zinā, the Zina Ordinance blurred the distinction between consensual sex and rape, and thus exposed victim women, who reported rape, to prosecution for consensual sex. The Qazf Ordinance, which might have curbed the filing of false accusations of zinā, encouraged them by providing the complainants the defense of good faith. The number of zinā cases has decreased after the reform of the Zina Ordinance and the Qazf Ordinance under the Protection of Women Act, 2006.

Does wearing makeup benefit women by changing how they perceive themselves, and are the perceptions that others make of makeup wearers positive, or negative? In two pre-registered experiments, we investigated the effects of makeup on women's self-perceived traits, and others’ objectifying perceptions of them. In Experiment 1, 229 women imagined one of four scenarios (e.g., a romantic date). Half applied makeup for that scenario before rating their self-perceived agency, humanness, romantic competitiveness towards other women and reactions to partner jealousy. Results showed little evidence that applying makeup affected women's self-perceived traits. In Experiment 2, 844 participants rated images of women's faces from Experiment 1 on their mental capacity and moral status. Women wearing more makeup were attributed less mental capacity and moral status, with attributions mediated by perceptions that heavier makeup-wearers have more sex and are more physically attractive. Findings suggest that although women experience cultural pressure to wear makeup, negative stereotypes of makeup-wearers may lead to detrimental perceptions of women.

espanolEste articulo busca delinear un marco teorico para abordar los procesos de autosexualizacion de ninas y adolescentes en redes sociales digitales desde una perspectiva sociosemiotica. Con la normalizacion del uso de plataformas digitales como Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat y TikTok en la vida cotidiana, los individuos disponen de nuevos entornos para proyectar, gestionar y validar sus identidades personales. Estas actividades implican procesos de autorrepresentacion en los que los individuos se estilizan a si mismos, es decir, moldean el yo que es representado segun codigos esteticos y eticos que reconocen como portadores de un valor cultural positivo (aunque tal reconocimiento no ocurra siempre de manera consciente). Uno de los codigos intervinientes en tales estilizaciones es el asociado a la sensualidad, resultado de una ‘sexualizacion de la cultura’ que fomenta practicas de sexualizacion y autosexualizacion como forma de obtener valor social, especialmente por parte de mujeres, adolescentes y ninas. EnglishThis article intends to outline a theoretical framework to address the processes of autosexualization of girls and adolescents in digital social networks from a socio-semiotic perspective. The increasing use of digital platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and TikTok in everyday life, produces new human environments to project, manage and validate personal identities. These activities involve self-representation processes in which individuals stylize themselves, as they shape the self that is represented according to aesthetic and ethical codes. recognized as carriers of a positive cultural value (although such recognition does not always occur consciously ). One of the codes involved in such stylizations is related to sensuality, the result of a ‘sexualization of culture’ that encourages sexualization and self-sexualization practices as a way to obtain social confirmation, especially by women, adolescents and girls.

Self-sexualization is an emerging area of research relevant to clothing researchers as evaluations of sexual appeal often stem from specific items and uses of dress. Our research purpose was to systematically review the available research on self-sexualization. In our review we focused specifically on three topics: what precedes self-sexualizing? What outcomes are associated with self-sexualizing? And how has self-sexualization been operationalized? The time frame for this review was 2007–2020. To locate the 31 journal articles that supplied the data for this research, multiple data bases were searched using the following search terms: self-sexualization, self-sexualizing, and sexual self-presentation. Important precursors to self-sexualization include exposure to media and social media, self-objectification, internalization of sexualization, and desiring attention from others. Empowerment has been studied as an outcome of self-sexualization along with negative inferences concerning both young women and girls that self-sexualize. Operationalization of self-sexualization is varied and likely contributes to inconsistent findings.

In June 2020, the hasthtag #TF1raciste began trending on French Twitter after the synopsis of a TV series broadcast on France’s first television channel described a female character of Maghrebi des...

Representation of the female body has been one of the most emphasized issues in gender debates. To refrain from reproducing the patriarchal ideology, it is important to be careful with the distinction between the body being tabooed and covered or transformed into an object of consumption under the name of freedom. The sexualization and objectification of the female body has taken place in the historical process. In many products from works of art to mass media, the woman, who is a passive object in front of the man who is the active/subject, is presented to the consumption of the male gaze. In almost every branch of art, from photography to cinema, the female body has been the object of the gaze and has been turned into an object of desire by being removed from the subject identity. Even in films that are claimed to be made with a woman's point of view and against gender discourses, the female body is sometimes objectified with elements such as the stage order, lighting, and perspective preferences. In this study, which aims to reveal how cinematographic elements can change the world of meaning, the first film of Deniz Gamze Ergüven, Mustang (2015), was discussed with feminist criticism in the axis of object-body by giving examples from various art branches in terms of cinematographic preferences. As a result of the study, it has been determined that the film, which claims to have set out with critical point of view, reproduces the discourses it tries to criticize. The reason for this is that the film falls into the traps of patriarchal ideology.

Art has explored the problem of the body and corporeality in various ways. As a result, the body was subject to constant reinterpretations in the artistic practice – as an object of different narratives, goals, politics, a field of interference, an object of artistic fetishization, sexualization or desexualization. This text discusses selected aspects of the presence and experience of the body in visual arts, referring to artistic realizations and endeavours of radically different “nature”, and thus – referring to the ontology of the work of art. The main field of reflection is the transition from the representation of the body (media images of an absent body) to the presentation and presence of a real body as a material and medium of expression. In this context, not only the consequences related to the artistic mediatization and performatization of the body and corporeality are presented, but also the tensions between observing (visuality) and the experience of the mediatized body.

Media sexualization of women may lead to objectification and poor well-being. To explore the more ‘in the moment’ and spontaneous responses to sexualized images men (n = 19) and women (n = 20) from Greece/Cyprus and the UK completed a qualitative think aloud task whilst exploring images of women in a male-directed magazine. Using thematic analysis, four themes emerged: What they see; Sense of celebration; Feeling insulted; Harmful consequences. Transcending these themes was the notion of choice/ownership. These themes were then further coded to explore differences between men and women and by culture (Greece/Cyprus vs. UK). Whilst men and women described what they saw as positive, negative or with moral judgement, women were also more likely to either celebrate women’s sexualized images and seeing them as empowering and justified, or felt insulted and angry, perceiving the media as objectifying women, and described possible harmful consequences. This tended to be underpinned by whether the women in the images were perceived to have choice/ownership over their actions. If women observers imputed no choice/ownership to the women in the images, such images were considered insulting whereas a sense of choice/ownership gave them a sense of empowerment. No clear differences by culture were observed., Hellenic Journal of Psychology, Vol 19, No 2 (2022)

España invirtió más de once millones de euros en financiar veinte largometrajes de ficción rodados en inglés y coproducidos junto a Reino Unido y/o Estados Unidos entre 2005 y 2019 que contaron al menos con una actriz o actor español en su reparto o una escena rodada en España. En ellos, la construcción de los personajes interpretados por españoles mediante una serie de características físicas y psicológicas concretas parece recurrir de forma frecuente a los arquetipos de la mujer fatal y del casanova a través de sus personificaciones estereotipadas a nivel nacional en los mitos de la Carmen de Mérimée y el Don Juan de Zorrilla. Queda patente, además, que tanto los espectadores británicos como los estadounidenses reconocen esta representación estereotipada de la identidad española en reseñas publicadas en abierto en IMDB.com y Amazon sobre estos veinte largometrajes, haciendo incluso menciones directas a estereotipos concretos y generalizaciones aplicables al conjunto de la población española. Los resultados de este trabajo señalan la aparente (hiper)sexualización a la que tanto actrices como actores españoles parecen estar relegados en coproducciones internacionales rodadas en inglés.

As a consequence of exposure to sexualized messages, girls and women may internalize the belief that sexual attractiveness to men is an important aspect of their identity. Whereas research on internalized sexualization has mainly focused on its consequences for girls’ well-being and academic outcomes, the present study (N = 222, women, aged 20 to 29) examined whether internalized sexualization is related to sexist attitudes and tolerance of sexual harassment among young women. It also analyzed internalized sexualization’ links to women’s views of notorious sexual abuse allegations in the so-called Weinstein scandal and attitudes towards the #MeToo movement, a campaign aimed at combatting sexual harassment and sexual assault. The study was conducted in Italy, a context characterized by pervasive sexualized messages and diffuse criticism against the #MeToo movement. The findings showed that internalized sexualization was associated with stronger endorsement of sexist attitudes and higher acceptance of sexual harassment myths, which worked as sequential mediators of skepticism towards sexual abuse allegations in the Weinstein scandals. Endorsement of sexist attitudes mediated the relation between internalized sexualization and negative attitudes towards the #MeToo movement. This study extends the knowledge on the correlates of sexualization, suggesting that women’s internalization of the belief that they should be sexually attractive to men might contribute to reinforce ideologies and attitudes that perpetrate women’s mistreatment while diminishing support for social activism on women’s behalf.

Media images often present one idealized type of woman: she is thin, sexualized, and White. Although research has shown that there are stereotypes associated with sexualized women, known research has not addressed whether these stereotypes vary based on other characteristics such as body type and race. The current study aimed to examine the stereotypes associated with women who varied in sexualization, as well as body size and race, and whether participants’ characteristics moderated these stereotypes. U.S. college-aged students (n = 500: 101 men, 393 women, 6 unknown) completed measures of gender stereotypes and rated the attributes of women who varied in sexualization (sexualized vs. non-sexualized clothing), body size (thin vs. plus-sized), and race (Black vs. White). Results suggest that body size is more salient than sexualization and stereotypes about sexualized women are differentially applied to White and Black women. Additionally, participants’ gender and race moderated stereotype ratings. Lastly, viewing sexualized images was related to higher endorsement of sexualized gender stereotypes, but only in women. Taken together our results highlight that research on sexualization should address important intersectional components, such as race and body size. We also discuss broader implications of our results on lessening stereotyping and weight stigma.

Alcohol consumption is on the rise among U.S. women, especially college women, despite the negative consequences that uniquely and disproportionately affect them. The current work integrates objectification theory and related research with literature on drinking motivations to explore how women’s experiences living in a culture that constantly objectifies the female body is associated with women’s consumption of alcohol. Among a sample of 539 female U.S. college students, the present study examined how differentially valenced responses to interpersonal sexual objectification (enjoyment of sexualization or body shame) contribute to distinct drinking motivations and outcomes. Results showed general support for the proposed serial mediational model. The link between sexual objectification and drinking frequency was mediated by self-objectification, enjoyment of sexualization, and drinking for enhancement, social and conformity motives, and by self-objectification, body shame, and the conformity motive. Finally, sexual objectification was related to drinking quantity through self-objectification, enjoyment of sexualization, and the enhancement drinking motive. These findings suggest that objectification experiences and resulting negative and positive inner states are important predictors of alcohol consumption. The integration of objectification theory with drinking motives sheds light on additional negative consequences associated with women living in a patriarchal society, including increased alcohol use. This model, if confirmed by future research, may provide promising avenues for reducing women’s drinking and thus minimizing the negative consequences they experience from alcohol.

The sexualization of girls, currently pervasive in our society, has entered the field of dance education with a vengeance. This critical issue is so ubiquitous as to have become normalized. After e...

Research on sexualized media content has largely neglected an important part of young people’s interactions with such content, namely whether and how young people are able to resist sexualization in the media and build resilience against its influence. This study is one of the first to investigate whether adolescent girls build such resilience by reading and sharing messages (e.g., videos, articles) on social media in which sexualization is criticized (i.e., counter-messages). A focus group study of 24 girls aged 12–17, showed that girls engage very little with counter-messages in social media. Explanations for this lack of engagement are related to uses and gratifications of social media (e.g., hedonic and utilitarian value), social influence processes (e.g., identification and compliance with social norms) and media literacy skills (e.g., perceived susceptibility to and awareness of sexualization).

The female image has been exploited in advertising for more than a dozen years. For such a long period, one can observe a real regression: the image has turned from restrained into loose. The female image in advertising is enclosed in a strict framework, it is filled with stereotypes that are used to increase the effectiveness of advertising. The article examines the development of the image of a woman in advertising from the XIX century to the present, compares female and male images, highlights gender stereotypes actively used in advertising, shows the consequences of objectification: constantly observing idealized images around, young girls begin to hate themselves and their bodies; all this leads to eating disorders, depression and low self-esteem and attempts to fight against it: the activities of Jean Kilborn; progressive advertising of Dove; the association The Brave Girls Alliance; statements by media personalities (such as singer Lorde and model Cindy Crawford); the introduction at the legislative level of the requirement for models to provide certificates about a healthy body mass index; the organization of the Advertising Standards Commission of Great Britain (ASA). The possible reasons for the use of such images have been studied as well., Женский образ эксплуатируется в рекламе уже не один десяток лет. За столь долгий период можно наблюдать настоящую регрессию: образ из сдержанного превратился в распущенный. Женский образ в рекламе заключен в строгие рамки, он наполнен стереотипами, которые используются для увеличения эффективности рекламы. В статье рассмотрено развитие образа женщины в рекламе начиная с XIX века и до современности, произведено сравнение женского и мужского образов, выделены гендерные стереотипы, активно используемые в рекламе, приведены последствия объективации: постоянно наблюдая вокруг идеализированные изображения, молодые девушки начинают ненавидеть себя и свое тело; все это ведет к расстройствам с питанием, депрессиям и низкой самооценке и попытки борьбы против нее: деятельность Джин Килборн; прогруссивная реклама Dove; объединение The Brave Girls Alliance; высказывания медийных личностей (таких как певица Lorde и модель Синди Кроуфорд); введение на законодательном уровне требования для моделей о предоставлении справок о здоровом индексе массы тела; организация комиссии по рекламным стандартам Великобритании (ASA). Изучены возможные причины использования подобных образов

Este artigo pretende, a partir de relatos e reescritas, pensar sobre percursos das histórias da fotografia em suas relações entre ética e uso da imagem e apropriação de histórias, na tentativa de repensar a relação de poder constituída a partir de um ponto de vis-ta na história da imagem, partindo da Amazônia paraense como lugar de reflexão. Este texto tem a colaboração de Izabelle Louise Anaúa Tremembé, estudante indígena da Universidade Federal de Ceará (UFC), que fez um relato sobre a cultura da apropriação, da exotificação dos objetos sagrados e sexualização dos corpos femininos, assim como, em sua fala, ela afirma a ausência de conhecimento acerca de seus rituais e, ainda, que a autonomia dos povos indígenas em fazer arte sempre existiu. Os relatos foram articulados no encontro entre professores e produtores de fotografia e cinema em Alcântara, Maranhão, em abril de 2019.

Although objectification theory posits negative consequences of self-objectification for adolescent girls, few studies have tested how objectification and sexualization contribute to mental health for youth of color. Accordingly, the current study explores the relations among body surveillance, enjoyment of sexualization, and mental health for a sample of 473 Black and White adolescent girls (Mage = 15.21, SD = 1.43). As expected, body surveillance and enjoyment of sexualization were associated with various forms of diminished well-being. Race moderated two of these links, with Black girls who reported higher levels of body surveillance also reporting higher levels of depression and hostility compared with their White peers. Future work should examine the implications of enjoyment of sexualization for youth of color.

Postfeminist young women are encouraged to “embrace” their sexuality by sexualizing their bodies as a means of empowerment. In stark contrast, dominant understandings of violence identify these same bodily displays as risk factors, condemning women who enact them as “asking for” victimization. While these competing demands on the female body have been widely documented in popular media, empirical work has not investigated if, and the extent to which, women reproduce these tension-filled constructions of the body in their own lives. Using in-depth interviews with 15 participants of varied race, class and gender identity in the US, this paper explores the ways in which these conflicting discursive constructions of the body are enacted by participants in their everyday lives. While participants took up varied sensibilities of the body and empowerment (including several that emphasized sexiness and sexuality), participants uniformly discussed perceptions of risk that inscribed the female body as vulnerable. This produced tensions in reasoning for some participants (but not all), in ways that were intersectionally inflected by race and gender presentation. More broadly, data suggests that postfeminist (and other) visions of the body that appear to otherwise produce lived experiences of empowerment are deemed invalid in contexts of risk.

Slasher films are known for their graphic depictions of sex, brutalization and death. Many argue that these films sexualize and punish female characters. A content analysis of 48 influential slasher films from the 1960s to 2010s was conducted to evaluate the presentation of women in these films. Sexualization (measured via specific acts and total sexualization), strength, flaws, brutalization, and fate were coded for 252 female characters. Results indicate that purity was significantly related to lower brutalization and lower rates of death for all women. Within each role (hero, killer, and potential/actual victim), unique portrayals of sexuality and related repercussions emerge. Female killers were most commonly portrayed having sex, heroes were most sexually dressed, and actual/potential victims were brutalized and killed most for their sexualization. These messages reinforce ideas of gender roles, stereotypes, and relationship expectations by punishing female sexualization and demonizing female sex. Issues of violence against women, toxic masculinity, rape culture, and the normalization of combining violence and sex are discussed as significant concerns.

This study seeks a deeper understanding of the associations between early adolescents’ encounter with sexualizing messages, both through media and peers, and self-sexualization (i.e., performing se...

A growing body of research has demonstrated negative effects of sexualization in the media on adolescents’ body image, but longitudinal studies and research including interactive and social media are scarce. The current study explored the longitudinal associations of adolescents’ use of sexualized video games (SVG) and sexualized Instagram images (SII) with body image concerns. Specifically, our study examined relations between adolescents’ SVG and SII use and appearance comparisons, thin- and muscular-ideal internalization, valuing appearance over competence, and body surveillance. A sample of 660 German adolescents (327 female, 333 male; Mage = 15.09 years) participated in two waves with an interval of 6 months. A structural equation model showed that SVG and SII use at Time 1 predicted body surveillance indirectly via valuing appearance over competence at Time 2. Furthermore, SVG and SII use indirectly predicted both thin- and muscular-ideal internalization through appearance comparisons at Time 1. In turn, thin-ideal internalization at Time 1 predicted body surveillance indirectly via valuing appearance over competence at Time 2. The results indicate that sexualization in video games and on Instagram can play an important role in increasing body image concerns among adolescents. We discuss the findings with respect to objectification theory and the predictive value of including appearance comparisons in models explaining the relation between sexualized media and self-objectification.

Historical associations between massage therapy and sex work result in the presence of harmful stereotypes that reinforce the sexualization of massage therapy. In addition, the private setting and partial or full nudity involved in massage therapy could be perceived as sexually inviting. However, almost nothing is known about sexual harassment of massage therapists by clients. The current exploratory study investigated massage therapists’ reports of sexual harassment by clients. One hundred forty-three massage therapists completed a survey addressing the context and consequences of harassment experiences. The survey revealed that 74.8% of massage therapists surveyed experienced sexual harassment by clients, with 26.5% experiencing an incident on more than three occasions. Verbal forms of harassment were more common than were physical forms (55.0% and 6.0%), although 34.0% reported experiencing both verbal and physical forms. Incidents typically (87.9%) occurred during the treatment itself. Most therapists (79.4%) told someone about the incident. Only one therapist reported an incident to the police. A call for further research in this area as well as implications for increasing massage therapists’ safety is discussed.

Through an analysis of anti-suffrage arguments, I identify white supremacist tropes as an important strand in woman suffrage debates. I argue that sexualization and themes of home were signals to r...

La Fiesta Provincial del Inmigrante (Berisso, Argentina) constituye uno de los rituales conmemorativos a través de los cuales sus organizadores reproducen anualmente un imaginario de la comunidad local/nacional apelando a un mito de origen: el mito del crisol de razas (blancas y europeas). Este artículo tiene como propósito analizar, desde una perspectiva de género, el proceso de visibilización afro y las disputas por el reconocimiento social que desarrollan las y los integrantes de la Asociación Caboverdeana de Ensenada a partir de su participación en la Fiesta Provincial del Inmigrante. Para ello nos centramos en el análisis de los conflictos vividos por tres mujeres afrodescendientes en el acto central de la fiesta: la elección de la Reina Provincial del Inmigrante. La estrategia metodológica que sostuvo la investigación fue de tipo cualitativa, centrada en un extenso trabajo de campo etnográfico realizado en la Fiesta Provincial del Inmigrante (2010-2015), entrevistas a los/as integrantes de la Asociación Caboverdena de Ensenada y tres entrevistas en profundidad a las tres ex-reinas de dicha asociación que participaron de las elecciones de la Reina Provincial del Inmigrante (años 2001, 2008 y 2010). La originalidad del artículo reside en el análisis de un objeto de estudio escasamente indagado por las ciencias sociales y reiteradamente criticado por el movimiento feminista: las elecciones de reinas y la participación de mujeres afrodescendientes en estos contextos. Buscando no caer en una socio-antropología de la denuncia –que únicamente ponga de manifiesto la reproducción de modelos canónicos de belleza, la sexualización del cuerpo femenino y la existencia de prácticas discriminatorias durante las elecciones de reinas– nos proponemos dar cuenta de los motivos por los cuales dichas mujeres participan de estos eventos y las agencias que desarrollan., The Provincial Immigrant’s Festival (Berisso, Argentina) is a festive context where local ethnic associations recreate a white imaginary of the nation, annually dramatizing an origin myth: the melting pot (white and european). The purpose of this article is to analyze, from a gender perspective, the process of Afro visibility and the disputes for social recognition undergone by the members of the Cape Verdean Association of Ensenada in their participation of the Provincial Immigrant’s Festival. To this effect, we focused on the analysis of the conflicts experienced by three Afro-descendant women in the central ceremony of the festival: the election of the Provincial Queen of the Immigrant. The methodological strategy supporting the research was qualitative, focused on extensive ethnographic fieldwork carried out in the Provincial Immigrant’s Festival (2010-2015), interviews with the members of the Cape Verdean Association of Ensenada, and three in-depth interviews with three former queens of the association, who participated in the elections of the Provincial Queen of the Immigrant (in 2001, 2008 and 2010). The originality of the article lies on the analysis of an object of study scarcely investigated by social sciences and repeatedly criticized by the feminist movement: the elections of queens and the participation of Afro-descendant women in these contexts. Without falling into a social anthropology that condemns –which only reveals the reproduction of canonical models of beauty, the sexualization of the female body and the existence of discriminatory practices during the elections of queens– we resolve to account for the reasons why those women participate in these events and the agency they develop there., Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación

Debate concerning the role of traditional media in the sexualization of young people tends to view young people as a special group of consumers who require protection from some media content and its potential risks. However, with the advent of new media technologies, young people are no longer passive consumers of sexualized representations, but also generators of sexually explicit material that is created and shared among their peers. This challenge has raised concern among those adults who remain ambivalent, or perhaps in denial, about the possibility that young people are sexually curious. Accordingly, this essay seeks to challenge the view that young people are simply passive recipients of sexual messages in the media by highlighting the role that young people play as producers of media content, in particular through the production of fan fiction. This essay investigates the potential criminalization of young people whose online communications about sex can be classified as criminal acts under Australia’s child abuse material legislation. Interviews were conducted with five members of the judiciary to ascertain how this kind of communication might be viewed in a court of law. This was conducted as part of larger research project that seeks to analyze how Australia’s child abuse material legislation may impact on the sexual self-expression of young people themselves.

Using an experimental methodology, the present study investigated college students’ attitudes toward media images of female athletes. We are particularly focused on how viewers perceive media images of female athletes that have both an appearance and athleticism focus, such as those found in ESPN’s The Body Issue. An aim of our study was to assess viewers’ attitudes toward these images that are not purely objectified, thereby contributing to the objectification literature and providing empirical data relevant to theorizing on the social impact of these images. U.S. college students (n = 563) viewed one of four types of images of the same athletes including: (a) sexualized athletes, (b) sexualized performance athletes (in which both athleticism and sexualization are present), (c) sport performance athletes (in which athletes are depicted playing their sport), or (d) non-sexualized athletes. They then rated the athletes’ competence, esteem, and sexual appeal. Overall, sexualized performance athletes were rated more positively than sexualized athletes, but less positively than sport performance athletes. These results have implications for advocacy efforts calling for more media coverage in which women are depicted as athletes rather than as sexual objects.

Although objectification is a common experience for women (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997), little is understood about how women perceive sources of objectifying commentary and behaviors. The current work provides a novel integration of objectification and consistency theories to understand how valence of sexual objectification and women’s feelings about sexual attention interact to predict perceptions of objectifying sources. In two online vignette studies with 121 and 110 U.S. women recruited through MTurk, female participants were asked to recall an experience of complimentary or critical objectification and report perceptions of source warmth, approach behavioral intentions, perceived overlap between the self and the source, and enjoyment of sexualization. Consistent with hypotheses, regression analyses revealed that reporting experiences of complimentary objectification led to more positive source perceptions among women who reported that they enjoy being sexualized relative to reporting experiences of critical objectification. Furthermore, path analyses revealed that self-other overlap emerged as a mechanism of women’s more positive source perceptions, with a significant indirect effect of self-other overlap emerging for the link between enjoyment of sexualization and warmth and approach in the complimentary objectification condition. The effects were replicated across two studies. The discussion centers on how understanding women’s objectifying source perceptions could illuminate when interpersonal objectification will lead to more experiences of objectification or women’s internalization of objectifying self-perceptions.

Introduction: Sexual functioning is an important aspect of maintaining the biopsychosocial balance of a human being. Sexual dysfunctions (SD) are common in societies around the world. Studies on alcoholics have shown that chronic and persistent alcohol consumption induces SD leading to impairment of interpersonal contacts, which may affect mental health. By improving the knowledge of this topic one can work on planning multidimensional treatment programmes. The aim of the study will be to measure the sexual functioning of people addicted to alcohol. Material and methods: The research group consisted of 60 people addicted to alcohol aged 18–65, mainly hospitalized in Pruszkow. The control group is 60 healthy people. The participants filled out a set of questionnaires consisting of: sociodemographic questionnaire, sexological tests: FSFI for women, IIEF for men, KZS, Mell-Krat, KWS for both sexes, and a set of tests for alcohol dependence. Results: The analysis showed a significant effect on the results: on the scale pain during sex for the relationship factor. Persons in a relationship showed lower scores on a scale than those who are not in a relationship; for IIEF variable of question No. 4. Healthy people had higher results in this question; in the group of both sexes for the variables satisfaction with appearance and sexualization measured before the onset of symptoms of the disease in people with alcoholism and in healthy people. People with alcoholism showed significantly higher results than healthy people on the scale of satisfaction with appearance. Conclusions: After the research it can be concluded that the most important factor conditioning the sexual functioning of alcohol addicts is a better perception of sexuality before the onset of the disease.

Recent research has examined the sexualization–objectification link (i.e. whether sexualized individuals are appraised as if they were objects rather than persons). This research has found that sexualized individuals are more likely to be processed and categorized as if they were objects and are also perceived as possessing fewer humanlike traits than nonsexualized individuals. In addition, sexualization prompts negative behaviors such as social exclusion. Altogether, these findings shed light on mechanisms that might underlie violence toward sexualized individuals., info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Despite nearly equal Instagram use rates between men and women, research on the effects of Instagram use on body image has mainly focused on women, and continued research on visual social media is warranted. To fill this gap, we conducted a 2 (image muscularity; high vs. low) × 2 (image sexualization; high vs. low) + 1 (control) between-subjects online experiment among 133 young adult men. Among all participants, we examined the moderating effect of sexual orientation, hypermasculinity, and trait appearance-related social comparison. We considered internalized homophobia among men who did not identify as exclusively heterosexual. Results demonstrated no main or interaction effects of condition on intention to exercise. There was a small but significant main effect of condition on state body image, with scores significantly lower in the muscular/nonsexualized condition in comparison to the control. Further, the effect of exposure to muscular Instagram images was stronger among men higher in trait appearance-related social comparison and among nonheterosexual men higher in internalized homophobia. These results suggest that similar to findings among women, exposure to certain types of Instagram images can have small, negative body image effects on men, which are conditional on individual differences.

Detta examensarbete handlar om online grooming och utnyttjande av barn och riktar sig främst till barn i åldrarna 10-13. I dagens samhälle där majoriteten har egen mobiltelefon innan 10 års ålder är det extra viktigt att våga prata med barn om sex och övergrepp. Porr finns överallt och den skapar en farlig bild av sex och sexualitet. Vem som helst kan kontakta dig på nätet och alla är inte vem de påstår sig att vara. Genom att våga prata med barn om detta kan vi skydda dem från förövare och övergrepp. Förhoppningen med arbetet är att öppna för diskussion om ämnet och att barn ska våga söka hjälp om något liknande händer dem. Genom att ta del av detta arbete kan de förhoppningsvis också se varningssignalerna och undvika att hamna i liknande situationer. Du får följa mig när jag kommer fram till designval, illustrationer, typografi och form som tillslut landar i en bok riktad till barn som närmar sig ämnet grooming på ett annourlunda sätt än vad man ser i media. This thesis deals with the topic of child grooming and sexual exploitization and is first and foremost aimed at children between the ages of 10-13. In todays society where most children has their own phones before the age of 10, it's especially important to talk to them about sexual abuse. Porn is everywhere and can cause a harmful view of sex and sexuality. Anyone can contact you online and everyone isn't who they appear to be. By having conversations with children about these topics can we protect them against predators and abuse. The hopes for this project is to open up for conversation and for children to have the courage to seek help if they find themselves in a similar situation. By taking part of this project can they also hopefully recognize red flags and avoid these types of situations. You'll get to follow me when weighing different design options, illustrations and typography that in the end becomes a book for children that approaches the subject of grooming in an alternative way from what media shows us.