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From television and movies to music videos and magazines, the media we consume has a significant impact on our attitudes, behaviors, social norms, and gender stereotypes. The sexualization of women in the media has been shown to lead to negative health outcomes such as anxiety, depression, body image issues, and eating disorders. While the impact of media such as television, movies, magazines, and social media sites have been explored previously, we have less of an understanding as to how video games as a media may affect players. This study evaluates the impact of hypersexualized character models on player preference for purchasing and playing a video game as well as the sociocultural attitudes towards appearance of the player. When given the choice between hypersexualized and normal proportioned character models, participants significantly preferred the normal character models. Furthermore, when given the choice between a male and female character model used on video game promotional art, the majority of participants preferred the female character model. No significance was found among participants’ sociocultural attitudes towards appearance. These findings illustrate the need for increased realistic female representation in video games.

Research presented in this project examines how the social construction of sexuality affects cisgender (cis) men's attraction to transgender women. While mainstream discourse roots gender normative males' attraction to transgender women in heterosexuality, this project demonstrates how cis-trans pairings emerged from homosexuality in the twentieth century. This project traces the way sexologists' elaboration of the differences between sex, gender, and sexuality helped to distinguish transfeminine people from trans-attracted gender normative males using Foucauldian genealogy. Further, this project examines how researchers have adapted nineteenth-century frameworks of same-sex desires as sexual fetishes to construct gender-conforming “healthy” desires aimed at transsexual women by using the elaboration of these categories in the science of transsexualism. By doing so, this project illustrates how researchers deemphasized the body of trans people and elevated their gender to ensure a white middle-class cis-normative society.

This study examines how a Black plus-size woman social media influencer, @CurvyNyome, encounters censorship, dehumanization, sexualization, and body-shaming on Instagram. Social media, such as Instagram, have formed communication channels and opened avenues for people to be expressive, positive, hostile, or indifferent. The long history of the sexualization and dehumanization of Black women is rooted in centuries of oppression, which led the recipients of oppression to inadvertently adopt dehumanizing beliefs and behaviors (Burnette et al., 2017). The study’s significance is that Black plus-size women are often made to believe and feel that their body is not beautiful. Black women have struggled to be seen and experience many different emotions, feelings, highs, lows, and joys. Black women and their influence have been dismissed (Anderson et al., 2021). The central research questions of this study are: How do sociocultural factors impact a Black plus-size woman, model, and social media influencer on Instagram? How do dehumanization, sexualization, censorship, and body-shaming of Black plus- size SMI women evoke change on Instagram? How do social media emojis and hashtags impact messaging of a Black plus-size woman and social media influencer on Instagram? Content analysis, the means of researching the presence of particular words, themes, or concepts within some given qualitative data, will be utilized in this study. Specifically, the study focuses on Instagram as its leading research site due to the increasing prominence of Instagram use and its particular focus on visual content.

Although competitive dance is a common form of training and performance for young dancers in the United States, there is little academic research on how this type of training and performance might impact the minds and bodies of the dancers who participate. Through interviews with five former competitive dancers, and a psychologist and dancer, Dr. Christina Donaldson, I explore how practices within competitive dance might impact the dancers who participate. This research explores the impact of competitive dance on college undergraduate dance major’s perceptions of their own body, and how those perceptions might impact their choices as performers, choreographers, and educators. In collaboration with the dancers, I created a choreographic work inspired by this research, and in the last chapter Idiscuss the creation and presentation of this work.

The Jezebel stereotype characterizes Black women as promiscuous, seductive, and sexually insatiable. Evidence indicates that Black women’s endorsement of the Jezebel stereotype has detrimental consequences for their sexual health and relationships. However, simply being aware that the Jezebel stereotype exists and that others may judge Black women’s behavior based on the stereotype may be sufficient to impact their sexual attitudes and behavior. My dissertation explores how Black women’s awareness of the Jezebel stereotype is associated with poorer sexual well-being. Study 1 used structural equation modeling to test associations between Jezebel metastereotype awareness (awareness that others hold the Jezebel stereotype) and sexual monitoring, agency, inhibition, and risk. I also examined the moderating role of racial centrality in these relations. Young Black women (N= 575) completed measures of Jezebel metastereotype awareness, sexual monitoring, sexual assertiveness, sexual self-efficacy, sexual self-consciousness, sexual guilt and shame, drug and alcohol use, and condom use. Women who reported higher levels of Jezebel metastereotype awareness engaged in more sexual monitoring, which in turn was associated with less sexual agency, more inhibition, and more risk. Racial centrality was not a significant moderator. These findings confirm that Black women’s awareness of the Jezebel stereotype negatively influences their sexual well-being. Study 2 used structural equation modeling to test associations among enjoyment of sexualization, body surveillance, body shame, and sexual agency. I also examined the moderating role of Jezebel metastereotype awareness in the relations between enjoyment of sexualization, body surveillance, body shame, and sexual agency. Young Black women (N= 569) completed measures of enjoyment of sexualization, Jezebel metastereotype awareness, body surveillance, body shame, sexual assertiveness, and sexual self-efficacy. As hypothesized, enjoyment of sexualization was indirectly associated with less sexual agency via body shame. However, it was directly associated with more sexual agency. Jezebel metastereotype awareness was not a significant moderator, suggesting that Black women’s enjoyment of sexualization did not depend on their awareness of negative stereotypes of their sexuality. The findings indicate that enjoyment of sexualization may have both positive and negative consequences for Black women’s sexual agency, regardless of their awareness of the Jezebel stereotype. In Study 3, I drew on stereotype threat theory to test how Black women’s sexual attitudes and behavior are affected when the Jezebel stereotype is made salient. Black and White women (N= 95) were randomly assigned to complete one of two health questionnaires. In the threat condition, participants responded to questions assessing their sexual history, sexual health, and sexual behavior. In the control condition, the questions pertained to participants’ general hygiene habits. Outcome variables were assessed using a health product selection task, responses to a hypothetical vignette, and survey measures of sexual attitudes and behavior. When the sexuality threat was made salient, Black (but not White) participants were less likely to report that they would have sexual intercourse in the vignette than when the threat was not salient. There were no differences in the number of sex-related health products selected by participants or in their sexual attitudes. These findings expand stereotype threat theory by examining a gendered racial stereotype within a non-academic domain and in relation to non-performance-related outcomes. Together, findings generally highlight Black women’s awareness of the Jezebel stereotype as negatively impacting their sexual attitudes and behaviors. Future research should account for Black women’s unique, racialized experiences when examining sexual well-being and self-sexualization.

In the past decade or so, we have seen an upsurge in advertisements aimed to increase exercise behaviors with limited success. Although success has been achieved in increasing awareness that exercise is beneficial to health (e.g. Bassuk & Manson, 2005), less than half of Americans engage in the American Heart Association’s recommended amount of weekly exercise (CDC, 2014). This has led to the increase in the use of different types of techniques to boost the effectiveness of exercise-related advertisements. One type of technique commonly used is sexualization. Whereas some research suggests that sexualization could be used as an effective technique in media advertisements to increase exercise intentions, other research suggests both that sexualization would not be an effective technique to increase exercise intentions and that sexualization of women has a variety of negative effects on women, including inducing negative affect. Recent research exploring what types of health messages are most influential at changing exercise behaviors and intentions outline the use of positive affect to change how people feel about engaging in exercise. This also suggests that the negative affect experienced after viewing sexualized advertisements may decrease exercise intentions. A pilot study was conducted to examine existing exercise-related advertisements for use in the present study. The pilot study found that after college students viewed sexualized advertisements, they felt less positive about engaging in exercise and believed that exercise was less beneficial than after viewing three different types of comparison advertisements. The Main Study extended the Pilot Study by filling in methodological gaps to explore the mediating effect of affect, and the moderating effect of several key variables on women’s intentions to engage in exercise after viewing exercise-related advertisements. Two hundred fifty-two female undergraduate students were randomly assigned to view and rate exercise advertisements of one of four types: neutral, positive, inspirational, or sexualized. We hypothesized that sexualized exercise advertisements will negatively influence participants’ intentions to exercise by inducing negative feelings, particularly negative feelings about ones’ body. Additionally, we hypothesized that Enjoyment of Sexualization would statistically moderate the relationship between advertisement type and affect and exercise intentions. Results indicated that the individual difference in enjoyment of sexualization produced an interaction between advertisement type and intentions to engage in exercise in the future. Specifically, regression analyses found that when those who scored higher in enjoyment of sexualization viewed sexualized ads, they had significantly higher intentions to engage in exercise after viewing the neutral advertisements, and significantly lower intentions after viewing any of the other types of advertisements. Contrary to Pilot Study findings, there was no main effect of advertisement condition on the main dependent variables, and no other hypotheses were supported. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed, in addition to notable limitations and future directions.

The vast majority of media images present one idealized type of woman: she is thin, sexualized, and White. While research has shown that there are stereotypes associated with sexualized women, 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 body size, sexualization, and race. Additionally, the current study examined whether exposure to differing portrayals of women was related to endorsement of gender stereotypes and body dissatisfaction. College-aged students (n = 226, 161 women) rated four traits of women who varied in sexualization (sexualized clothing vs. non-sexualized clothing), body size (thin vs. plus-sized), and race (Black vs. White). Participants also completed measures of gender stereotype endorsement and body dissatisfaction. Results indicated that the descriptive stereotype about sexualized women is predominantly applied to thin women. However, body size appears to be the most salient characteristic through which women are stereotyped. Additionally, exposure to depictions of sexualized women was related to greater body dissatisfaction, particularly for women, and greater gender stereotype endorsement. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Girls grow up in a culture of ubiquitous female sexualization, and this culture propagates stereotypes that could interfere with their academic outcomes. The current study examined the academic correlates of these sexualized gender stereotypes (SGS) among early adolescent girls. Girls (N = 99) aged 11 to 14 (Mage = 12.4 years, SD = .57 years) completed a survey assessing their academic performance, attitudes, and beliefs. The survey also assessed the degree to which girls believed that boys and girls should act in accordance with these sexualized gender stereotypes. Results indicated that higher endorsement of sexualized gender stereotypes was associated with lower academic performance, more negative academic attitudes, and less adaptive approaches to learning. Implications for girls’ academic trajectories are discussed.

Scholars have long understood that individuals who are ascribed low agency or lack the capacity for agency are routinely victimised. Yet despite the importance of agency to understanding maltreatment, researchers have largely ignored the effect of women's low agency on male-to-female sexual aggression. In Part I of this PhD thesis, I investigated how Western cultural sexualisation of women increased the extent to which women were perceived to lack agency and suffer sexual harm. In Part II, I examined whether hormones and fertility affected expressions of women s agency. Results from Experiments 1 4 indicated that women who were perceived as sexually open were more vulnerable to sexual aggression because both men and women assumed such women lacked agency. In Experiment 5, I found that men were more aggressive towards a sexually open woman after they were romantically rejected. I also found that aggressing against a woman after being rejected heightened men s feelings of sexual dominance. In Study 6, I first ensured my procedure for recruiting fertile women was methodologically rigorous by analysing the accuracy of indirect counting methods used for estimating women s fertility. Results consistently showed that indirect fertility estimation methods were highly inaccurate. I thus developed a best practice protocol for recruiting women in their fertile phase. Using this protocol, Studies 7 and 8 showed that patterns of ovarian hormones reflective of high fertility were positively associated with sexual openness and agency. Study 7 showed that women wore more red clothing which is perceived to represent high sexual openness as their estradiol to progesterone ratio increased. However, this effect was only found among younger women. Study 8 showed that women implicitly associated themselves with high sexual openness when they were fertile. When estradiol was high and progesterone was low, women placed more monetary value on sexy clothes and expressed higher agency. In the General Discussion, I discuss and integrate findings from Part I and Part II. I provide a functional account for why men might perceive sexually open women lack agency, and conversely why women may feel and act more agentically when sexually motivated.

This report examines the sexualization and objectification of women in print advertising, and the consequences of these depictions. The major themes found in advertising are discussed, and their role in reinforcing sexism and female stereotypes. Advertising’s impact on society’s attitudes, beliefs, and behavior in relation to social comparison theory and cultivation theory are examined. The report examines historical implications of women’s role in advertising and the gradual shift to new trends in advertising that seek to empower women. Through content analysis of the 2005 Nike Real Women campaign, implications and recommendations for future advertising are discussed.

This paper looks at the ways in which pornography influences American society. It explores the rise of porn culture with an emphasis on Internet porn and the impact it has had on the distribution and availability of pornography. As a result, advertising companies and other producers of mainstream media have looked to the porn industry for ways to increase their profit margins. As sexual imagery has become a standard aspect of everyday life, it has impacted younger generations in terms of clothing and how they develop relationships. The popularity of social media applications has also helped to perpetuate the pornification of mainstream culture by focusing on physical appearance. The college hookup culture illustrates the lack of satisfaction that can result from the strictly sexual relationships highlighted in pornography. Acknowledging the effects of pornography can help to reduce the many problems that result from a hyper-sexualized society.

The current study examined children’s stereotypes about sexualized girls. Elementary school children (n = 208) from the mid-South between the ages of 6 and 11 completed a survey assessing their stereotypes about sexualized girls and non-sexualized girls. Participants were asked to justify, in their own words, their responses to several stereotypic evaluations. Children’s cognitive development was analyzed through classification skill as a moderator of belief in stereotypes about girls. Results revealed that children perceived the sexualized girl to be more popular and better liked by boys than the non-sexualized girl. However, the sexualized girl was also rated as less athletic, nice, smart, and typical than the non-sexualized girl. The non-sexualized girl was reported to have nicer clothes and was someone the participants would rather be friends with than the sexualized girl. Girls believed that they dressed more like and looked more like the non-sexualized girl than the sexualized girl, however, they had no preference for which girl they would rather look like. Classification skill moderated the endorsement of these stereotypes, such that high classifiers were more differentiated in their answers than low classifiers. Thus, the current study suggests that children have unique stereotypes about sexualized girls.

The sexual content of media aimed at pre- and early adolescents (including magazines, movies, TV shows, and websites) has increased dramatically in recent years (Durham, 2008; Levin & Kilbourne, 2008; Olfman, 2009; Oppliger, 2008; Orenstein, 2011; Sarracino & Scott, 2008). Psychologists have expressed concern that exposure to such material leads to “internalized sexualization.” A recent APA Task Force (2007) called on researchers to study sexualization among pre- and early adolescent girls to understand its impact on development. For my dissertation, I sought to fulfill this mandate by completing a longitudinal study of internalized sexualization and its consequences. Ninety-nine girls and 94 boys at a private middle school were recruited for the study. They completed measures twice a year for a total of four waves of data. At each time point, girls completed measures of: (1) internalized sexualization, (2) body surveillance, (3) body shame, (4) body satisfaction, (5) general perceived self-competence, (6) physical perceived self-competence, (7) social perceived self-competence, (8) cognitive perceived self-competence, and (9) sociometric popularity. Girls’ pubertal status and grade point average (GPA) were also obtained. Boys completed the measure of sociometric popularity. Cross-sectional analyses suggested that internalized sexualization among girls increased as a function of age; however, linear growth curve modeling did not suggest intra-individual growth in internalized sexualization. Across time points, higher levels of internalized sexualization were associated with higher levels of body surveillance, body shame, and pubertal development, and lower levels of body satisfaction, general perceived self-competence, and cognitive perceived self-competence. Structural equation models suggested that increases in pubertal status temporally preceded increases in internalized sexualization, and increases in internalized sexualization temporally preceded decreases in general perceived self-competence, cognitive perceived self-competence, and GPA. Implications for intervention and social policy are discussed.

The sexualization of preteen girls’ fashion is a concern in America. Girls are given the opportunity to wear clothing that accentuates and reveals their figures. They are encouraged to dress in styles shown by the media, most especially in popular fashion magazines. For this study, I looked at Teen magazine from 1960 to 2005 and performed a content analysis using advertisements and fashion spreads from the months of April and September. I measured provocative dress, as defined by Kennedy, identified specific characteristics that increased the image’s sexual nature, and ran descriptive statistics on the data pulled. The history of the preteen dress, adolescent development, and the marketplace was explored. Research showed that an intense focus on appearance led to self-objectification and a lack of attention on other activities, including school and play. According to the APA Taskforce on the Sexualization of Girls, preteens became sexualized when their values came from their sex appeal. The increase in provocative preteen apparel could be indicative of more relaxed social attitudes. The results of the study showed a subtle, but progressive increase in provocative fashion in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. The majority of the provocative images reported were published after 1985. Fifteen characteristics were analyzed, but only those with the highest numbers were discussed. The number of accentuating garments, exposed breasts, exposed legs, and low waistbands reported often reflected the era’s most popular fashion trends. Results also showed an increase in the number of characteristics reported over the time span of the study.

The sexual content of media aimed at pre- and early adolescents (including magazines, movies, TV shows, and websites) has increased dramatically in recent years. Psychologists have expressed concern that exposure to such material leads to “internalized sexualization.” A recent APA Task Force (2007) called on researchers to study sexualization among pre- and early adolescent girls to understand its effect on development. In this master’s thesis, I developed the first known measure of internalized sexualization. The scale was demonstrated to be internally reliable and valid. The scale was also used to examine the relation between internalized sexualization and academic achievement. A strong negative relation was found between the two constructs; girls with higher levels of internalized sexualization have poorer academic achievement than girls with lower levels of internalized sexualization. The implications of the findings are discussed and future directions for research are suggested.

This paper explores the social processes that influence attitudes that legitimate the cultural discrimination toward same sex unions and multi racial marriage. Both types of relationships remain marginalized in today's society. Utilizing the 2000 and 2002 General Social Survey datasets, I assess if race, sex, religion and gender ideology affect attitudes toward same sex and multi racial couples in a similar manner. Parallel logistic regression models are run to explore the role of race, sex, religion and gender ideology in explaining attitudes towards both same sex marriage and multiracial marriage. The results suggest that the processes that influence white attitudes are similar for both types of relationships. However, the attitudes of the black sample are not so easily predicted. While the lack of statistical significance within the black population may partially be explained by a small sample size, the results do suggest that the processes leading to negative attitudes towards both types of relationships may be different for blacks and whites. Possible explanations are provided and suggestions for future research addressed.