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To get a better understanding of people's natural responses to humanlike robots outside the lab, we analyzed commentary on online videos depicting robots of different humanlikeness and gender. We built on previous work, which compared online video commentary of moderately and highly humanlike robots with respect to valence, uncanny valley, threats, and objectification. Additionally, we took into account the robot's gender, its appearance, its societal impact, the attribution of mental states, and how people attribute human stereotypes to robots. The results are mostly in line with previous work. Overall, the findings indicate that moderately humanlike robot design may be preferable over highly humanlike robot design because it is less associated with negative attitudes and perceptions. Robot designers should therefore be cautious when designing highly humanlike and gendered robots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been over a century since American women fought for gender equality. Yet, how much progress have we really made? The recent high profile cases of sexual assaults (#MeToo Movement) from Hollywood to political and other organizations indicate that women are far from being treated equally on all fronts. In this paper, the author intends to explore some explanations of this phenomenon, which is why, after so many years of women's struggles for gender equality, and several decades after the Civil Rights Movement, do we still face gender inequality and disrespectful speeches and actions against women? In order to understand what is really happening in American culture of gender in general, I would like to propose a few concepts as possible explanations. One is the double image or double message of female prototypes in American culture. On one hand, women are expected to be like the Roman Goddess of Venus, whose functions encompassed love, beauty, desire, sex, fertility, prosperity and victory. On the other hand, women are also told to be like the Greek Goddess Athena, who symbolizes wisdom, war and the crafts. "Athena was, perhaps, the wisest, most courageous, and certainly the most resourceful of the Olympian gods" (Mark Cartwright 2012). Related to these contradictive images, we also have "ideal gender culture" and "real gender culture" in our society. The "ideal gender culture" is that gender equality should be what we are supposed to strike for, and there is a false belief that American women have achieved equality already. Gender discrimination is history now (Rivers & Barnett, 2013). But the "real gender culture" is that women are still treated and portrayed as sex objects. Specifically, the author will focus on the aspect of 'sexualization' and 'hypersexualization' as a real gender culture in the U.S. in particular and the Western culture in general. The author did three brief course related surveys and some interviews to illustrate how much damage and confusion the conflicting female prototypes can do to college aged males and females. The results of the surveys supported the hypothesis of the author, which is in this dual level of gender cultures and emphasis on sexualization of women, young college students do show confusion and conflicted feelings and reactions towards women's sexualized images. Female students are torn between interpreting the sexualized female images as empowerment or depowerment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sexualization has become commonplace in mainstream media as well as on social media. The question arises whether exposure to sexualization in mainstream media relates to the way youth present themselves online. The current study used a multi-method approach by combining survey research with content analytical data of Facebook profile pictures. Results showed that exposure to MTV reality shows, but not magazines, related to adolescents' sexualized self-presentation on Facebook. Furthermore, internalization of appearance ideals mediated this association in two opposing ways. Specifically, internalization of appearance ideals was positively related to sexualized self-presentation Facebook. However, internalization of appearance ideals was negatively associated with online self-sexualization through body dissatisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Watching music videos is one of the key media activities for young individuals and there are widespread concerns that especially music videos frequently depict sexualized content. Against this background and based on objectification theory, this study presents a longitudinal visual content analysis of male and female artists in music videos from 1995 to 2014 (n = 420). Specifically, depicted sexuality and sexual objectification were investigated. Furthermore, we included the genre of the music video as well as the race of the artists. Our findings indicate that depictions of insinuated rather than explicit sexuality have increased over time. Furthermore, depictions of sexual objectification have increased in the investigated time period. This is specifically true for female artists, which are more likely to be portrayed as sexual and are more likely sexually objectified over time compared to male artists. We also identified several differences in regard to the artists' race. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study investigated the relationship between either engaging in online sexy selfpresentation or looking at others' sexy self-presentations in social media, and young people's self-perceptions (i.e., self-esteem, body dissatisfaction and sexual satisfaction), among adolescent boys and girls, and young adult men and women. A short-term longitudinal survey among 1,852 social network site users (953 adolescents and 899 young adults) showed that (exposure to) sexy self-presentations in social media do not predict changes in self-perceptions. Instead, selfperceptions predicted (exposure to) sexy self-presentation in social media, depending on one's age and gender: lower sexual satisfaction predicted more engagement in sexy self-presentation for adolescent girls, higher self-esteem and sexual satisfaction predicted more exposure to sexy self-presentations of others for young adult men and women, respectively. These findings suggest that self-perceptions that were considered consequences of social media use, may in fact constitute antecedents of such use, in particular of sexy self-presentations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the extensive research on interracial relationships and sexualization, research on race and hooking up has been surprisingly sparse. Using the Online College Social Life survey (n = 17,576) and Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, we focus on student and institutional characteristics to examine differences in hooking up and hooking up interracially for White, Black, Asian, and Latino students. We find that individual characteristics matter more in determining who hooks up, while institutional characteristics are more important for understanding interracial hookups. Additionally, we identify group-specific differences in the role of institutional characteristics. Our findings suggest a strong social pattern in the way students form unions within and across racial and ethnic boundaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This project used content analysis to examine the commentary and camera angles of six beach volleyball games from the 2004 Summer Olympic Games. We predicted that a high level of sexualized talk and concentration on the body would occur in the coverage. Our findings did not support these specific predictions in the area of play-by-play commentary in that we found the commentary concentrated on the domination and athleticism of the female athletes. However, an analysis of the visual coverage of the games confirms that sex and sexuality were used to not only promote the athletes but to sell the sport to viewers around the world. For example, when the Walsh/May team beat Brazil in the final, they embraced one another and fell on top of one another in the sand. The win meant standing atop the gold medal podium; yet, the commentary and the specific video used (and rebroadcast) used of this specific moment deemphasized the athletic feat and focused on the sexual nature of the shot. Despite there being a great deal of video and digital images to choose from, all which would tell the story of the win, several media outlets chose to use the images that did not emphasize the athleteÂ’s strength, athleticism, or power, rather their ability to become a sexual object. Overall, we found audio coverage of the womenÂ’s beach volleyball games to contradict the visual representation of the female athletes and their games. These and other findings are discussed. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our research builds on the "dark side" of social-sexual behavior at work and more specifically, sexualized work environment (e.g., high incidence of sexual jokes, comments, flirtatious behavior, dressing seductively). We tested the hypotheses using structural equation modeling with survey data collected from 1101 employees in India in various organizations. As hypothesized, we found gender contact and flexible work arrangements to be positively associated with sexualization of the work environment. On the other hand, self-respect was negatively associated with sexualization. Also, as predicted, sexualization of the work environment was positively associated with emotional exhaustion. Further, sexualization of the work environment mediated the relationship between the antecedent variables (gender contact, flexible work arrangement, and self-respect) and emotional exhaustion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article historicizes and politicizes contemporary sexualization research by situating and interrogating it as part of an older feminist agenda. It reviews sexualization research and demonstrates how this informs public debate and policy measures. Grounded in ethnographic fieldwork with 31 girls aged 11-12, it analyzes how girls observe the sexualized world around them, and whether and how their everyday practices of appearance and media consumption are articulated within contemporary sexualized culture and contribute to self-sexualization. Presenting girls' responses to sexualized media content, as well as in-depth biographies of diverse engagements with sexualization, it speaks against simple sexualization theses because of the complex articulation of social and family background, everyday life and reactions to media content. Furthermore, it shows how girls deny, accommodate, and resist sexualization. It argues that current societal concerns are too easily articulated with a limited feminist agenda that frames girls as inevitable victims and denies their agency. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]