Search

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.

PurposeIn many countries, service workers’ (e.g. restaurant staff, bartenders) income depends highly on tips. Such workers are often female and targeted by sexual harassment. The purpose of this paper was to investigate whether the mode of compensation (tips vs. no tips) could play a causal role in the perceived legitimacy of sexual harassment.Design/methodology/approachIn an experimental study (N 5 161), the authors manipulated the source of income of a fictional female bartender (fixed income vs. smaller fixed incomeþtips) as well as whether she or her boss chose her (sexualized) clothing. The authors then asked male participants in an online survey to imagine being her customer and to form an impression of her.FindingsThe bartender was viewed as more sexualized, more manipulative and sexual behaviors toward her were perceived as more legitimate when she received tips. Further, the effect of tipping on the legitimacy of sexual behaviors was mediated by perceptions that she was manipulative. The target was perceived as more manipulative when she chose her clothes than not.Research limitations/implicationsThe study is an online scenario study and, as a consequence, assesses only judgments rather than actual behaviors.Practical implicationsEncouraging fixed salaries rather than tipping could reduce the occurrence of sexual harassment.Social implicationsThe present work suggests that tipping may play a detrimental role in service workers’ well-being by contributing to an environment in which sexual harassment is perceived as legitimate.Originality/valueTo the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study showing that mode of compensation can increase the objectification of workers and legitimize sexually objectifying behaviors toward them., info:eu-repo/semantics/published

In this article, the authors focus on the linkages between objectification and current societal manifestations of sexual violence toward women to make the case that everyday instances of objectification can provide the foundation for more extreme forms of violence. First, they formally introduce the notion of objectification and explain its origins and its consequences in those who perpetrate and those who experience it. Next, they use objectification as a lens through which to consider several related, but distinct, societal problems, including: sexual assault of college women, harassment of women in work settings, and sex trafficking of women in the United States and around the world. Finally, they offer potential solutions, which, if implemented at individual, organizational, and societal levels, could reduce violence against women in its many forms. (PsycINFO Database Record