Sexy vs. Sporty: The Effects of Viewing Media Images of Athletes on Self-Objectification in College Students

The goal of the current study was to replicate and extend prior research on the impact of media images of athletes on women and men. We used an experimental design to investigate the effects of viewing sexualized or performance images of athletes on viewers’ self-objectification and physicality, as well as to explore moderators of these relationships. Participants (227 women, 193 men U.S. undergraduates) viewed either performance images or sexualized images of the same athletes, and then they completed measures of self-objectification, engagement with professional athletes, and self-reported participation in conversations with peers focused on appearance. For both men and women, viewing sexualized images increased self-objectification, whereas viewing performance images increased physicality self-descriptors. For women only, reporting peer appearance conversations increased their self-objectification but only after viewing sexualized images. These results highlight the potentially negative effects of sexualized media on both men and women, and they suggest that the prevalence of these images in popular media are problematic.