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Previous research has documented the social costs of sexualized Facebook profiles (Daniels, 2016(Daniels, , 2020Daniels & Zurbriggen, 2016), yet little is known whether such effects exist in a critically important venue for relationship formation: online dating. Using the stereotype content model, this online experiment examined whether sexualized dating profiles, versus nonsexualized dating profiles, incur social costs (e.g., being rated low on competence, warmth, humanity, liking, social attractiveness, romantic attractiveness, and likelihood of experiencing sexual cyber dating abuse). A total of 262 heterosexual undergraduates (166 women and 96 men) participated in the study. They were randomly assigned to evaluate 2 sexualized or nonsexualized online dating candidates of the opposite sex. Results indicated that sexualized profile owners were evaluated lower on competence, liking, social attractiveness, were perceived to be at a heightened likelihood of experiencing sexual cyber dating abuse, and were considered less likely to seek long-term relationships than their nonsexualized counterparts. Some interaction effects between target gender and sexualization were also observed and discussed. Public Policy Relevance StatementAccording to the stereotype content model, people make sense of individuals/groups based on 2 central dimensions-warmth and competence. In line with this idea, this experiment found social costs (e.g., less perceived competence, less liking, a heightened likelihood of experiencing sexual cyber dating abuse) of using sexualized profile photos for online daters. Being aware of such costs may help daters make sensible decisions about their online self-presentations.

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The purpose of this study was to understand how elements of the "party culture" (i.e., grabbing, touching, alcohol, inebriation, and risk-taking) are represented in Instagram fraternity pictures, as well as which photos are the most "liked." Our sample included 600 Instagram pictures that tagged fraternities. Grabbing, defined as forceful touching a person's body parts with obvious pressure from the hands, occurred in one out of every four pictures, whereas touching occurred in one out of five. Also, 11.7% of pictures contained inebriation cues, 17.0% contained alcohol presence, and 6.3% contained risk-taking. Photos containing depictions of inebriation were significantly less likely to be "liked." Findings are discussed in light of a scriptsbased theory approach, suggesting that such social media depictions of Greek Life members could serve two purposes: (a) they reinforce to other Greek life members how to apply the party scripts they have acquired elsewhere (e.g., personal experience, the media), and (b) they could provide non-Greek life members the party scripts that might be activated and applied in similar contexts. Public Policy Relevance StatementThe present study found nuanced presence of grabbing, touching, inebriation, alcohol presence, and risk-taking in Instagram fraternity pictures, as well as posting and liking behaviors with such images. These findings may help university officials especially comprehend the ideologies that young college students are exposed to and possibly learning about, which can then inform intervention practices for drinking behaviors and sexual harassment/safety.