Sex as a source of power? Backlash against self-sexualizing women

Infanger, Martina; Rudman, Laurie A.; Sczesny, Sabine

doi:10.1177/1368430214558312

Cited by 32 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 53 publications

(75 reference statements)

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“…In the present research, we also extended previous findings on backlash and sexual harassment against dominant women (e.g., Infanger, Rudman, & Sczesny, 2014; McLaughlin, Uggen, & Blackstone, 2012; for a meta-analysis, see Williams & Tiedens, 2016). Previous researchers have demonstrated that women’s sexual harassment reflects a hostile reaction to “deviant” women, which is driven by dominance motivations (e.g., Maass et al, 2003).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

“…This possibility is consistent with theorizing that gender inequality is maintained through cooperation between men and women (Jackman, 1994), who actively enforce the existing arrangements (e.g., by endorsing sexist ideologies; Glick & Fiske, 2001). An additional question that may be interesting to test in future research is whether women can actually gain dominance through sexually objectifying themselves, as women’s sexuality may be viewed as a source of social influence (Watkins, Smith, & Aquino, 2013), and there is evidence for a backlash response against self-sexualizing women (because they are perceived as too dominant; Infanger et al, 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Domination and Objectification: Men’s Motivation for Dominance Over Women Affects Their Tendency to Sexually Objectify Women

Bareket

Shnabel

2019

Psychology of Women Quarterly

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In the present research, we examined the association between heterosexual men’s motivation for dominance over women and their sexual objectification of women. We found that men’s social dominance orientation (SDO) correlated with their tendency to sexually objectify women (Study 1). Inducing threat to men’s dominance over women by assigning men to work under the supervision of women bosses—versus jointly with women partners (Study 2a) or under men bosses (Study 3)—led to increased sexual objectification of women among high-SDO participants. These results persisted when controlling for mood. Examining the corresponding effects among heterosexual women revealed that the correlation between SDO and the sexual objectification of men was non-significant (Study 1) and that working under men bosses did not affect women’s sexual objectification of men (Study 2b). These findings support feminist theorizing that men (re)assert their dominance over women by sexually objectifying them. Increased awareness of the motivations underlying women’s sexual objectification can help professionals plan useful interventions to reduce this phenomenon, hopefully limiting its negative effects on women’s well-being.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Domination and Objectification: Men’s Motivation for Dominance Over Women Affects Their Tendency to Sexually Objectify Women

Bareket

Shnabel

2019

Psychology of Women Quarterly

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“…Moreover, the report outlined much evidence that sexualization negatively affects women's cognitive functioning, sexuality, attitudes, beliefs, and physical and mental health. Evidence further suggests that although women may feel empowered by self-sexualization, women who self-sexualize sometimes suffer social and economic penalties (Infanger et al, 2014). To this extent, selfsexualization may be inadvertently harmful to women.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceptions of low agency and high sexual openness mediate the relationship between sexualization and sexual aggression

Bastian

Denson

2016

Aggressive Behavior

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Researchers have become increasingly interested in the saturation of popular Western culture by female hypersexualization. We provide data showing that men have more sexually aggressive intentions toward women who self-sexualize, and that self-sexualized women are vulnerable to sexual aggression if two qualifying conditions are met. Specifically, if perceivers view self-sexualized women as sexually open and lacking agency (i.e., the ability to influence one's environment), they harbor more sexually aggressive intentions and view women as easier to sexually victimize. In Experiment 1, male participants viewed a photograph of a woman whose self-sexualization was manipulated through revealing versus non-revealing clothing. In subsequent experiments, men and women (Experiment 2) and men only (Experiment 3) viewed a photograph of a woman dressed in non-revealing clothing but depicted as open or closed to sexual activity. Participants rated their perceptions of the woman's agency, then judged how vulnerable she was to sexual aggression (Experiments 1 and 2) or completed a sexually aggressive intentions measure (Experiment 3). Results indicated that both men and women perceived self-sexualized women as more vulnerable to sexual aggression because they assumed those women were highly sexually open and lacked agency. Perceptions of low agency also mediated the relationship between women's perceived sexual openness and men's intentions to sexually aggress. These effects persisted even when we described the self-sexualized woman as possessing highly agentic personality traits and controlled for individual differences related to sexual offending. The current work suggests that perceived agency and sexual openness may inform perpetrator decision-making and that cultural hypersexualization may facilitate sexual aggression. Aggr. Behav. 42:483-497, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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“…Compelling evidence demonstrates that people derogate those who act counter to the status quo [50]. Perceptions that women who engage in beautification lack agency may thus function to penalize women who threaten notions of demure and passive femininity through asserting sexual power [43,51]. Perceiving that these women lack agency may also support male dominance by discrediting the agency that some women demonstrate via beautification.…”

Section: The Paradox Of Sexualized Beautification and Female Agencymentioning

confidence: 99%

In the context of romantic attraction, beautification can increase assertiveness in women

2020

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Can beautification empower women to act assertively? Some women report that beautification is an agentic and assertive act, whereas others find beautification to be oppressive and disempowering. To disentangle these effects, in the context of romantic attraction we conducted the first experimental tests of beautification-on psychological and behavioral assertiveness. Experiment 1 (N = 145) utilized a between-subjects design in which women used their own clothing, make-up, and accessories to adjust their appearance as they normally would for a "hot date" (beautification condition) or a casual day at home with friends (control condition). We measured implicit, explicit, and behavioral assertiveness, as well as positive affect and sexual motivation. Experiment 2 (N = 40) sought to conceptually replicate Experiment 1 using a within-subject design and different measures of assertiveness. Women completed measures of explicit assertiveness and assertive behavioral intentions in three domains, in whatever clothing they were wearing that day then again after extensively beautifying their appearance. In Experiment 1, we found that women demonstrated higher psychological assertiveness after beautifying their appearance, and that high sexual motivation mediated the effect of beautification on assertive behavior. All effects were independent of positive affect. Experiment 2 partially replicated Experiment 1. These experiments provide novel insight into the effects of women's appearance-enhancing behaviors on assertiveness by providing evidence that beautification may positively affect assertiveness in women under some circumstances.

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Sex as a source of power? Backlash against self-sexualizing women

Cited by 32 publications

References 53 publications

Domination and Objectification: Men’s Motivation for Dominance Over Women Affects Their Tendency to Sexually Objectify Women

Domination and Objectification: Men’s Motivation for Dominance Over Women Affects Their Tendency to Sexually Objectify Women

Perceptions of low agency and high sexual openness mediate the relationship between sexualization and sexual aggression

In the context of romantic attraction, beautification can increase assertiveness in women

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