Sex‐based and beauty‐based objectification: Metadehumanization and emotional consequences among victims

Abstract

We investigated how two forms of objectification (i.e., sex-and beauty-based objectification) relate to metadehumanization (i.e., the perception of being dehumanized) and emotional consequences for victims. Capitalizing on previous research, we hypothesized that sex-based objectification would induce animalistic metadehumanization and that beauty-based objectification would induce mechanistic metadehumanization. Our four studies showed that sex-based objectification elicits stronger mechanistic metadehumanization than beauty-based objectification, which also elicits higher mechanistic metadehumanization than non-objectifying control condition. Unexpectedly, animalistic metadehumanization did not vary across conditions. These findings suggest that, consistent with the social metaphor, objectified women feel mechanistically dehumanized, independently of the objectification type faced. Sex-and beauty-based objectifications also elicit more anger but less sadness than the control condition. However, only sex-based objectification increases guilt feelings. The general discussion contrasts perpetrators' vision of objectified women to women's own experience of objectification.

Am I being dehumanized? Development and validation of the experience of dehumanization measurement

“…Unlike perceived objectification, the experience of dehumanization goes beyond a specific focus on the object‐like perception and underlines the sense of exclusion from human status, the moral domain, and fundamentally shared superordinate identity of being human. Consistent with this and previous studies (Chevallereau, Maurage, et al, 2021; Crone et al, 2021), we expected that perceived objectification would share an empirical overlap and positive relationship with the experience of dehumanization, but they are not identical constructs.…”

“…We explored the relationship between the experience of dehumanization and negative affect. Prior research has documented being dehumanized as relating to negative emotional consequences (Chevallereau, Maurage, et al, 2021; Zhang et al, 2017). In line with these findings, we anticipated that the experience of dehumanization would be positively related to the experience of negative affect.…”

New Ethics In The Grammar And Lexicon Of Russian Media

“…Among the concepts presented in the media related to the new ethics and which have become widespread in the wake of its development, there are also words and phrases that are not borrowed neologisms -objectification and a glass ceiling. The concept of objectification (reduction of a woman's personality to the level of an object that serves exclusively to satisfy male needs (Chevallereau et al, 2021)) is recorded in the newspaper corpus of the language 8 times. However, only five of them are in the meaning used in the context of the new ethics.…”

Introduction to the Special Issue of Group Processes & Intergroup Relations Less than Human: What People who are Dehumanized Think, Feel, and Do

“…Metadehumanizing feelings may arise in various social contexts. For instance, feelings of dehumanization have been evidenced both in romantic relationships (e.g., Pizzirani et al, 2019) and in sexually tainted interpersonal encounters (e.g., Chevallereau et al, 2021). Metadehumanization has also been shown to arise in work contexts when, for instance, workers feel objectified by their superiors (e.g., Baldissarri et al, 2014; Baldissarri & Andrighetto, 2021) or suffer from abusive supervision (Caesens et al, 2019).…”