Stereotyped evaluative judgments and female attractiveness

Abstract

This article explores individuals' judgments about the personality and relationships of "attractive" women. Front facial photographs of models from Cosmopolitan and Playboy were shown to eighty young women and men. Respondents did not know the source of the photographs of the women's faces. After each viewing, respondents were asked to write down their impressions of the women pictured. A content analysis of the open-ended descriptions revealed six major impression categories: flirt/tease, cold/superficial, confident/strong, sensitive/caring, timid/weak, exotic/sensual. Most of the images were perceived by the readers to have poor interpersonal relationships. Women, but not men, had different impressions of the Cosmopolitan and Playboy model images. This research establishes that there are diverse and contradictory readings of the images of beauty as depicted in popular magazines, and most readings of attractiveness are imbued with stereotypical characteristics of attractive women. This work explores young people's judgments of the personality and relationships of "attractive" women. The research is based on the argument that the rules for femininity are culturally transmitted "through the deployment of standardized visual images" (Bordo, 1989). I examine the stereotypical interpretation of the cultural image of attractiveness using viewers' impressions of photographs of models' faces from Cosmopolitan and Playboy magazines. Gender-targeted magazines were used to explore differences between magazines in the deployment of visual messages and gender differences in the reading of the messages, l

‘Most of Us Guys are Raring to Go Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere’: Male and Female Sexuality in Cleo and Cosmo

“…More recently, audience ethnography approaches (e. g., Boynton, 1999;Hermes, 1995;McCleneghan, 2003;Winship, 1987), which explore the ways readers make sense of magazines, have been used in an effort to present a more comprehensive analysis of women's magazines. Audience ethnography examines the meanings that readers take from women's magazines (e.g., Boynton, 1999;Hermes, 1995;Kalof, 1999). Such studies demonstrate that although particular gendered ideologies may be prioritised within women's magazines, readers interpret these in complex ways (e.g., women discussing sexually explicit material in 'top shelf' magazines aimed at heterosexual women have been reported to do so in mixed and varied ways; see Boynton, 1999).…”

“…Such studies demonstrate that although particular gendered ideologies may be prioritised within women's magazines, readers interpret these in complex ways (e.g., women discussing sexually explicit material in 'top shelf' magazines aimed at heterosexual women have been reported to do so in mixed and varied ways; see Boynton, 1999). The portrayed ideas are not simply 'automatically' absorbed by the readers-readers also offer critiques of particular representations (e.g., the representations of beauty in popular magazines; see Kalof, 1999).…”

Others as Objects: How Women and Men Perceive the Consequences of Self-Objectification

“…We examined the emotions participants subsequently saw as descriptive of the target. On the one hand, believing that a person emphasizes her or his appearance might lead any observer, independent of gender, to underappreciate that person's feelings based on the assumption that concern with appearance is associated with superficiality (see Kalof 1999). On the other hand, women more than men are aware that prioritizing one's appearance leads to negative affect, primarily due to the unattainable nature of cultural standards of attractiveness (Wolf 1991).…”

“…Women have also been found to show greater empathic accuracy, or ability to accurately infer another person's thoughts or feelings, than men (Laurent and Hodges 2009). Moreover, because the target employed in Study 1a was female, women may have been at an advantage simply due to the congruence of their gender with the target's gender (see Klein & Hodges, 1998, 1999; cited in Klein and Hodges 2001).…”

Effects of Gender Communication Patterns on Opposite Gender Attraction

“…This may account for the emphasis that men place on the physical attractiveness of women. In fact, men are more likely to connect physically attractive women with positive and successful relationships (Kalof, 1999). Women, however, rated physical attractiveness important only after satisfying the desire for education and good earning capacity in their prospective partners (Cramer & Schaeffer).…”