Sexually objectifying women leads women to objectify themselves, and harms emotional well-being
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Peter Koval, The University of Melbourne; Elise Holland, The University of Melbourne, and Michelle Stratemeyer, The University of Melbourne
How does a woman feel when a man wolf-whistles at her from across the street? Or when a male coworker gives her body a fleeting once-over before looking her in the eye?
These examples may seem relatively innocent to some, but our research has found they can have negative consequences for women’s emotional well-being.
We asked women to record any incidents of sexual objectification on a smartphone app, alongside rating their feelings several times each day for a week.
When women experienced sexual objectification, in many cases it led them to scrutinise their physical appearance, which negatively impacted their emotional well-being.
Read more: Hey, sexy: objectifying catcalls occur more frequently than you might think
A cycle of objectification
The process by which sexual objectification is psychologically harmful to women was first desc...
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