Why Is Sexualization Dehumanizing? The Effects of Posture Suggestiveness and Revealing Clothing on Dehumanization
Research has shown that sexualized people are perceived as possessing fewer traits of a human being. Most scholars have argued that these effects are driven by revealing clothing, with targets wearing swimsuits or lingerie being perceived as possessing less mind and less humanness in comparison with...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SAGE Publishing
2019-02-01
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| Series: | SAGE Open |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244019828230 |
| _version_ | 1818407904763445248 |
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| author | Philippe Bernard Robin Wollast |
| author_facet | Philippe Bernard Robin Wollast |
| author_sort | Philippe Bernard |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Research has shown that sexualized people are perceived as possessing fewer traits of a human being. Most scholars have argued that these effects are driven by revealing clothing, with targets wearing swimsuits or lingerie being perceived as possessing less mind and less humanness in comparison with nonsexualized targets. However, revealing clothing in these studies was often confounded with other sexualizing factors, such as posture suggestiveness, and, so, the aspects which lead people to perceive women in object-like ways remain unclear. This article begins to fill this gap by examining the role of two key sexualizing factors, namely revealing clothing and posture suggestiveness, on objectification-related traits. After exposure to a picture of a woman, 223 participants were asked to indicate the extent to which this woman possessed warmth, competence, and morality. For competence and warmth, we found an interaction between revealing clothing and posture suggestiveness: Posture suggestiveness caused less attribution of warmth and competence to women wearing revealing clothing, but not for women wearing less revealing clothing. For morality, we found that women in suggestive (vs. nonsuggestive) postures were perceived as possessing less morality, regardless of the type of clothing. The implications of these findings for the field are discussed. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-14T09:35:15Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7caf985a66dd48a2b30c04ebbc594b2a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2158-2440 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-14T09:35:15Z |
| publishDate | 2019-02-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | SAGE Open |
| spelling | doaj.art-7caf985a66dd48a2b30c04ebbc594b2a2022-12-21T23:07:57ZengSAGE PublishingSAGE Open2158-24402019-02-01910.1177/2158244019828230Why Is Sexualization Dehumanizing? The Effects of Posture Suggestiveness and Revealing Clothing on DehumanizationPhilippe Bernard0Robin Wollast1Université Libre de Bruxelles, BelgiumUniversité Libre de Bruxelles, BelgiumResearch has shown that sexualized people are perceived as possessing fewer traits of a human being. Most scholars have argued that these effects are driven by revealing clothing, with targets wearing swimsuits or lingerie being perceived as possessing less mind and less humanness in comparison with nonsexualized targets. However, revealing clothing in these studies was often confounded with other sexualizing factors, such as posture suggestiveness, and, so, the aspects which lead people to perceive women in object-like ways remain unclear. This article begins to fill this gap by examining the role of two key sexualizing factors, namely revealing clothing and posture suggestiveness, on objectification-related traits. After exposure to a picture of a woman, 223 participants were asked to indicate the extent to which this woman possessed warmth, competence, and morality. For competence and warmth, we found an interaction between revealing clothing and posture suggestiveness: Posture suggestiveness caused less attribution of warmth and competence to women wearing revealing clothing, but not for women wearing less revealing clothing. For morality, we found that women in suggestive (vs. nonsuggestive) postures were perceived as possessing less morality, regardless of the type of clothing. The implications of these findings for the field are discussed.https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244019828230 |
| spellingShingle | Philippe Bernard Robin Wollast Why Is Sexualization Dehumanizing? The Effects of Posture Suggestiveness and Revealing Clothing on Dehumanization SAGE Open |
| title | Why Is Sexualization Dehumanizing? The Effects of Posture Suggestiveness and Revealing Clothing on Dehumanization |
| title_full | Why Is Sexualization Dehumanizing? The Effects of Posture Suggestiveness and Revealing Clothing on Dehumanization |
| title_fullStr | Why Is Sexualization Dehumanizing? The Effects of Posture Suggestiveness and Revealing Clothing on Dehumanization |
| title_full_unstemmed | Why Is Sexualization Dehumanizing? The Effects of Posture Suggestiveness and Revealing Clothing on Dehumanization |
| title_short | Why Is Sexualization Dehumanizing? The Effects of Posture Suggestiveness and Revealing Clothing on Dehumanization |
| title_sort | why is sexualization dehumanizing the effects of posture suggestiveness and revealing clothing on dehumanization |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244019828230 |
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