Men’s Objectifying Media Consumption, Objectification of Women, and Attitudes Supportive of Violence Against Women
AUTHOR(S)
PUBLISHED
2016 in Archives of Sexual Behavior, Vol. 45(4), pp. 955-996
KEY FINDINGS
- This study found that men who are frequently exposed to pornography are more likely to view women as sex objects and to endorse violence against women.
ABSTRACT
A recent White House Council Report on Women and Girls called attention to sexual assault on college campuses and encouraged continued research on this important public health problem. Media that sexually objectify women have been identified by feminist scholars as encouraging of sexual assault, but some researchers question why portrayals that do not feature sexual assault should affect men’s attitudes supportive of violence against women. Guided by the concepts of specific and abstract sexual scripting in Wright’s... READ FULL ABSTRACT
EXCERPTS
- "Men who were more frequently exposed to pornography, men’s magazines, and reality TV were more likely to perceive women as sex objects than men who were less frequently exposed to these media. And, men who were more apt to perceive women as sex objects were also more likely to agree with statements such as ‘‘Sometimes the only way a man can get a cold woman turned onisto use force’’ and ‘‘A woman who is stuck-up and thinks she is too good to talk to guys on the street deserves to be taught a lesson’’ (Burt, 1980). Such attitudes have been found to predict sexually aggressive inclinations and behaviors in both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies (Hald et al., 2010)."
