Conceptually situating the harm of rape: an analysis of Objectification

Kelland, Lindsay

doi:10.4314/sajpem.v30i2.67779

Cited by 9 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…In other words, most critical to the extension of scientific knowledge in our work was the level of control we used in attempting to test the correlational role of dehumanization and objectification as robustly as possible in Study 1, which was then extended via a data-driven experimental test of causation in Study 2. By including mechanistic and animalistic dehumanization in empirical work on male proclivity toward sexual aggression, we lend support to intuitive and theoretical links between these factors MacKinnon 1985, 1988;Kelland 2011) and point to directions for future research and applications for this pressing worldwide problem.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 63%

“…People are also less likely to help an objectified woman who is the victim of intimate partner violence (Pacilli et al 2017), which although not sexual in nature, is similarly often committed by men against women (Tjaden and Thoennes 2000). Furthermore, objectification has been theoretically linked to the perpetration of sexual aggression in particular MacKinnon 1985, 1988;Kelland 2011), and indeed, there is some empirical research into the potential relationship between objectification and sexual aggression. In one study where a fictitious woman reported being the victim of rape, higher levels of victim dehumanization and objectification (in the form of sexualization) increased victim-blame and reduced some elements of perceived suffering (Loughnan et al 2013).…”

Section: Dehumanization Objectification and Sexual Aggressionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Insights into Men’s Sexual Aggression Toward Women: Dehumanization and Objectification

Bevens

Loughnan

2019

Sex Roles

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Sexual aggression is a global, ongoing problem, and it is most often perpetrated by men against women. In a set of studies, we investigated the role of dehumanization and objectification in men's sexual aggression-related attitudes and interests toward women in general, as well as toward a specific female target. The first of our studies, with 190 heterosexual British men recruited online, established a correlational link between dehumanization and rape proclivity. Dehumanization was also related to unfavorable attitudes toward rape victims. Critically, our results largely held when controlling for several variables with previously established relationships to sexual aggression. Results for objectification were less consistent. Our second study sought to experimentally manipulate the dehumanization of a woman and measures its effect on sexual aggression attitudes and interests. Results from 106 heterosexual British men seemed to be particularly driven by one aspect of dehumanization-the denial of human uniqueness-showing differences in correlations between experimental groups on measures of sexual aggression including rape proclivity, unfavorable attitudes toward a rape victim, and a behavioral rape analogue task. Avenues for future research are discussed, and implications of the work include the potential for emphasizing women as people, especially through highlighting their human uniqueness, in designing effective prevention and interventions (e.g., bystander) efforts.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 63%

Section: Dehumanization Objectification and Sexual Aggressionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Insights into Men’s Sexual Aggression Toward Women: Dehumanization and Objectification

Bevens

Loughnan

2019

Sex Roles

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“…Our results demonstrated that our sample of African American women experienced a number of traumatic events where they were sexually objectified, which undoubtedly contributed to concerns about physical safety. Kelland (2011, p. 168) shared that SOEs carry an implicit threat of rape, and this implicit threat permeates the “lived experience of being a woman under patriarchy because of the prevalence, leaning and place of sexual objectification in hegemonic patriarchal ideology.” Being an African American woman, however, adds other dimensions of discrimination, and given a history of violence and oppression, concerns about physical safety may be particularly salient for African American women. This aspect of OT has scarcely been examined and deserves further exploration within future research examining African American women’s SOEs.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

African American Women’s Sexual Objectification Experiences

Watson

Robinson

Dispenza

et al. 2012

Psychology of Women Quarterly

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The purpose of our study was to investigate African American women’s experiences with sexual objectification. Utilizing grounded theory methodology as well as Black feminist thought and objectification theory as the research lenses, the results of this study uncovered how racist, sexist, and classist ideologies contributed to sexual objectification experiences (SOEs) among African American women. Twenty African American female graduate students and others recruited from a campus community participated in semistructured interviews. Data revealed a number of different sociocultural factors that contributed to the sexual objectification of African American women (i.e., historical influence of slavery, sexualized views and images of African American women, and patriarchal social structure). These factors were observed to contribute to different forms of sexual objectification, ranging from comments and objectifying gazes to more extreme forms, such as sexual abuse. Participants described a number of effects of sexual objectification, including self-objectification, physical safety anxiety, eating concerns, psychological/emotional, and interpersonal. Participants also described how they coped with and grew from these experiences. Psychologists and mental health professionals are encouraged to consider how African American women’s SOEs are rooted in racism, sexism, and classism. Furthermore, these practitioners are urged to develop an awareness of how these oppressions intersect and contribute to the sexual objectification of African American women.

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“…(Du Toit 2009) Finally, I have argued, in other work, that rape makes good on the threat of sexual objectification by treating women as inert and object-like rather than as agents in the world. (Kelland 2011) If it is the case that the subjectivity, agency, and personhood of the victim is attacked during rape, then Brison is indeed correct to argue that one of the most important obstacles to recovery is 'regaining one's voice, one's subjectivity, after one has been reduced to silence, to the status of an object, or, worse, made into someone else's speech, an instrument of another's agency.' (Brison 2002: 55) For Brison this is achieved by regaining control through the construction, and telling, of a narrative of one's experience.…”

Section: Supplementing a Narrative Model Of Recoverymentioning

confidence: 97%

A Narrative Model of Recovery

Kelland¹

2012

South African Journal of Philosophy

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In this paper I defend the suggestion that narratively understanding her experience of rape can help a survivor in her recovery from the harm that she has suffered. Susan Brison defends a similar suggestion, but, I argue, does not get all of the possible mileage out of narrative understanding because she does not explore what she takes to be the necessary features of a successful narrative itself. I hope to supplement her, primarily relational, account with a richer understanding of narratives themselves, as it is only, I argue, through coming to understand the essential characteristics of a narrative that we are able to grasp the particular explanatory force of narratives and, thereby, all of the potential benefits of narratively understanding her experience for a rape survivor.

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Conceptually situating the harm of rape: an analysis of Objectification

Cited by 9 publications

References 2 publications

Insights into Men’s Sexual Aggression Toward Women: Dehumanization and Objectification

Insights into Men’s Sexual Aggression Toward Women: Dehumanization and Objectification

African American Women’s Sexual Objectification Experiences

A Narrative Model of Recovery

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