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

Abstract

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.

Prejudice towards sex workers depends on the sexual activity and autonomy of their work, hobbies and daily activities

“…The generalized and undifferentiated stigmatism that female sex workers frequently receive is characteristic of outgroup prejudice (Vanwesenbeeck, 2001). Research also demonstrates that sexualized women Prejudice towards sex workers 5 are dehumanized more than women who are not sexualised (Morris et al, 2018;Puvia & Vaes, 2013;Puvia & Vaes, 2015;Vaes et al, 2011) and perceivers are more willing to harm (Arnocky et al, 2019;Gray & Wegner, 2009) and less morally concerned for these dehumanized, sexualized women (Loughnan et al, 2013;Bevens & Loughnan, 2019;Waytz et al, 2010).…”

Mapping evidence of young people’s experiences of sexual aggression in the United Kingdom: A systematic scoping review protocol

“…Additional literature will be sourced from hand searches of the reference lists of Concepts "Sexual aggression" in the context of this review refers to "a continuum of manifestations of unwanted sexual behaviours that cover all acts of unwanted sexual contact from sexual harassment up to and including rape". It includes unwelcomed sexual activity (fondling, oral sex, anal or vaginal intercourse) [1,4].…”

“…The United Kingdom (UK), like other countries, has seen a spike in sexual aggression with societal, health, financial and educational implications [1,2]. Sexual aggression in the context of this review refers to "a continuum of manifestations of unwanted sexual behaviours that cover all acts of unwanted sexual contact from sexual harassment up to and including rape" [1].…”

“…The United Kingdom (UK), like other countries, has seen a spike in sexual aggression with societal, health, financial and educational implications [1,2]. Sexual aggression in the context of this review refers to "a continuum of manifestations of unwanted sexual behaviours that cover all acts of unwanted sexual contact from sexual harassment up to and including rape" [1]. It also includes unwelcome sexual activity including fondling, oral, anal or vaginal intercourse experienced by males, females and non-confirming gender identities and sexualities between the ages of 10 and 18 living in England, Wales or Northern Ireland and Scotland [3][4][5].…”

The Dark Triad Predicted by Belief in Determinism and Objectification

“…This study also has implications for future research and measurement of interpersonal objectification. Based on the limited research and lack of established measures of interpersonal objectification, previous research has used variations of self-objectification scales to measure the objectification of others (Bevens & Loughnan, 2019). The newly developed interpersonal objectification measure employed in this study included only items that had been rated very highly by a panel of trained graduate student raters as capturing the concept of objectification.…”