Violence
Less than human? Media use, objectification of women, and men’s acceptance of sexual aggression.
Open Access: No.
Abstract
Objective: Previous research has documented connections between media use and violence against women, yet the mechanism behind that relation remains unclear, especially for media that do not explicitly depict sexual violence. The purpose of this study was to examine whether objectification of women mediates the relations between media use (TV and pornography), and attitudes and behaviors supportive of violence against women.
Method: Participants were 283 undergraduate men who completed surveys that assessed TV consumptions (across four genres) and pornography use; acceptance of objectification of women; and rape myth acceptance and sexual deception behaviors.
Results: Consumption of reality TV, sports programming, and pornography was each associated with greater acceptance of objectification of women, which in turn was associated with greater rape myth acceptance and more frequent acts of sexual deception. Objectification of women mediated the relations among sports programming consumption and rape myth acceptance and sexual deception, and among pornography consumption and rape myth acceptance and sexual deception.
Conclusions: Objectification of women is one mechanism by which TV consumption (even TV that does not explicitly depict sexual violence) and pornography use are related to attitudes and behaviors supportive of violence against women. Media literacy programs for men that challenge the idea that women exist for men’s sexual pleasure may be an important step in combatting acceptance of rape myths and sexual violence.
Relevance
Exposure to pornography was associated with (firth hypothesis) greater acceptance of objectification, and (second hypothesis) greater rape myth acceptance and sexual deception. Additionally, the acceptance of objectification (third hypothesis) mediates the relationship between pornography viewing and rape myth acceptance, and the relationship between pornography viewing and sexual deception. (The same was true with some variation for reality TV and sports programming.)
“On the basis of the results of our study, we conclude that the objectification of women may serve as a mechanism that links some TV genres (reality TV and sports programming) and pornography to sexual violence against women. Media literacy programs may be an important step in combatting acceptance of rape myths and sexual violence. Specifically, media literacy programs. for men should challenge the idea that women exist for men’s sexual pleasure to disrupt the link between media consumption and sexual violence. Challenging objectification of women may be especially important for those who have viewed pornography.”
Citation
Seabrook, R. C., Ward, L. M., & Giaccardi, S. (2019). Less than human? Media use, objectification of women, and men’s acceptance of sexual aggression. Psychology of Violence, 9(5), 536–545. https://doi.org/10.1037/vio0000198
