Abstract
Sexual objectification of others has seen a growing research interest in recent years. While promising, the field lacks standardized stimuli, resulting in a confusion between sexualization and sexual objectification, which limits the interpretability of published results. In this study, we propose to use point-light display (PLD) as a novel methodology for manipulating sexualization levels as a first step toward isolating movement from other visual cues (e.g., clothing or physical appearance) for studying effects of sexual objectification of others. To do so, we first developed 8 virtual reality animations varying on 3 dimensions: 1) nature of movement (dance vs. walk), 2) level of sexualization (low vs. high), and 3) animation speed (slow and fast). Then, we validated these stimuli with perception ratings from 211 participants via an online survey. Using mixed linear regression models, we found evidence that our manipulation was successful: while participants took longer, were less accurate, and less confident in their response when confronted with a dancing, sexualized PLD, they also rated it as significantly more sexualized. This latter effect was stronger for participants perceiving a woman dancing compared to participants who perceived other genders. Overall, participants who reported more frequent sexual objectification behaviors also perceived the animations as more sexualized. Taken together, these results suggest that sexual suggestiveness can be manipulated by rather simple movement cues, thus validating the use of PLD as a stepping stone to systematically study processes of sexual objectification. From there, it is now possible to manipulate other variables more precisely during immersions in virtual reality, whether by adding a skin to the animated skeleton, by situating the PLD into different context, by varying the amplitude and the nature of the movements, or by modifying the context of the virtual environment.
Highlights
Sexual objectification has received increased research focus following the publication of the Report of the American Psychological Association (APA) Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls (American Psychological Association, 2007), which drew attention and interest for the problematic, and to the shortcomings of the scientific literature on the subject (Ward, 2016)
The goal of this study was to validate the use of point-light display (PLD) as a methodology for manipulating levels of sexualization for the systematic study of variables leading to sexual objectification in virtual reality (VR)
We aimed to validate PLD stimuli as a methodology for the systematic study of the variables leading to sexual objectification
Summary
Sexual objectification has received increased research focus following the publication of the Report of the American Psychological Association (APA) Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls (American Psychological Association, 2007), which drew attention and interest for the problematic, and to the shortcomings of the scientific literature on the subject (Ward, 2016). Numerous studies have documented its psychological and social consequences, both in terms of selfobjectification (Karsay et al, 2018) and, more recently, objectification of others (Bernard et al, 2018a) While promising, this latter field of inquiry suffers from methodological limitations that casted doubt on the validity of its results (e.g., Zogmaister et al, 2020), mainly because of its lack of standardized stimuli, opening the door for confounding factors and competing interpretations. Once objectified, a person would be dehumanized, not warranting the same level of moral consideration as a whole human, facilitating a wide range of behaviors toward her, from objectifying gazes or inappropriate sexual innuendo on one end to sexual assault or exploitation on the other end It would affect a wide range of attitudes and intentions toward objectified women. Better understanding the link between sexualization and objectification could help us diminish sexual violence against women by reducing victim blaming
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