The Detrimental Effect of Sexual Objectification on Targets' and Perpetrators' Sexual Satisfaction: The Mediating Role of Sexual Coercion.

Gemma Sáez,María Alonso-Ferres,Francisca Expósito,Marta Garrido-Macías,Inmaculada Valor-Segura

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02748

Gemma Sáez, María Alonso-Ferres + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02748

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Abstract

Sexual objectification is a variable to consider for understanding the sexual violence that takes place into intimate context. The set of studies presented here aims to connect sexual objectification phenomena with sexual coercion and explore the consequences that both have on sexual satisfaction. Two studies examined the association between sexual objectification and sexual satisfaction for both views: female target (Study 1) and male perpetrator (Study 2) perspectives. The results of the first study (n = 138 heterosexual women) demonstrated that perceiving partner objectification (but not reporting general sexual objectification victimization) is indirectly linked to a lower sexual satisfaction because of lower rejection and higher sexual coercion rates. The second study (n = 136 heterosexual men) showed the indirect effect of partner objectification and general sexual objectification perpetration on sexual satisfaction after sexual coercion perpetration. Results of both studies demonstrated the negative consequences that sexual objectification has on sexual satisfaction for both male perpetrators and female targets.

Highlights

Even though feminist scholars have theorized that objectification within a romantic relationship might be a natural component of a sexual relationship (Nussbaum, 1999), we propose that sexual objectification could have detrimental consequences for individuals’ sexual satisfaction (e.g., Steer and Tiggemann, 2008)
Whereas interpersonal sexual objectification did not predict unwanted sex rejection, b = 0.04, t = 0.36, p = 0.72 (Hypothesis 2a), perceived partner objectification was a significant predictor of unwanted sex rejection, b = −0.24, t = −3.79, TABLE 1 | Descriptive statistics and correlations among study variables for women
It might be that just women who treat themselves as sexual objects for male sexual satisfaction reject less sexual advances when they are not willing to consent to such an approach. It was not hypothesized, we found a positive relation between general sexual objectification victimization and the extent women perceive partner objectification, which might be due to the overlap between the two measures

Summary

Introduction

Sexual ObjectificationObjectification Theory (Fredrickson and Roberts, 1997) was developed for understanding the negative consequences that result from living in a culture that sexually objectifies women. Sexual objectification is a gendered phenomenon, which involves victims (mostly women) and perpetrators (mostly men; Strelan and Hargreaves, 2005; Gervais et al, 2018). It has negative consequences for women (e.g., Calogero and Thompson, 2009; Sáez et al, 2012) and men (Wright, 2011). Even though feminist scholars have theorized that objectification within a romantic relationship might be a natural component of a sexual relationship (Nussbaum, 1999), we propose that sexual objectification could have detrimental consequences for individuals’ sexual satisfaction (e.g., Steer and Tiggemann, 2008)

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