Abstract
The current study examined whether exposure to sexually objectifying images in a potential romantic partner’s virtual apartment affects discrepancies between people’s perception of their own appearance (i.e., self-perceptions) and their perception of the body ideal that is considered desirable to a romantic partner (i.e., partner-ideals). Participants were 114 heterosexual undergraduate students (57 women and 57 men) from a northeastern U.S. university. The study used a 2 (Participant Gender) × 2 (Virtual Environment: Sexualized vs. Non-Sexualized) between-subjects design. We predicted that women exposed to sexually objectifying images in a virtual environment would report greater discrepancies between their self-perceptions and partner-ideals than men, which in turn would contribute to women’s body consciousness. Findings support this hypothesis and show that perceived discrepancies account for the relationship between exposure to sexually objectifying images and body consciousness for women but not men. We also found gender asymmetries in objectification responses when each component of perceived discrepancies, i.e., self-perceptions versus perceptions of a romantic partner’s body ideal, were examined separately. For men, exposure to muscular sexualized images was significantly associated with their self-perceptions but not their perceptions of the body size that is considered desirable to a romantic partner. For women, exposure to thin sexualized images was significantly associated with their perceptions that a romantic partner preferred a woman with a smaller body size. However, exposure to these images did not affect women’s self-perceptions. Implications for gender asymmetries in objectification responses and perceived discrepancies that include a romantic partner’s perceptions are discussed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Baghurst, T., Hollander, D. B., Nardella, B., & Haff, G. G. (2006). Change in perceptions of their current body size and also gauged participants: An examination of past and present action figures. Body Image, 3, 87–91. doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2005.11.001.
Barlett, C. P., Vowels, C. L., & Saucier, D. A. (2008). Meta-analyses of the effects of media images on men’s body-image concerns. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 27, 279–310. doi:10.1521/jscp.2008.27.3.279.
Bessenoff, G. R., & Snow, D. (2006). Absorbing society’s influence: Body image self-discrepancy and internalized shame. Sex Roles, 54, 727–731. doi:10.1007/s11199-006-9038-7.
Buote, V. M., Wilson, A. E., Strahan, E. J., Gazzola, S. B., & Papps, F. (2011). Setting the bar: Divergent sociocultural norms for women’s and men’s ideal appearance in real-world contexts. Body Image, 8, 322–334. doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2011.06.002.
Calogero, R. M., Tantleff-Dunn, S., & Thompson, J. K. (2011). Objectification theory: An introduction. In R. M. Calogero, S. Tantleff-Dunn, & J. K. Thompson (Eds.), Self-objectification in women: Causes, consequences, and counteractions (pp. 3–21). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. doi:10.1037/12304-001.
Duggan, S. J., & McCreary, D. R. (2004). Body image, eating disorders, and the drive for muscularity in gay and heterosexual men: The influence of media images. Journal of Homosexuality, 47, 45–58. doi:10.1300/J082v47n03_03.
Ferrer-García, M., & Gutiérrez-Maldonado, J. (2012). The use of virtual reality in the study, assessment, and treatment of body image in eating disorders and nonclinical samples: A review of the literature. Body Image, 9, 1–11. doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2011.10.001.
Frederick, D. A., Buchanan, G. M., Sadehgi-Azar, L., Peplau, L. A., Haselton, M. G., Berezovskaya, A., & Lipinski, R. E. (2007). Desiring the muscular ideal: Men’s body satisfaction in the United States, Ukraine, and Ghana. Psychology of Men & Masculinity, 8, 103–117. doi:10.1037/1524-9220.8.2.103.
Fredrickson, B. L., & Roberts, T. A. (1997). Objectification theory: Toward understanding women’s lived experiences and mental health risks. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 21, 173–206. doi:10.1111/j.1471-6402.1997.tb00108.x.
Fredrickson, B. L., Roberts, T., Noll, S. M., Quinn, D. M., & Twenge, J. M. (1998). That swimsuit becomes you: Sex differences in self-objectification, restrained eating, and math performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 269–284. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.75.1.269.
Frith, H., & Gleeson, K. (2004). Clothing and embodiment: Men managing body image and appearance. Psychology of Men & Masculinity, 5, 40. doi:10.1037/1524-9220.5.1.40.
Gervais, S. J., Vescio, T. K., & Allen, J. (2011). When what you see is what you get: The consequences of the objectifying gaze for women and men. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 35, 5–17. doi:10.1177/0361684310386121.
Gosling, S. D., Ko, S. J., Mannarelli, T., & Morris, M. E. (2002). A room with a cue: Personality judgments based on offices and bedrooms. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 379–398. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.82.3.379.
Grabe, S., Ward, L. M., & Hyde, J. S. (2008). The role of the media in body image concerns among women: A meta-analysis of experimental and correlational studies. Psychological Bulletin, 134, 460–476. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.134.3.460.
Harrison, K. (2003). Television viewers’ ideal body proportions: The case of the curvaceously thin female. Sex Roles, 48, 255–264. doi:10.1023/A:1022825421647.
Hayes, A. F. (2013). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis. New York:Guilford Press.
Higgins, E. T. (1987). Self-discrepancy: A theory relating self and affect. Psychological Review, 94, 319–340. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.94.3.319.
Hill, M. S., & Fischer, A. R. (2008). Examining objectification theory: Lesbian and heterosexual women’s experiences with sexual-and self-objectification. The Counseling Psychologist, 36, 745–776.
Huxley, C. J., Clarke, V., & Halliwell, E. (2011). “It’s a comparison thing, is not it?” Lesbian and bisexual women’s accounts of how partner relationships shape their feelings about their body and appearance. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 35, 415–427. doi:10.1177/0361684311410209.
Kim, J. L., Sorsoli, C. L., Collins, K., Zylbergold, B. A., Schooler, D., & Tolman, D. (2007). From sex to sexuality: Exposing the heterosexual script on primetime network television. Journal of Sex Research, 44, 145–157. doi:10.1080/00224490701263660.
Mahalik, J. R., Morray, E. B., Coonerty-Femiano, A., Ludlow, L. H., Slattery, S. M., & Smiler, A. (2005). Development of the conformity to feminine norms inventory. Sex Roles, 52, 417–435. doi:10.1007/s11199-005-3709-7.
McKinley, N. M. (1998). Gender differences in undergraduates’ body esteem: The mediating effect of objectified body consciousness and actual/ideal weight discrepancy. Sex Roles, 39, 113–123. doi:10.1023/A:1018834001203.
McKinley, N. M., & Hyde, J. S. (1996). The objectified body consciousness scale development and validation. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 20, 181–215. doi:10.1111/j.1471-6402.1996.tb00467.x.
Meltzer, A. L., & McNulty, J. K. (2013). “Tell me I am sexy... and otherwise valuable”: Body valuation and relationship satisfaction. Personal Relationships, 21, 68–87. doi:10.1111/pere.12018.
Michaels, M. S., Parent, M. C., & Moradi, B. (2013). Does exposure to muscularity-idealizing images have self-objectification consequences for heterosexual and sexual minority men? Psychology of Men & Masculinity, 14, 175. doi:10.1037/a0027259.
Morry, M. M., & Staska, S. L. (2001). Magazine exposure: Internalization, self-objectification, eating attitudes, and body satisfaction in male and female university students. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science/Revue Canadienne Des Sciences Du Comportement, 33, 269–279. doi:10.1037/h0087148.
Oehlof, M. E. W., Musher-Eizenman, D., Neufeld, J. M., & Hauser, J. C. (2009). Self-objectification and ideal body shape for men and women. Body Image, 6, 308–310. doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2009.05.002.
Overstreet, N. M., Quinn, D. M., & Agocha, V. B. (2010). Beyond thinness: The influence of a curvaceous body ideal on body dissatisfaction in black and white women. Sex Roles, 63, 91–103. doi:10.1007/s11199-010-9792-4.
Park, L. E., Calogero, R. M., Harwin, M. J., & DiRaddo, A. M. (2009). Predicting interest in cosmetic surgery: Interactive effects of appearance-based rejection sensitivity and negative appearance comments. Body Image, 6, 186–193. doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2009.02.003.
Quinn, D. M., Chaudoir, S. R., & Kallen, R. W. (2011). Performance and flow: A review and integration of self-objectification research. In R. M. Calogero, S. Tantleff-Dunn, & J. K. Thompson (Eds.), Self-objectification in women: Causes, consequences, and counteractions (pp. 119–138). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.
Saguy, T., Quinn, D. M., Dovidio, J. F., & Pratto, F. (2010). Interacting like a body: Objectification can lead women to narrow their presence in social interactions. Psychological Science, 21, 178–182. doi:10.1177/0956797609357751.
Sanchez, D. T., & Broccoli, T. L. (2008). The romance of self-objectification: Does priming romantic relationships induce states of self-objectification among women? Sex Roles, 59, 545–554. doi:10.1007/s11199-008-9451-1.
Sanchez, D. T., & Kiefer, A. K. (2007). Body concerns in and out of the bedroom: Implications for sexual pleasure and problems. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 36, 808–820. doi:10.1007/s10508-007-9205-0.
Szymanski, M. L., & Cash, T. F. (1995). Body-image disturbances and self-discrepancy theory: Expansion of the Body-Image Ideals Questionnaire. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 14, 134–146. doi:10.1521/jscp.1995.14.2.134.
Thompson, M. A., & Gray, J. J. (1995). Development and validation of a new body-image assessment scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 64, 258–269. doi:10.1207/s15327752jpa6402_6.
Weinberg, M. S., & Williams, C. J. (2010). Bare bodies: Nudity, gender, and the looking glass body. Sociological Forum, 25, 47–67. doi:10.1111/j.1573-7861.2009.01156.x.
Wiederman, M. W. (2000). Women’s body image self-consciousness during physical intimacy with a partner. Journal of Sex Research, 37, 60–68. doi:10.1080/00224490009552021.
Wohn, D. Y., & Wash, R. (2013). A virtual “room” with a cue: Detecting personality through spatial customization in a city simulation game. Computers in Human Behavior, 29, 155–159. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2012.07.029.
Zurbriggen, E. L., Ramsey, L. R., & Jaworski, B. K. (2011). Self-and partner-objectification in romantic relationships: Associations with media consumption and relationship satisfaction. Sex Roles, 64, 449–462. doi:10.1007/s11199-011-9933-4.
Acknowledgments
The research described here was supported, in part, by grants from Christine N. Witzel and the National Institute of Mental Health awarded to Kerry Marsh (R01MH78738) and training grants supporting Nicole Overstreet (T32MH074387; T32MH020031). The authors would also like to thank the Advanced Interactive Technology Center (AITC) at the University of Connecticut for producing the virtual scenes, avatars, and environments, and Victoria Hawley and Nicole Pelegrino for data collection.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Overstreet, N.M., Quinn, D.M. & Marsh, K.L. Objectification in Virtual Romantic Contexts: Perceived Discrepancies Between Self and Partner Ideals Differentially Affect Body Consciousness in Women and Men. Sex Roles 73, 442–452 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-015-0533-6
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-015-0533-6