Are sexualized women complete human beings? Why men and women dehumanize sexually objectified women

Focusing on the dehumanization of sexually objectified targets, study 1 tested the extent to which objectified and non‐objectified male and female publicity photos were associated with human compared to animal concepts. Results confirmed the hypothesis that, among all targets, only objectified women were associated with less human concepts. This pattern of results emerged for both male and female participants but likely for different reasons. Study 2 directly looked at female and male participants' affinity with sexually objectified women. Results indicated that the more women distanced themselves from sexually objectified women the more they dehumanized them, whereas men's sexual attraction moderated their tendency to dehumanize female targets. In study 3, this latter motivation was operationalized as the activation of a sex goal and showed to trigger man's but not woman's dehumanization of female targets. Overall, the present set of studies show that only sexually objectified women are dehumanized by both men and women but for different reasons. Whereas sexual attraction shifts a men's focus of a female target away from her personality onto her body triggering a dehumanization process, women are more inclined to dehumanize their sexually objectified counterparts the more they distance themselves from these sexualized representations of their gender category. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Albanian women’s interpretations of Islam enlarge the space of women

Even though rarely acknowledged, approximately one fourth of all European Muslims live in the Balkans. These Muslims, as well as women of the Balkans, are seldom in the focus of scientific research on Islam and Europe. This article discusses themes related to the women’s movement and feminism in the Balkans and within Islamic framework from women’s point of view. The research context is located in the Republic of Macedonia and ethnographic material builds on thematic interviews with Albanian Muslim women. Four generally recognized orientations are distinguished (1) atheist or antireligious feminism, (2) secular feminism, (3) gender complementarity as an ideal and (4) Islamic/Muslim feminism(s), and used as analytical tools while ethnographic interview material is tackled. Article sheds light on Albanian-speaking women’s thoughts concerning Islam in the contemporary context, and tendencies of these thoughts to enlarge space that women occupy through personal interpretations of Islamic tradition.     

Are women invisible as leaders?

This study shows that women are unlikely to be seen as leaders. Subjects (n=448) rated each member of a five-person group (shown in a photograph) on leadership attributes and also chose one of the five as “contributing most to the group.” Eight different stimulus slides were used. In two slides the “head-of-the-table” cue to group leadership was pitted against sex-role stereotypes. A man seated at the head of the table in a mixed-sex group was clearly seen as leader of his group, but a woman occupying the same position was ignored. The head-of-the-table cue identified women as leaders only in all-female stimulus groups. The data were consistent with the hypotheses that sex stereotypes still control social judgments, and that discrimination operates nonconsciously and in spite of good intentions.     

Do confidants of depressed women provide less social support than confidants of nondepressed women?

The prediction was tested that during a simulated telephone conversation, the confidants of depressed women would provide less social support than the confidants of nondepressed psychiatric and nonpsychiatric control women. The coded speech of subjects and their confidants indicated that (a) confidants echoed the positive or negative valence of the statements made by subjects; (b) depressed women exhibited more depressotypic speech than women in both control groups; (c) confidants of depressed women also made more depressotypic statements, possibly due to the echoing phenomenon; (d) contrary to prediction, there were no significant group differences in the sequential dependencies of responses that confidants made to depressotypic or antidepressotypic subject statements; (e) contrary to prediction, the affect of depressed women's confidants was not more negative.     

Race × class stereotypes of women

Forty-four undergraduates assigned traditional stereotyping adjectives to middle-class black, middle-class white, lower-class black, and lower-class white female stimulus persons. A multivariate analysis of variance revealed that these Race × Class stereotypes of women differed significantly by race and by social class, but there was no Race × Class interaction. The stereotype of white women was rated significantly higher than that of black women on dependent, passive, and emotional. The stereotype of lower-class women was rated significantly higher than that of middle-class women on confused, dirty, hostile, inconsiderate, and irresponsible. Although the stereotypes of women differed significantly by race and social class, all were stereotypically feminine. In addition, the stereotypes of white women, and of middle-class women were most similar to traditional stereotypes of women. Thus, it was concluded that both race and social class are implicit variables in sex-role stereotypes.     

Are women adult human females?

Philosophical Studies - Are women (simply) adult human females? Dictionaries suggest that they are. However, philosophers who have explicitly considered the question invariably answer no. This...     

Are anxiously attached women better mindreaders?

This research was aimed at providing first evidence concerning the relationship between adults’ self-reported attachment style and their performance on a standard ‘theory of mind’ task. Based on adult attachment theory, we hypothesized that the two dimensions of self-reported adult attachment, anxiety and avoidance, are differently related to ‘theory of mind,’ and that this relationship is moderated by variables concerning the ‘theory of mind’ stimuli. The ‘Experiences in Close Relationships’ questionnaire and the ‘Reading the Mind in the Eyes’ test were administered to 132 young women. In line with our expectations, women’s attachment-related anxiety was associated with better mind reading concerning stimuli that were emotionally neutral or difficult to recognize.     

Piety among Tablīghī women

Islamic piety in Muslim women has been on the rise in the last three decades around the world. Much of it involves formerly nominal Muslim women becoming observant of Islamic rules, rituals and practices and taking their faith seriously. For these women, it is a journey of spiritual elevation. It is a new endeavour of Islamic awakening and self discovery. All this is occurring in an era characterized by a modernity which claims, among other things, that religion is the basis for women’s oppression in society. Thus, western and western-educated scholars and feminist theorists have argued for the “unveiling” of Muslim women as part of the process of weakening the hold of Islam and allowing women to become free thinking, liberal and independent. This article is an attempt to explore the continuous growth of Islamic piety in Muslim women around the world. Using the Tablīgh Jamā‘at in Australia as a case study, the article seeks to understand the role of Islamic piety in Muslim women. The article argues that Islamic piety in Muslim women is an attempt by Muslim women to find a religious response to modernity.     

Attachment and women’s faith development

This article explores the relationship between human attachment and God attachment, particularly in Christian women’s experiences of faith. It is based on the attachment perspective as a conceptual framework. The main aim was to evolve an attachment‐theoretical approach to women’s faith development and to offer a complementary path to interpret women’s faith development. The method was qualitative, as the data were collected via biographical narrative depth interviews. The findings suggest that an early attachment experience is a significant factor in the women’s faith development; three patterns of women’s faith are presented in which the differences in their images of self and God are represented accordingly.     

Gender differences in automatic in-group bias: why do women like women more than men like men?

Four experiments confirmed that women's automatic in-group bias is remarkably stronger than men's and investigated explanations for this sex difference, derived from potential sources of implicit attitudes (L. A. Rudman, 2004). In Experiment 1, only women (not men) showed cognitive balance among in-group bias, identity, and self-esteem (A. G. Greenwald et al., 2002), revealing that men lack a mechanism that bolsters automatic own group preference. Experiments 2 and 3 found pro-female bias to the extent that participants automatically favored their mothers over their fathers or associated male gender with violence, suggesting that maternal bonding and male intimidation influence gender attitudes. Experiment 4 showed that for sexually experienced men, the more positive their attitude was toward sex, the more they implicitly favored women. In concert, the findings help to explain sex differences in automatic in-group bias and underscore the uniqueness of gender for intergroup relations theorists.     

Do lesbian women have a better body image? Comparisons with heterosexual women and model of lesbian-specific factors

Body dissatisfaction is prevalent among women but may be less common among lesbian women. Although research trends toward this conclusion when samples are well-matched and body mass index (BMI) is controlled for, many studies do not exhibit these characteristics. Furthermore, few studies have examined sociocultural contributors to group differences. I addressed limitations of past research with a large community sample of lesbian (n = 479) and heterosexual (n = 400) women. I contrasted the two sexual identity groups on several body dissatisfaction measures, and tested theoretically derived relationships between lesbian-specific cultural factors and body dissatisfaction. As predicted, lesbian women reported lower body dissatisfaction than did heterosexual women on three of four measures, and expressed a larger ideal body size. A structural equation model of lesbian-specific risk and protective factors for body dissatisfaction did not reveal significant relationships. This study represents a first attempt to model culturally specific influences on lesbian body image.     

African American women—education for what?

The article examines the long commitment of the black community to the education of its women as a tool toward liberation and the resulting emergence of a new genre of American intellectualism. The article explores the role of women as carriers and creditors of African American culture in the community, while distinguishing between intellect workers (those who distribute and apply culture) and intellectuals (those who create culture). In addition, the article explores how African American women, while providing a perspective of their own, have been uniquely able to bridge the concerns of black men and white women. It is the emergence of this new American radical intellectualism, as represented by African American women, that potentially comprises a significant and critical force within the American ideology. This new intelligentsia, the article surmises, is only limited by the prejudices and discrimination present in a racist, sexist, and classist society.     

Voluntarily childless women: Traditional or nontraditional?

The sex-role patterns of voluntarily childless women are reported from the results of an in-depth interview study that compared 30 childless, 29 delay (subjects who are currently childless, but plan to have children in the future), and 24 parent (subjects with their first child under the age of 2) wives and husbands, chosen on a purposive basis. Sex role is conceptualized as a complex variable composed of behavior, attitudes, and self-image, and as the interface between psychological and situational phenomena. The hypothesis tested is that the childless women are less traditional in sex-role orientation than either the delays or parents, indicating that psychological factors are more important than situational factors in distinguishing the groups. The data confirm the hypothesis. Exceptions to the findings are viewed in terms of sex-role changes.The research reported in this study was supported by a grant from the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations Program in Social Science, Law, and Population Policy, 1972–1973. The author wishes to thank Mary Brown Parlee and Florence Denmark for their comments on an earlier draft.     

Does body satisfaction differ between gay men and lesbian women and heterosexual men and women? A meta-analytic review

Studies investigating body image satisfaction among groups of different sexual orientations (i.e., gay men, lesbian women, and heterosexual men and women) have produced equivocal findings. To synthesise the available research, 27 studies (20 published and 7 unpublished) were meta-analysed (N=5220). Comparisons between heterosexual (n=1397) and gay men (n=984) produced a small effect size, with the former being slightly more satisfied with their bodies. An even smaller difference was observed for studies comparing heterosexual (n=1391) and lesbian women (n=1448), with greater levels of body satisfaction being evidenced by the latter group. Tests of homogeneity for each effect size were found to be highly significant. In an attempt to identify variables that may be responsible for the observed heterogeneity, the following categorical factors were assessed: the measures used to evaluate body satisfaction, date of study (1980s versus 1990s+), publication status (published or unpublished), and body weight. The results of this exploratory search for potential moderator variables as well as limitations of the current meta-analysis are discussed.     

Is the traditional role bad for women?

A sample of 112 women, tested first as college seniors in the late 1950s, were classified according to the traditionality of their life stories at age 43. This classification based on demographic criteria was supported by low to high scores on the socialization scale of the California Psychological Inventory (CPI). Traditionality of role at age 43 was related to CPI well-being and effective functioning at age 21. However, the traditional role was associated with several adverse changes in psychological and physical health by age 43. Both homemakers and women low in traditionality may have suffered from being less in synchrony with the social clock than they had been in college. Except for low energy, traditional women in the labor force (neo-traditionals) seemed to be role-juggling with success.     

Can men and women be just friends?

We tested evolution‐based hypotheses about (1) sex differences in perceived benefits and costs of opposite‐sex friendship and (2) differences in perceived benefits of same‐sex friendships and opposite‐sex friendships. In the Preliminary Study (N= 400), an act nomination procedure was used to identify the benefits and costs of same‐sex friendships and opposite‐sex friendships. In Study 1, a total of 231 participants (100 men, 131 women) evaluated the frequency of occurrence of 100 benefits and costs in their closest same‐sex friendship or opposite‐sex friendship. In Study 2, a total of 229 participants (92 men, 137 women) evaluated how beneficial and how costly each would be if it were to occur in their closest same‐sex friendship or opposite‐sex friendship. Results supported several key hypotheses. Men perceived sex with their opposite‐sex friends as more beneficial than did women. Women reported receiving protection from their opposite‐sex friends more often than did men, and they perceived the protection as highly beneficial. Both men and women reported receiving information from opposite‐sex friends about how to attract mates, and they perceived this information as beneficial. The discussion focuses on whether these benefits reflect an evolved psychology of opposite‐sex friendship, or instead are incidental by‐products.     

Why do men have higher expectancy than women?

The aim of the present study was to test the hypothesis that sex differences in expected academic achievement could be explained by corresponding differences in perceived intellectual ability, and to explore the relationship between perceived ability and the sex role related traits of instrumentality and expressiveness. Results showed sex differences both in expectancy and perceived ability. When perceived ability was controlled, sex no longer related to expectancy. A small correlation was found between expectancy and a measure of instrumentality. The latter variable correlated substantially with perceived ability. A measure of expressiveness was unrelated both to expectancy and perceived ability. Path analysis gave results consistent with the hypotheses that men have higher perceived ability than women because men think of themselves as more instrumental than women do, and that instrumentality determines expectancy indirectly through its relationship to perceived ability.     

Young women’s construction of their post-cancer fertility

Younger women diagnosed with cancer often face compromised fertility as a result of their treatment. However, previous research has adopted a biomedical model of fertility and utilised hypothetico-deductive research methods which have not allowed for full exploration of women’s subjectivity. This study explored younger women’s construction of their fertility post-cancer, and their discussions of fertility with healthcare professionals, from a social constructionist epistemology. Semi-structured one-to-one interviews were conducted with eight women aged 18–26, across a variety of cancer types. Foucaultian Discourse Analysis identified three subject positions associated with fertility concerns: ‘Inadequate woman: Accepting the motherhood mandate’; ‘Adequate woman: Resisting the motherhood mandate’; and ‘Survival of the fittest: Woman as genetically defective’. Implications of these subject positions included feelings of inadequacy, fear and devastation; feeling undesirable to romantic partners; and concern about passing on cancer-positive genes. In describing healthcare professional interactions, women adopted positions of ‘Satisfied patient’; ‘Passive recipient patient’; or ‘Resisting the passive patient position’. Accounts of inadequate information provision were associated with anger and frustration, whereas feeling adequately informed was associated with satisfaction at making decisions about fertility preservation. These results suggest that fertility is of importance to young women cancer survivors, and that compromised fertility can negatively impact subjectivity.     

‘So many women suffer in silence’: a thematic analysis of women’s written accounts of coping with endometriosis

Abstract

Objective: To understand women’s experiences of coping with endometriosis, and impact on their lives.

Design: Women accessed an online questionnaire through a U.K.-based endometriosis charity website.

Methods: Thirty-four women, aged 22–56 years, with self-reported medically-diagnosed endometriosis, 30 of whom were White, responded to open-ended questions, analysed using inductive thematic analysis.

Results: Participants spoke about their lives being a constant struggle, where they tried to maintain their personal and working lives whilst dealing with long-term pain. Women had to ‘battle’ for an accurate diagnosis, and had limited faith in health professionals. Coping strategies included avoidance of social events to conserve energy (self-pacing), and avoiding taking painkillers to retain alertness. Women did not feel able to be honest with family and friends about their symptoms, and felt socially isolated and misunderstood.

Conclusions: Implications for health professionals are discussed, including the need for earlier diagnosis and taking women’s symptoms more seriously at referral; understanding the need to conserve energy in the context of long-term pain; that not taking pain medication may be an active choice to retain alertness; and that avoiding being honest with friends and family and subsequent feelings of isolation may be common experiences relevant to designing treatment programmes.