Social Exclusion and Sexual Objectification Among 18- to 30-Year-Old Men in Kosovo

It was predicted that higher levels of gender-based rejection sensitivity would be related to higher tendencies to objectify women (that is, higher tendencies to perceive women as lacking in human mental states and uniquely human emotions). It was also predicted that an enhanced tendency to perceive women as objects would increase men’s tendencies to engage with myth rape acceptance. In a study involving 94 Kosovo men, however, the rejection sensitivity index did not correlate with any outcome variable. The tendency to objectify women did not correlate with myth rape acceptance. Hurt proneness or anxiety in close relationships was positively correlated with the tendency to perceive women as human beings (rather than as objects) and to attribute them human emotions or human mental states. These latter correlations clearly emerged among male participants currently involved in romantic relationships but not in those not involved in romantic relationships.