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Loughnan, S., & Pacilli, M. G.

Seeing (and treating) others as sexual objects: Toward a more complete mapping of sexual objectification

Sexual objectification has long been subject to academic enquiry. However, it is only in the last five years that psychologists have focused on measuring the interpersonal aspects of being objectified. In this article, we look first at the varieties of objectification, examining how objectification is conceptualized by different researchers. We examine who is the target of objectification, and who is likely to objectify. This reveals that objectification is widespread; although women tend to be the victims of objectification more than men. Further, we find that sex, aggression, and dislike play important roles for both genders in creating objectification. Although work on the consequences of being objectified is relatively new, we cover this growing area of work. We find that objectification changes both the ways people are viewed and the ways they are treated by others. Finally, we offer some new directions for researchers to move forward research in this domain.

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