.authored by something.of.substance.
(originally posted 2/12/09 on WL)
.don't look now....
A Princeton University psychologist has just announced the results of a study concluding that men view women in bikinis as objects.
In other news, nudity makes men think of sex.
Feminists have long pointed out instances where women are objectified. After enough time, society became a believer to the point where, today, women objectify themselves in the hopes of catching the eye of some guy.
Although the this truism has pervaded society long-enough for it to be conventional wisdom, Dr. Susan Fiske contends that men “can’t control” their objectification of scantily-clad females.
The study of 21 heterosexual men determined their level of “hostile” sexism- the belief that women have it in for men- or “benevolent” sexism- the belief that women have to fulfill certain gendered roles- through both questionnaire and brain scan. This study showed that men who were the “hostile” sexist-type did not view bikini-clad women as having thoughts or feelings.
Additional questionnaires provided the additional information that all of the men see fully-clothed women as being in charge of their own actions while undressed and under-dressed women were viewed as needing to be “acted upon”.
Somewhere in here I’m sensing a new rape defense: “I really couldn’t help myself! She needed me to attack her!”.
This study is dangerous because without properly reading all of the findings, one would be led to believe that women “ask for it” by the way they dress. Rape, the study should have reinforced, is about violence and not sex. Sex is simply the weapon. But, having a study report that (sexist) men dehumanize women comes dangerously close to “ok-ing” sexism…and assault.
However, simply because someone finds something desirable does not mean they forcefully act upon it; liking a new car won’t make you forget that stealing it is criminal. Similarly, even though men’s evolutionary instincts may be to propagate the species with multiple partners, many have no problem with monogamy. Biology does not direct all behavior.
Now that the proof is out there, it will be interesting to see whether women continue to sling their bodies about as currency. Knowing they aren’t thought of as human or capable of emotion can’t be much more demoralizing than letting everyone judge you based solely on how you look.
This is an excellent post and I definitely agree that without looking further into this topic’s research, myths [e.g. the way a woman dresses is an invitation to rape] still exist.
In most cases, the focus needs to be redirected on the perpetrators as opposed to the victims. On a sidenote, 73% of rape victims know their assailants; to conclude that “women ask for it” based on appearance is not valid.