Promoters versus victims of objectification: Why women dehumanize sexually objectified female targets

Recent findings show that women dehumanize their sexually objectified female counterparts. The present studies propose that women do so because they usually perceive them as promoters of an objectifying culture. Presented with a woman's testimony saying that she either promoted or was victimized by an objectifying culture or a neutral unrelated article, female participants associated sexually objectified female targets with uniquely human versus animalrelated attributes. Results of Study 1 confirmed that, compared to the victim condition, female participants associated less humanness to sexually objectified female targets in both the promoter and the neutral condition. In Study 2, a moderated-mediation model confirmed that when the idea that all women are potential victims of objectification is activated, those women who include sexually objectified female targets in the overall gender category generalize their support for a female victim of objectification to these targets, and humanize them as a result. Overall, these results indicate that the meaning of the category of sexually objectified female targets (victims vs. promoters) is important in determining the human associations they will receive from other women.SCOPUS: ar.j