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

Recent findings show that women dehumanize their sexually objecti- fied female counterparts. The pres- ent studies propose that women do so because they usually perceive them as promoters of an objectify- ing 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 animal- related attributes. Results of Study 1 confirmed that, compared to the victim condition, female partici- pants 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 objec- tified 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 associa- tions they will receive from other women.