1. Sexiness on Social Media Hurts Men Too
Alexandra Hood
University of Colorado Colorado Springs
Elizabeth A. Daniels
H3: Unexpectedly, results indicated there was no interaction of gender and level of sexualization on social attractiveness, F(1, 301) = 1.57, p = However, there was a main effect of level of sexualization, F(1, 301) = 14.78, p < .01. Participants rated “non-sexy” Anthony (M = 4.15, SD = 1.07) as more socially attractive than “sexy” Anthony (M = 3.67, SD = 1.05).
H4: Unexpectedly, results indicated there was no interaction of gender and level of sexualization on how much participants liked the profile, F(1,301) = .05, p = However, there was a main effect of level of sexualization, F(1, 301) = 38.29, p < .01. “Sexy” Anthony’s profile (M = 2.61, SD = .92) was preferred less than “non-sexy” Anthony’s profile (M = 3.25, SD = .91). There was also a main effect of gender, F(1, 301) = 6.69, p = Women preferred Anthony’s profile (M = 3.04, SD = .93) more than men (M = 2.80, SD = .99).
Discussion
Findings suggest that young men who portray themselves in an sexualized manner on Facebook risk negative evaluations by their peers in terms of their task competence and social attractiveness, but not their physical attractiveness. In addition, people may be less likely to prefer a young man’s profile that has a sexualized profile photo.
Much of the existing research on the effects of sexualization has focused on women, but the present study indicates that men may experience consequences of sexualization that are similar to those for women. Specifically, the present findings suggest that some of the negative evaluations women receive for a sexualized presentation on social media are true for men as well. Findings could be used for educational purposes and media literacy interventions aimed at educating young people about self-presentation practices on social media.
Procedure
In a between-subjects design, participants viewed a fictional Facebook profile of a young man, named Anthony, with either a sexualized (shirtless) or non-sexualized (wearing a T-shirt) profile photo. The content of the profile, e.g., friends, music, was the same in both conditions. Only the profile photo was manipulated between the conditions. Participants took a survey measuring their attitudes toward “Anthony.”
Measures
Participants completed the Interpersonal Attraction Scale (McCroskey & McCain, 1974) which contains three subscales including measures of:
Social attractiveness , e.g., I think he could be a friend of mine (α = .80).
Physical attractiveness , e.g. I think women would think he is quite handsome (α= .91).
Task competence , e.g., I have confidence in his ability to get the job done (α = .77).
Response options ranged from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (7); higher scores indicated more positive views of attractiveness or competence.
Results
Descriptive Statistics
Participants are frequent social media users (M days per week = 5.88, SD = 1.71). On average, participants reported spending 31 minutes to 60 minutes on social media sites per day.
Hypothesis-testing
H1: Unexpectedly, results indicated there was no main effect of level of sexualization on physical attractiveness, F(1, 301) = 2.75, p = However, there was a main effect of gender, F(1, 301) = 9.78, p = Men rated Anthony (M = 4.57, SD = 1.02) as more physically attractive than women (M = 4.12, SD = 1.35).
H2: As predicted, results indicated that participants rated “sexy” Anthony (M = 3.76, SD = .76) lower in task competence than “non-sexy” Anthony (M = 4.11, SD = .74), F(1, 301) = 16.15, p < .01.
The popularity of social media sites has risen within the last decade allowing young women and men to portray and represent themselves through photographs, posts, and likes (Manago, 2013). Some research has shown that sexiness is common on social media profiles (Manago, 2013; Ringrose, 2011). However, there is little research regarding attitudes towards individuals who post sexualized images of themselves on social media.
Existing research on attitudes toward sexualized individuals has focused primarily on women. Results have shown that women who are depicted in a sexualized way in media are likely to receive negative evaluations such as being considered less competent and less socially appealing (e.g., Daniels & Zurbriggen, 2016). To our knowledge, no research has investigated perceptions of men portrayed in a sexualized manner on social media.
The present study investigated college men and women’s attitudes towards a young man with a sexualized social media profile photo compared to a young man with a non-sexualized profile photo.
Hypothesis 1: Participants will rate a man with a sexualized profile photo as being more physically attractive than a man with a non-sexualized profile photo.
Hypothesis 2: Participants will rate a man with a sexualized profile photo lower in task competence than a man with a non-sexualized profile photo.
Hypothesis 3: Gender and level of sexualization will affect ratings of social attractiveness. Men will rate a man with a sexualized profile photo as less socially attractive than a man with a non-sexualized profile photo. In contrast, women will rate a man with an sexualized profile photo as more socially attractive than a man with a non-sexualized profile photo.
Hypothesis 4: Gender and level of sexualization will affect how much participants like a man’s profile. Women will like a man’s profile with a sexualized profile photo more than a profile with a non-sexualized photo. In contrast, men will like a man’s profile with a non-sexualized profile photo more than a man’s profile with a sexualized photo.
Method
Sample
Convenience sample of 302 college men (n =133) and women (n =169)
Recruited from the Psychology subject pool
M age = 19.78, SD = 1.88; ages ranged from 18 to 25 years
Participants were primarily White/European American (63.5%; 23.6% multiple ethnicities, 8.7% Latino/Latina, 1.4% Asian American, 1.4% African American, 0.5% Native American) *