Those who ogle also more likely to have harmful attitudes, study finds


Date:
March 31, 2022
Source:
Edith Cowan University
Summary:
New research examining 'eye gaze behavior' has found that looking
at people's bodies, rather than their faces, is linked with harmful
attitudes towards sexual assault.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
New Edith Cowan University (ECU) research examining 'eye gaze behaviour'
has found that looking at people's bodies, rather than their faces,
is linked with harmful attitudes towards sexual assault.


==========================================================================
The study, led by ECU psychology researcher Dr Ross Hollett, used eye
tracking technology and self-report measures to examine how men and
women look at the opposite sex.

Dr Hollett said an interesting finding was that excessive body gaze is
one sign a person is likely to believe women tolerate or invite rough
sexual conduct.

"Gazing at someone's body instead of their face is one form of sexual objectification, or valuing people for their bodies over their minds
or personality.

"This sexually objectifying gaze behaviour can lead to more harmful
attitudes and behaviours," he said.

Where are people looking? Eye tracking technology was used to measure
the gaze of 167 heterosexual participants towards partially and fully
dressed images of men and women.



========================================================================== Researchers also asked more than 1,000 heterosexual participants
to self-report their own body gaze behaviours towards the opposite
sex. Participants rated statements such as "once I notice an attractive man/woman's body, I have trouble not looking at it" and "no matter
where I am, I typically find myself looking at the bodies of men/women."
"Using eye tracking, we found male participants showed strong preferences
for gazing at the bodies of partially and fully dressed women instead
of their faces," Dr Hollett said.

"By contrast, women did not show body gaze preferences for any of the male
or female imagery. In fact, they largely showed balanced gaze profiles
(similar gaze towards both the head and body), with the exception of a preference to gaze at the heads of fully clothed men.

"Men were also more likely to self-report gazing at women's bodies more
than women self-reported gazing at men's bodies." Attitudes towards
sexual assault To provide further context, researchers also looked at participants' relationship status, their responses to statements about
whether women invite and/or tolerate sexual assault and whether they
themselves have been the victim of a sexual assault.



==========================================================================
Dr Hollett said an important finding was the strong associations between
body gaze behaviour and sexual assault attitudes.

"Specifically, men who tended to gaze at women's bodies were more likely
to assume that women invite or tolerate rough sexual conduct. That is,
they were more likely to agree with statements like 'women find forced
sex a turn on' and 'women secretly desire to be raped'," Dr Hollett said.

Harmful signals Dr Hollett said the research demonstrated that excessive
body gaze was an important social signal of potentially harmful attitudes
and behaviours.

"When we observe someone engaging in excessive body gaze, we can assume
they are more likely to agree with certain sexual assault beliefs which
might put them at higher risk of being a perpetrator," he said.

"This study has shown that similar patterns of behaviour emerge when
measuring gaze using self-report and eye tracking technology which
suggests heterosexuals are largely aware of their gaze habits and
possibly use them to communicate sexual interest and intentions to the
opposite sex.

"Understanding how women and men look at each other is important for
explaining and predicting social behaviour, particularly those behaviours
that have harmful consequences," Dr Hollett said.

The paper 'Body Gaze as a Marker of Sexual Objectification: A New Scale
for Pervasive Gaze and Gaze Provocation Behaviours in Heterosexual Women
and Men' is published in the Journal Archives of Sexual Behaviour.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Edith_Cowan_University. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Ross C. Hollett, Shane L. Rogers, Prudence Florido, Belinda
Mosdell. Body
Gaze as a Marker of Sexual Objectification: A New Scale for
Pervasive Gaze and Gaze Provocation Behaviors in Heterosexual
Women and Men.

Archives of Sexual Behavior, 2022; DOI: 10.1007/s10508-022-02290-y ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220331101559.htm

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