Picture This! Objectification Versus Empowerment in Women's Photos on Social Media

The purpose of this study is to examine women’s motivations for posting sexualized photos of themselves on social media sites. In Western society, women are objectified through many forms of media, such as magazines and television. As a result, women have learned to view themselves as objects, through a process known as self-objectification (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997). Women experience a number of negative consequences from self-objectification, such as depression, anxiety, and eating disorders (Moradi & Huang, 2008). Despite all of the research indicating the negative effects of the objectification of women, other research has shown that some women enjoy feeling sexualized (Liss, Erchull, & Ramsey, 2011) because it gives them a sense of empowerment and self-worth, although some researchers believe this may simply represent another form of social control over women and their sexuality (Gill, 2008). The overarching hypothesis is that women who post self-sexualizing photos (especially if they receive many “likes” on those photos) will have a greater sense of sexual empowerment rather than self-objectification. Undergraduate women (N=45) completed a number of surveys that related to objectification and empowerment and downloaded 10 photos of themselves from their social media sites. After coding the photographs, our results showed that none of the empowerment or objectification measures correlated with the degree of sexualization in the photos. The sexualized photos did correlate with the motivation statements of obtaining attention and more friends/followers. OBJECTIFICATION VERSUS EMPOWERMENT IN WOMEN’S PHOTOS ON SOCIAL MEDIA 4 Picture This! Objectification Versus Empowerment in Women’s Photos on Social Media In Western society, women are frequently portrayed as objects and their self-worth is depicted through their appearance (Moradi & Huang, 2008). Objectification theory states that girls even see themselves as objects to be viewed and used as opposed to seeing themselves as a full person (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997). As a result of this objectification, women also believe their self-worth is based on their appearance and not internal characteristics such as their personalities. As objects, women are then expected to be submissive and obedient (Nussbaum, 1999). This trend is a growing problem for women due to these sexualized depictions seen in many forms of media, such as magazines and television showing women as submissive, less superior to men, and just a pretty face (e.g., Conley & Ramsey, 2011). Objectification theory argues that the bombardment of sexual images of women’s bodies can lead to internalization, known as self-objectification, where women internally view themselves as objects that men use for sex/sexual behaviors (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997; Moradi & Huang, 2008). Self-objectification has led to many negative consequences for women and their bodies such as shame, depression, anxiety, eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia, and self-harm (Moradi & Huang, 2008). Not only does it have consequences for women internally, the objectification of women in many forms of media has impacted women in their daily lives with increases in victim sexualization such as rape and sexual harassment (Szymanski, Moffitt, & Carr, 2011). While much of the research on self-objectification has pointed to its negative consequences, some women seem to enjoy self-sexualization, which refers to intentionally engaging in activities to appear more sexually appealing (Smolak, Murnen, & Myers, 2014) because it gives them a sense of empowerment (Erchull & Liss, 2013; Liss, Erchull, & Ramsey, OBJECTIFICATION VERSUS EMPOWERMENT IN WOMEN’S PHOTOS ON SOCIAL MEDIA 5 2011). Being sexualized by men empowers some women to be and feel more confident. A study conducted by Moor (2010) found that women’s perceptions of their motivations for wearing revealing clothing was for their own desire to feel attractive and desired, not to signal interest in sex. This sense of empowerment, being wanted by men but not being sexually submissive to them, is seen as an indication that women are taking control of their sexuality (e.g., Baumgardner & Richards, 2004). A study done by Levy (2005) found that women who enjoy displaying their bodies and wearing tight clothing gain a high self-esteem and a sense of empowerment from the attention they receive. Although images of women actively encouraging sexualized attention may seem empowering, some researchers believe they may simply represent another form of social control over women and their sexuality (Gill, 2008), and therefore self-sexualization is another form of self-objectification. Even with the rise of feminism, which works toward gender equality and female empowerment, research still finds that men automatically objectify women by implicitly associating them with objects and tools (Rudman & Mescher, 2012). The present research will investigate the degree to which objectification versus feelings of sexual empowerment predict self-sexualizing behavior. Given that this is one of the first studies of selfsexualization via social media, this study will also explore other motivations women may have for posting self-sexualized photos on social media sites. The self-sexualization of women slowly emerged onto the World Wide Web in the last decade and seems to have spread with the rise of social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram. These social media sites allow people to share and comment on photos within a network of friends, family, acquaintances, and even strangers. This female sexualization has been presented in women’s social media photos according to Bartky’s (1990) definition of sexualization, which has been conceptualized as the separating of a female’s body into parts, OBJECTIFICATION VERSUS EMPOWERMENT IN WOMEN’S PHOTOS ON SOCIAL MEDIA 6 having women regard those parts as fully representing themselves to those who view them. One study in particular looked at sexualization in Myspace profile pictures and found the degree of sexualization to be low compared to sexualized displays coded in advertising (Hall, West, & McIntyre, 2012). However, newer social media sites such as Instagram have emerged since this research was conducted; for example Instagram has a singular emphasis on photo sharing and therefore the site may promote self-sexualization. Regardless of the degree of sexualization on social media sites, it is important to understand women’s motivations behind posting selfsexualized photos. Only a few studies have examined the motivations behind why women post sexualized photos of themselves on social media sites. One study looked at Facebook profile photographs and the appearance-contingency self-worth scale, which measures the extent to which appearance plays a central role in influencing one’s self-esteem (Ruckel, 2013). The study revealed that women who reported higher levels of self-objectification and who identified more strongly with the appearance-contingency of self-worth scale were more likely to post sexualized Facebook profile photographs. This research suggests that when women believe they are constantly being monitored and evaluated on their own appearance, their self-esteem can be seriously altered depending on whether they were complimented on their looks or not. Another study conducted by de Vries & Peter (2013) had participants make new profiles on a media account. They found that when participants believed they were being watched by an online audience, they were more likely to self-objectify themselves compared to participants who had no audience. None of the previous research has investigated the role of sexual empowerment in women posting photos of themselves on social media; therefore much is still unknown about this OBJECTIFICATION VERSUS EMPOWERMENT IN WOMEN’S PHOTOS ON SOCIAL MEDIA 7 phenomenon. Media researchers have called for more empirical understanding of the relationship between social media use and self-objectification (de Vries & Peter, 2013). One of the primary goals of this study is to examine the sexualized photos women have posted to their social media accounts and examine whether they correlate with the objectification or empowerment measures. These measures will examine whether women experience selfobjectification and body shame, or whether they enjoy sexualization, view sex as a form of power, and have a sense of sexual agency. The hypothesis is that sexualized photos will correlate more with the empowerment measures, indicating that women post self-sexualizing photos because they enjoy feeling sexualized. This study will also explore specific motivations behind why women post certain photos on social media sites. To assess the motivations for posting photos on social media sites, participants specifically indicated how they choose which photos to post on their social media by ranking factors such as how attractive they look, where they are, and what they are doing. The hypothesis is that women who rank “how attractive I look” as a primary motivation for posting photos on social media are more likely to post self-sexualized photos. Additionally, we explored whether photos are posted to gain attention, such as through wanting more “likes” on the photo and more “friends” or “followers” on the social media site. We anticipate that women who are more likely to want attention on social media are more likely to post sexualized photos. Finally, this study also included measures of self-esteem and staking one’s self-worth in attention from social media (for example, feeling better about oneself when one receives “likes” and comments). Additionally, we tracked the number of actual “likes” on each photo in order to test the hypothesis that women who receive more “likes” on their photos will be more likely to post sexualized photos of themselves on social media sites. By finding the motivations of why OBJECTIFICATION VERSUS EMPOWERMENT IN WOMEN’S