Sexist Comments Research: Sexualizing Women

To help continue educating the public on what sexism looks like, I am publishing a series of LinkedIn articles that share a sampling of these comments. This seventh article shares comments that focus on sexualizing women, which is part of the "Objectification" category. Here is some general background about this research: To better understand women’s experiences in the state of Utah, researchers Robbyn Scribner, Dr. April Townsend, and I collected and analyzed a wide variety of sexist comments women have experienced. Overall, about 1,750 comments were provided from nearly 850 participants for this Utah Women & Leadership Project (UWLP) study. The goal of the research was to educate the public (both men and women) on the many forms that conscious and unconscious sexist comments can take, from shocking statements to those that are more subtle.

Description

In this study, the broader “Objectification” theme included comments in which women were viewed or treated more as objects than as human beings. Notably, many of the comments coded in this theme were much more explicit and vulgar than those included in this article. Additionally, not all responses were limited strictly to sexist comments; some respondents also reported sexist situations and behaviors such as unwelcome touching, grabbing, or groping. The analysis of the responses within the Objectification theme produced seven specific categories. The third most common category that emerged from the analysis focused on sexualizing women, specifically framing women as sex objects. There were 86 individual comments in this category, and most were made within the workplace by a man—most often a peer—between the ages of 46 and 59. These comments took several different forms:

Comments

First, many comments focused on women’s potential sexual behavior (often in a negative way):

• “He said, ‘Women shouldn’t work because that just creates more opportunities for extramarital affairs.’”
• “My husband’s coworker said, ‘You know your wife is going to have an affair,’ as a response to my being in MBA school.”
• “He said, ‘If you dress in clothes that are tight, you are inhibiting the ability of our men to do their jobs. You are a distraction.’”
• “A [colleague’s wife] caught me before I was traveling to a conference where this administrator would also be attending. She said, ‘My husband and I are very happily married, and he has no interest in you. Don’t get any ideas!’”

Second, some comments in this category insinuated that when women experienced sexual violence, they were partly responsible because of their behavior:

• “On a date with a guy who was talking about a former girlfriend of his, he said, ‘She is going to get herself raped.’”
• “He talked about sexual assault and said, ‘Well you can’t parade raw meat in front of a tiger and expect it not to pounce.’”
• “When sharing that I was raped, she asked if I was drinking alcohol and if I said no.”
• “A local woman was running at 3 a.m. and was physically and sexually assaulted on the trail. The woman said, ‘Well whose dumb idea was it to go running at 3 a.m.?’”

Finally, another subset of comments in this category revealed the idea that women’s primary role in life was as a sex object:

• “A child of maybe about 9 years of age leaned out the window of his parents’ SUV and yelled this at me: ‘What up, Ya Skanky Ho.’”
• “During my marriage ceremony, the officiator said, ‘What are women for?’ Everyone laughed and he said, ‘Well, we all know what women are for. But what else are they for?’”
• “My boyfriend saw me speaking to a male coworker and accused me of bending over so my coworker could look down my shirt. He thought every action women did was for men.”

Speaking up against sexism can be a powerful force for reducing gender inequity around objectification, as it can help others challenge their own biases and model more equitable forms of communication. Further, being prepared to respond to everyday sexism can help women feel more confident in their interactions with others. To learn more about the research and ways women responded, read the brief, “Sexist Comments & Responses: Objectification.” You can locate my earlier LinkedIn articles on sexist comments here.

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Prof./Dr. Susan R. Madsen is a global thought leader, author, speaker, and scholar on the topic of women and leadership. She is also the Inaugural Karen Haight Huntsman Endowed Professor of Leadership in the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University and the Founding Director of the Utah Women & Leadership Project. Thanks to Robbyn T. Scribner and Dr. April Townsend for their great work on this study!