1. The Effect of Objectifying Videogame Images on Rape Myth Acceptance in Women
Wendy Wolfe, Vann B. Scott Jr., Amanda Herring, Jenny Bader, Todd Allmond, Tyson Lemka, William Worrell, Megan Brannen, Wendy Lozo, and Jennifer Waters
Introduction
Method
Results
Participants
Seven participants were excluded from the data because their responses to manipulation check items indicated that they were aware that the confederate and videogame exposure were part of the experimental manipulation, or that they were not aware that a videogame had been playing in the waiting room. Participants were 87 female students (62% Caucasian; aged M= 26 yrs., SD= 8.8). Participants were recruited through the research management system, SONA and received extra credit in a course of their choice in exchange for participation. They were randomly assigned to either the strip club scene videogame exposure (n = 48) or control videogame exposure (n = 39), and to either the video (n = 46) or audio (n = 41) introduction conditions.
Materials
Session 1: Pre-experiment surveys were administered through Survey Monkey. Some of these surveys are not relevant to this part of the larger investigation and will not be described here. Rape myth acceptance was measured using the short form of the Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale (IRMA-SF). The scale is comprised of 20 items, of which 3 are filler items. Items are rated from 1=strongly disagree to 7=strongly agree, with higher total scores indicating greater endorsement of rape myths such as “It is usually only women who are dressed suggestively that are raped.” In order to examine any possible relationship between the gender role identification of our participants and the effect of objectification on attitudes towards sexual violence against women, the short form of the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI-SF) was used to distinguish between participants endorsing feminine, masculine, androgynous, or undifferentiated gender role identities. BSRI classifications were based on the generally accepted practice of assigning participants with higher than median scores on the 10 feminine items and lower than median scores on the 10 masculine items to the “feminine” classification, higher than median scores on the masculine items and lower than median scores on the feminine items to the “masculine (or cross-sex)” classification, those high on both to the “androgynous” classification, and those low on both to the “undifferentiated” classification. Most of our participants were either classified as “feminine” (38%) or “androgynous” (36%).
Session 2: Two small rooms were utilized during the experiment. Videogame exposure was conducted using a 36-in TV, Sony Play Station 2 controller, and hidden DVD player. The DVD player contained a recording of either a sexually explicit scene from the popular game, Grand Theft Auto 3: San Andreas, or a neutral scene containing normal game play from the same game. During the introduction task, a stop watch, video camera, wireless router, and 19-in TV were used.
Procedure
After signing up for the study, participants completed a series of surveys online. The day of the experiment, participants were greeted by a researcher at the designated meeting place. The participant was informed that the experimental room was not quite ready and they were escorted to a waiting area where a male confederate was already waiting. Depending on the condition, the confederate was “playing” the videogame with the strip club scene or a neutral (control) segment from the same video game. After approximately six minutes, the researcher returned to retrieve the participant and took her to the experimental room. The participant completed a two-minute introduction task in which she believed a male student in another room was either watching her body from the neck down (video) or only hearing her voice (audio). For purposes of the larger investigation, participants’ talking time during the introduction task was later measured by a blind rater. Participants then completed a self-regulation task consisting of consuming as many 1 oz cups of an unpleasant tasting liquid as she could for a reward of $.05 per oz. Lastly, the participant completed some of the same measures as in session one (including the IRMA-SF), followed by a demographic questionnaire and manipulation checks.
A mixed model ANOVA was used to analyze the data, with IRMA-SF scores at session 1 and session 2 as a repeated measure and videogame exposure (general objectification) and introduction task (personal objectification) as between subjects variables. No significant effects emerged. However, when this model was analyzed for participants endorsing a feminine gender role on the BSRI-SF, a significant triple interaction emerged between IRMA-SF, videogame exposure, and introduction task [F (1, 29) = 4.54, p < .05]. Thus, for participants who identify with a traditional feminine gender role, the influence of exposure to general objectification of women depended on whether participants were subsequently personally objectified. The nature of this interaction is depicted in the Figure below, with IRMA-SF data represented as change scores for ease of interpretation. Change scores represent session 1 data minus session 2 data; therefore, negative change scores reflect an increase in rape myth acceptance and positive change scores reflect a decrease in rape myth acceptance.
Sexual objectification occurs when an individual’s body is viewed as an instrument that exists for the pleasure of others (Bartky, 1990). Sexual objectification occurs through a variety of mediums including videogames, television, films, music videos, magazines, and advertising, as well personal encounters with others involving inappropriate comments about or gazes towards one’s body. Although sexual objectification can occur through a variety of means and mediums, the focus of the current research is sexual objectification through videogame images. According to one of the largest nationally representative surveys of media use among young people, from 1999 to 2009, daily time spent playing videogames tripled among 8-18 year-olds, and in 2009 the average young person spent 1 hr, 13 min gaming per day (Kaiser Family Foundation [KFF], 2010). The same study found that over half of all 8-18 year-olds had played the Grand Theft Auto series, despite its M rating. Much of the research on the psychological impact of gaming among young people has focused on aggression in males. However, young women are also increasingly exposed to videogame images, through their own game play, and that of their male peers. Indeed, the KFF study found that girls reported as much videogame play as boys. When female characters are portrayed in videogames, they are typically depicted as sex objects and/or as potential targets for aggression (Dietz, 1998).
Dill, Brown, and Collins (2008) explored perception of a harassment scenario after exposure to sexually objectifying videogame images of women. In their study, mixed sex classes of college students were randomly assigned to view images of professionally dressed women or images of scantily clad animated female videogame characters, delivered via a powerpoint presentation in a group setting. Following exposure to these images, all participants read a vignette depicting a sexual harassment scenario. Dill et al.’s findings revealed that men who were exposed to sexually objectifying images of female videogame characters were less likely to perceive the situation described in the vignette as harassment than women who saw the same images or men and women who were exposed to the professional images of women. Dill et al.’s findings conflict with those of Johnson, Adams, and Ashburn (1995), who found that female, but not male, African-American participants demonstrated greater tolerance toward violence against women after viewing sexually objectifying music videos.
Our study sought to provide a more naturalistic exposure to objectifying videogame images of women than in the Dill et al. study, and to compare the differential effects of general objectification versus personal objectification on rape myth acceptance in women. This examination of the effects of objectification on views about sexual violence against women is part of a larger study replicating and extending the procedures of Saguy, Quinn, Dovidio, and Pratto (2010), who found that female participants spent significantly less time talking during a personal introduction when they believed that a male participant was viewing them from the neck down via closed circuit
Conclusion
Our findings indicate that for participants who identify with a feminine gender role, exposure to sexually objectified videogame images of women can either lead to an increase or decrease in rape myth acceptance, depending on whether they also experience personal objectification. Feminine participants exposed to the stripper videogame images who were not subsequently personally objectified in the introduction task evidenced an increase in acceptance of rape myths such as “A lot of women lead a man on and then cry rape.” This is consistent with the effects of a “just world hypothesis”. However, feminine participants exposed to the stripper videogame images who were subsequently personally objectified in the introduction task (by believing they were being viewed by a male participant from the neck down) evidenced a decrease in acceptance of rape myths. The trend is less clear among feminine participants who were exposed to the control videogame images. Indeed, the decrease in rape myth acceptance among those who were not personally objectified (in the audio introduction condition) may reflect an effect of repeated measurement, whereby those participants became sensitized to the issue of rape myths after completing the IRMA-SF (and other similar) measures in session one, and became less likely to endorse them in the second session as a result. That this pattern of findings only emerged for participants with a feminine gender role identification suggests that gender identity affects the experience of sexual objectification. Our lab is continuing to collect data in order to further explore this relationship with a larger sample. In addition, we have added measures of trait self-objectification and preference for objectification, two moderating variables recently identified in the literature.
television as opposed to either viewing their face or hearing their voice. In our study, general objectification is manipulated through exposure to sexually objectifying images of women in the popular videogame Grand Theft Auto; whereas, personal objectification is manipulated through videotaping from the neck down during an introduction task in which the participant believes she is being viewed by a male participant in an adjacent room. Due to conflicting findings in the literature, we held no a priori hypotheses about the effects of these manipulations on rape myth acceptance in our female participants.
Key References
Bartky, S. (1990). Femininity and domination: Studies in the phenomenology of oppression. New York: Routledge.
Dill, K. E., Brown, B. P., & Collins, M. A. (2008). Effects of exposure to sex-stereotyped video game characters on tolerance of sexual harassment, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44, , doi: /j.jesp
Johnson, J.D., Adams, M.S., & Ashburn, L. (1995). Differential gender effects of exposure to rap music on African American adolescents’ acceptance of teen dating violence, Sex Roles, 33, 7-8
Saguy, T., Quinn, D., Dovidio, J., & Pratto, F. (2010). Interacting like a body: Objectification can lead women to narrow their presence in social interactions. Psychological Science, doi: /
For further information, contact: Dr. Wendy Wolfe,
Thanks to student members of the Scott-Wolfe lab group for their assistance with this project.
Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Southeastern Psychological Association, Jacksonville, FL (3/4/2011).