A new study published in the journal Body Image sheds light on how social media images of peers, either sexualized or non-sexualized, affect young women’s views of themselves and others. The findings reveal that exposure to sexualized images leads to heightened self-objectification among viewers and a tendency to dehumanize the individuals depicted. Moreover, the act of generating hashtags for these images amplifies this effect, with tags often focusing unduly on body parts.
Research has linked the exposure to sexually objectified representations in media with various negative psychological outcomes for women, such as increased self-objectification and mental health issues. Popular social media platforms, such as Instagram, have become arenas where such exposures are frequent. These social media platforms also allow users not only to view but also to interact with content, which can have psychological impacts.
“We were interested in understanding how young women react to and interact with their average peers on social media,” said study author Megan A. Vendemia, an assistant professor of communication technology at West Virginia University.
“Unlike traditional mass media portrayals of women, such as models and celebrities, social media platforms include women who vary in their appearance and allow feedback on images through ‘likes,’ comments, and hashtags (#) that may be visible to an online audience. To this end, we investigated exposure to sexualized or non-sexualized peers on social media, as well as providing hashtags on their images, affected women’s evaluations of themselves and others.”
The study included 256 young women, aged 18 to 29, recruited from undergraduate courses at a large U.S. Midwestern university. The participants were randomly assigned to one of six experimental conditions based on the type of images they viewed—sexualized peers, non-sexualized peers, or landscapes (which served as a neutral control)—and whether they were to engage with these images through tagging or merely viewing them. This setup created a 3×2 factorial design: three types of images and two levels of interaction (tagging vs. no tagging).
Each participant viewed 13 images tailored to their assigned condition. Those in the tagging conditions were prompted to generate up to five hashtags for each image, reflecting their immediate reactions and thoughts about the photos. This task was intended to simulate how users typically interact with content on social media platforms. On the other hand, participants in the non-tagging conditions were simply asked to view the images and consider their thoughts about them, without generating any tags.
After the image viewing and tagging task, participants completed the Twenty Statements Test, a psychological tool used to assess self-concept, which in this study was adapted to measure state self-objectification. Specifically, participants were asked to list descriptors about themselves, which were later analyzed for content related to physical appearance, indicative of self-objectification. Additionally, the researchers measured dehumanization through participants’ perceptions of human uniqueness and human nature traits attributed to the women in the images.
The results demonstrated that participants exposed to sexualized images of peers reported significantly higher levels of self-objectification compared to those who viewed non-sexualized images or neutral landscapes. This indicates that sexualized content notably influences viewers to think more about their physical appearance in the short term.
In terms of dehumanization, the researchers found that participants viewing sexualized images were more likely to attribute lesser human characteristics — both in terms of human uniqueness (traits like open-mindedness and conscientiousness) and human nature (traits like curiosity and friendliness) — to the women in the photos. This suggests that sexualized portrayals not only affect how individuals view themselves but also how they perceive others, often in a diminished and objectified manner.
Interestingly, the act of creating hashtags itself did not significantly alter levels of self-objectification compared to those who merely viewed the images. However, those who viewed sexualized images tended to use more objectifying language in their hashtags, focusing more on body parts and appearance-related aspects. This behavior highlights the interactive aspect of social media, where the act of commenting or tagging can reinforce objectifying attitudes.
“Our findings illustrate the complexities of social media content production and consumption practices (e.g., sharing/viewing imagery, providing/receiving feedback), particularly for young women,” Vendemia told PsyPost.
The study’s design allowed for causal inferences by isolating specific variables. However, the controlled setting may not perfectly replicate the more dynamic and personalized experience of actual social media usage. Furthermore, the sample was relatively homogeneous, primarily involving young, college-aged women from a single geographic region and predominantly White. This limitation raises questions about the generalizability of the findings across different demographics, cultures, and social contexts.
Future research could address these limitations by incorporating a more diverse participant pool to explore whether similar patterns of self-objectification and dehumanization appear across varied demographic groups, including different age ranges, cultural backgrounds, and genders.
The study, “How social media images of sexualized young women elicit appearance commentary from their peers and reinforce objectification,” was authored by Megan A. Vendemia and Jesse Fox.
