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. 2023 May;52(4):1643-1651.
doi: 10.1007/s10508-022-02510-5. Epub 2023 Feb 9.

A Preliminary Experimental Study of Self-Objectification and Risky Sex Behavior Among a University Sample of Cisgender Women in the U.S

Katherine M Ingram  1 , Anahi Collado  2 , Julia W Felton  3 , Richard Yi  4   5
Affiliations

A Preliminary Experimental Study of Self-Objectification and Risky Sex Behavior Among a University Sample of Cisgender Women in the U.S

Katherine M Ingram et al. Arch Sex Behav. 2023 May.

Abstract

Self-objectification is associated with a number of negative mental and behavioral outcomes. Though previous research has established associations between self-objectification and risky sex, no study to date has examined whether self-objectification affects propensity to engage in risky sex. The current research employed an experimental design to examine the effect of heightened self-objectification on a laboratory analog of risky sex (n = 181). We observed that when college-attending women experienced a heightened state of self-objectification, they were more likely to engage in sex without a condom and less likely to wait to use a condom with a highly desirable partner. Given the frequency of intended and unintended objectifying messages that young women face, this increase in willingness to engage in risky sex behavior represents a consequential health concern.

Keywords: Condom use; Delay discounting; Risky sex behavior; Self-objectification; Sex discounting.

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