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Industry: Email Alert RSS FeedVariation in the application of the "promiscuous female" stereotype and the nature of the application domain: influences on sexual harassment judgments after exposure to the Jerry Springer Show
Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, April, 2005 by Tara Ferguson, Jeff Berlin, Erica Noles, James Johnson, William Reed, C. Vincent Spicer
Although there may be a number of deleterious effects of exposure to media images of promiscuous women (Allen et al., 1995; Johnson et al., 1995; Norris, Davis, & George, 2004), the issue most relevant to this study is the impact of exposure to such images on attributions about other women's behavior. Lavine et al. (1999) contended that exposure to these sexual depictions of women may lead to global thoughts that "women are seductive and frivolous sex objects" (p. 1050). Similarly, Zillmann, and Bryant (1982) asserted that continued exposure to sexual and/or degrading images of women might enhance beliefs in general "female promiscuity" (p. 13.) Although the results of previous research do suggest that the media-based activation (through exposure to a few promiscuous women) of the promiscuous female stereotype may lead to the application (i.e., the use of stereotypical traits in making dispositional attributions) of the stereotype to other women (e.g., Henderson-King & Nisbett. 1996; Johnson, Trawalter, & Dovidio, 2000), there is strong evidence that there will be variation in the extent of such application. That is, there can be variation in the extent that the exposure to images of promiscuous women will lead an individual to apply the promiscuous female stereotype to subsequent dispositional judgments of another woman. It is very possible that such variation in stereotype application can influence subsequent perceptions and evaluative judgments of a particular woman. In this study we assessed whether the application of the promiscuous female stereotype to a sexual harassment victim would vary after exposure to media images of promiscuous women. More important, we assessed whether such variation in stereotype application would influence judgments of victim trauma and victim responsibility.
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The Relevance of Sexual Harassment
Although the influence of exposure to the mass media's stereotypical depictions on perceptions of rape has been well documented (Donnerstein, Linz, & Penrod, 1987; Donnerstein & Malamuth, 1997; Malamuth, 1987; Zillmann & Bryant, 1982), there has been much less research on the impact of such exposure on perceptions of other types of sexually aggressive behavior. For example, there has been little empirical research on how the mass media might affect perceptions of sexual harassment. Research has indicated that 35% of women in the workplace (Gutek & Done, 2001) and 65-85% of girls in schools (Hand & Sanchez, 2000; Kalof, Eby, & Matheson, 2001) have reported having experienced some form of sexual harassment. Thus, any research on the role of factors that might affect perceptions of such sexually aggressive behavior certainly seems warranted. One factor that might affect perceptions of sexual harassment is the activation of the promiscuous female stereotype through exposure to media images of promiscuous women. Although Lavine et al. (1999) contended that exposure to such stereotypical media depictions might contribute to a broad range of social problems including "sexual harassment" (p. 1049), the issue has received limited empirical focus. Therefore, this study will extend the literature in this area as we directly assess the role of the activation of the promiscuous female stereotype on subsequent sexual harassment judgements. Specifically, we assessed the consequences of the activation (through exposure to a few promiscuous women in a popular television show) of the belief that women are promiscuous on judgments of an alleged sexual harassment victim.
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