Women’s Experiences of Sexual Attention: a Cross-Sectional Study of U.S. University Students

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Objectives: This cross-sectional investigation of women's experiences of sexual attention examined the role of dispositional and situational variables in how women experienced sexual attention (as positive, negative, or neutral). Methods: Participants were 350 U.S. college women recruited from undergraduate psychology courses. They completed questionnaires on objectified body consciousness, social physique anxiety, self-esteem, body esteem, and social desirability. A subset (N = 275) also reported retrospectively on experiences with sexual attention in 1 of 4 contexts: at a bar/club, at a gym, at school, or at work. It was hypothesized that the context where sexual attention occurs would be associated with how positive or negative the encounter was experienced. Results: The relationship between context and experience of sexual attention approached but did not achieve significance. When controlling for demographic variables and social desirability, self-esteem and body esteem were negatively associated with self-objectification and social physique anxiety. White women younger than the age of 25 with higher body mass index were most likely to engage in self-objectifying behaviors. Themes identified from responses to open-ended questions describe reasons for experiencing sexual attention to be uncomfortable or pleasurable. Conclusions: There is wide variability in women's experiences of sexual attention. Self-esteem and body esteem may protect against self-objectification. Future studies should examine how contextual factors influence women's experiences of sexual attention.

KEYWORDS:

• Sexual attention
• objectification
• self-objectification
• women

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors would like to extend a sincere thank you to John Rummell who generously created the Web site used for data collection.

Notes

As described in the Results section, this was later divided into two separate categories based on differences in participant responses.