Sexually Explicit Advertisements: Does Rape Myth Differ

1
Sexually Explicit Advertisements Does Rape Myth
Differ?
Nichole Guenard (Professor Ellen Cohn, Faculty
Sponsor)
Introduction
Factor Analysis of the Advertisement
Adjectives _______________________________________
___________________________
LMP Factors
_______________________________ ITEMS
salience stimulation gratification
__________________________________________________
____________________ important for
me .85 .11 .15 creative .85 .29 .18 m
eaningful for me .84 .12 .16 clever .83
.32 .09 imaginative .79 .38 .22 helpful
.78 .02 .22 worth remembering .77 .11 .2
7 unique .76 .28 .25 convincing .72 .1
5 .15 dependable .68 .04 .19 wise .61
.18 .29 agreeable .58 .09 .31 novel .5
7 .18 .27 playful -.05 .81 .12 exciti
ng .35 .77 .19 lively .37 .77 .04 at
tractive .03 .72 .31 dreamy .03 .68 .5
5 vigorous .33 .64 .27 amusing .43 .6
1 .09 merry .45 .51 .26 tender .29
.28 .82 warm .25 .35 .78 soothing .33
.29 .78 sensitive .35 .26 .74 Reliabil
ity .98 .92 .93

• The univariate analysis of variance also
  revealed an interaction between condition and sex
  for the gratification factor (F (2, 151) 6.41,
  p.002, Wilks lambda.91).

• Men and women who viewed advertisements
  depicting women as sex objects had higher scores
  on rape myth belief scales and more negative
  attitudes toward women than men and women who
  viewed ads with progressive depictions of women
  or control advertisements (Lanis Covell, 1995).
• Men and women who viewed advertisements
  depicting women as sex objects also had lower
  support for feminism and the womens movement
  than those in other conditions (McKay Covell,
  1997).
• Sex object advertisements were rated as less
  appealing than progressive advertisements by
  women (McKay Covell, 1997).
• When feminism and sexism were covaried,
  advertisement condition did not affect attitudes
  toward women (Decker, Bartel, Lenig, 2006).
• Hostile and Benevolent Sexism have been
  postively correlated with rape myth acceptance
  scales and conservative feminism (Decker, Bartel,
  Lenig, 2006).

47.76
42.78
34.38
33.98
32.41
29.27
Purpose

• To determine if sex object advertisements will
  be rated differently than progressive and control
  advertisements.
• To determine if men and women will rate
  advertisements differently.
• To determine if men will report higher rape myth
  belief, hostile sexism, and benevolent sexism
  than women in all conditions.
• To determine if men in the sex object condition
  will report higher rape myth belief, hostile
  sexism, and benevolent sexism than men in
  progressive and control conditions.
• To determine if rape myth belief, hostile sexism,
  and benevolent sexism scores affect ratings of
  advertisements in the absence of condition
  effects.

Men in the sex object and control conditions
rated the advertisements as more gratifying than
did women in all conditions and men in the
progressive condition.

• The univariate analysis of variance revealed a
  main effect of condition (F (2,151) 25.32,
  p.001, Wilks lambda.37).

Method
50.96

• The advertised products may have influenced the
  results. Future studies should examine the
  effects of varying products.
• The influence of a female researcher may have
  influenced the scores on rape myth acceptance,
  hostile sexism, and benevolent sexism.
• The presentation of the advertisements by
  PowerPoint slideshow may have also had an effect
  on the ratings of the advertisements.
• Future studies should explore the connection
  between advertisement content, individual
  differences, and general appeal ratings.
• It would be interesting to do the same study
  with a non-student population, age 18-24, as
  well as with other age groups to see if the
  findings replicate.

49.21

• Participants
• 170 undergraduate students from introductory
  psychology classes.
• 90 women, 79 men
• Mean age 18.83 years (SD 1.089)
• Class 60 first year students
• Procedure
• Participants in each condition were asked to view
  five advertisements and to rate each
  advertisement on a scale of 32 adjectives.
  Participants were then asked to fill out a brief
  survey that measured rape myth belief, hostile
  and benevolent sexism, and demographics. Each
  scale item was measured on a seven-point Likert
  scale, from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly
  agree).

34.73
Sex object advertisements were rated as less
salient than progressive and control
advertisements by both men and women.
Results

• The univariate analysis of variance revealed an
  interaction between condition and sex for the
  stimulation factor (F (2, 151) 4.21, p.02,
  Wilks lambda.91).

References

• Data analysis
• Factor analyzed the 32 adjectives used to rate
  the advertisements and calculated the
  reliabilities for the 3 factors that emerged.
• Conducted a series of multivariate analyses of
  variance.
• Conducted a multivariate analysis of covariance.
  
• Findings
• The factor analysis for the advertisement
  adjectives revealed 3 factors that were
  interpretable. Based on the reliability
  analysis, all 3 factors were used in further
  analyses.
• The multivariate analyses of variance revealed a
  main effect for condition and interactions
  between condition and sex.
• The multivariate analysis of covariance revealed
  a main effect for benevolent sexism. Univariate
  analyses showed that benevolent sexism was a
  significant predictor of salience and
  gratification factor ratings.
• Sex differences were found for rape myth
  acceptance, hostile sexism, and benevolent
  sexism, with men scoring higher than women.

Burt, M. R. (1980). Cultural myths and supports
for rape. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 38, 217-230. Decker, C.W., Bartel,
J.S., Lenig, R. (2006). Do feminism and sexism
mediate the effect of sexy images on attitudes
toward women? Eastern Psychological Associations
Annual Meeting. Balitmore, MD. Glick, P. ,
Fiske, S. T. (1996). The ambivalent sexism
inventory Differentiating hostile and
benevolent sexism. Journal of Personality and
Social Psychology, 70, 491-512. Lanis, K.,
Covell, K. (1995). Images of women in
advertisements Effects on attitudes related to
sexual aggression. Sex Roles, 32, 639-649.
McKay, N.J., Covell, K. (1997). The impact of
women in advertisements on attitudes toward
women. Sex Roles, 36, 573-583. Payne, D. L.,
Lonsway, K. A., Fitzgerald, L. F. (1999). Rape
myth acceptance Exploration of its structure
and its measurement using the Illinois Rape Myth
Acceptance Scale. Journal of Research in
Personality, 33, 27-68.
60.8
51.27
46.94
47.78
45.78
45.29

Men in the sex object condition rated the
advertisements as more stimulating than did men
in the other two conditions and women in all
conditions.