My eyes are up here: The causes and consequences of sexual objectification

Sarah J. Gervais
(University of Nebraska at Lincoln)

En collaboration avec le Centre de recherche en psychologie sociale et interculturelle et Psyceduc (l’école doctorale thématique en psychologie et sciences de l’éducation)
Room Henri Janne, Institut de Sociologie (15th floor), Building S
Avenue Jeanne, 44, 1050 Bruxelles

Abstract
The objectifying gaze – visually scanning women’s bodies or staring at their sexual body parts – is theorized as one of the main manifestations of sexual objectification in women’s everyday lives. Despite this, scant research has examined the causes and consequences of the objectifying gaze for perpetrators and recipients. Sarah Gervais sheds light on these issues in a novel program of research that utilizes basic cognitive and high impact social psychological studies to examine objectification. Implications for women’s self-sexualizing behaviors and alcohol-related violence on college campuses will be discussed.

Bio-bibliography
Sarah J. Gervais is an Assistant Professor in Social and Law Psychology and the director of the Power and Subtle Prejudice Lab at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. Examining behaviors like objectification, patronization, and interpersonal confrontation, Sarah. Gervais has found that the discriminatory acts of powerful people are often more subtle and nuanced than previously thought, but they still have negative consequences for recipients.
Her research is funded by the National Science Foundation and has been published in such outlets as Psychological Science, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Analysis of Social Issues and Public Policy, and Psychology of Women Quarterly.