Bloodless Coup

Do these pants make my ass look less competent?

by guest blogger BelowZero

A recent article in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology demonstrates that when people are instructed to focus on a woman's physical appearance, she is perceived to be both less competent and less human. The study compared evaluations of Angelina Jolie and Sarah Palin made when people were asked to describe Jolie or Palin's "personal appearance" versus "who they are as a person." The problem is that most of the time, superficial information - like physical appearance - is processed automatically (outside of conscious awareness) and judgments about things like character and competence require more deliberate processing. At least, that's the case for women. People do seem to automatically associate leadership qualities with men. This relationship between appearance and competence is particularly problematic for female political candidates. There is a lot of evidence female candidates receive significantly more media coverage of their physically appearance and significantly less substantive coverage. This difference in coverage reinforces perceptions of women as less competent politically than men and provides little to motivate the more deliberative style of processing necessary to override implicit gender stereotypes.

The study also cites previously gathered evidence that women can objectify themselves by linking their self-worth to their physical appearance. Not a huge surprise to anyone who has picked up a copy of Self, Cosmopolitan, or Allure lately. Those who do so tend to perceive themselves as less competent and also perform less competently when cues regarding physical appearance are salient. This suggests that women preoccupied with their own appearances are screwed twice over - they fail to recognize their own worth, and so does everyone else.

The finding about dehumanization is surprising, maybe even disturbing, given the participants in this study were merely asked to describe Jolie and Palin's appearance in writing - from memory with no visual cues - a seemingly innocuous task. Dehumanization is a psychological mechanism underlying aggression and violence across a variety of contexts - from hazing to ethnic cleansing. The authors argue that objectifying women is dehumanizing and, as a result, promotes violence against women. (The sarcastic survey researcher in me says: They probably could have investigated this link empirically by asking survey participants if they felt like pushing Palin or Jolie down a flight of stairs. Look at the picture of Palin in her leather mini and think about how you would answer that question.) But, this result does seem to bolster the arguments of pornography opponents who contend the objectification of women through sexual images encourages violence again women, even if the images themselves are not violent in nature.