The effects of advertisements that sexually objectify women on state body dissatisfaction and judgments of women: The moderating roles of gender and internalization

• Advertisements that objectified women caused increased state body dissatisfaction.
• This effect held for women and men, although it was larger for women.
• The effect was stronger for those higher in appearance-ideal internalization.
• Exposure to objectifying images did not affect model competence ratings.
• Exposure to objectifying images did not affect model attractiveness ratings.

Experimental studies have demonstrated that exposure to idealized images of women increases state body image disturbance. However, little work has experimentally examined the effects of exposure to images that sexually objectify women, especially as it relates to women and men's state body dissatisfaction and judgments of women. In the current study, 437 women and men were randomly assigned to view advertisements that sexually objectify women and portray appearance ideals, or to view non-appearance-related advertisements. Results indicated that state body dissatisfaction increased for women and men exposed to advertisements that sexually objectified women, although this effect was larger for women. Trait internalization of appearance ideals moderated this effect, indicating that women and men with higher internalization exhibited greater state body dissatisfaction after viewing women sexually objectified in advertisements. Exposure to women sexually objectified in advertisements did not affect women's or men's attractiveness or competence ratings of women in university advertisements.