Gendered outgroup ostracism and self-sexual objectification under ambivalent sexism : the influence of gender salience and perceived others' sexual objectification

Abstract

Intergroup ostracism is widely present in various social scenarios, as the comparison between groups could consolidates the social identity of ingroup members, thereby strengthening the individual’s self-identity. Gender is often used as a prominent feature for social categorization. However, due to the culture characterized by patriarchy, women tend to experience more social ostracism. Gender issues are currently under fierce discussion, the specific consequences of gendered outgroup ostracism for women have yet received limited attention from psychological researchers. The current study attempts to explore the predictive effect of gendered outgroup ostracism on women’s self-sexual objectification. The author proposes gender salience and perceived others’ sexual objectification as mediating factors. Cultural and individual differences play an important role in moderating the ostracism reaction, therefore the author hypothesize ambivalent sexism as a moderating factor. The author designed two studies to simulate the reality of gendered outgroup ostracism in an abstract and concrete manner. The results showed that gendered outgroup ostracism could significantly predict women’s gender salience, but perceived others’ sexual objectification was significantly increased only in the context of concrete simulation of ostracism. Under the condition of abstract simulation, the moderated mediation model was significant with the interaction of gender salience and ambivalent sexism, and the predictive effect of gender salience on women’s self-sexual objectification is stronger under higher levels of sexism. Under the specific simulation condition, the interaction between perceived sexual objectification of others and ambivalent sexism was found significant, supporting the corresponding moderated mediation model. This study provides preliminary evidence for the specific consequences of gendered ostracism within the theoretical framework of feminist psychology, indicating that the impact of gendered outgroup ostracism experiences on women’s self-sexual objectification, which is mediated by situational factors.