PRINCETON: Study says men objectify scantily-clad women in photos

By Greg Forester, Staff Writer
   The commonly-held notion that men regard scantily clad women as objects rather than human beings seems to have been confirmed by a Princeton University study that was presented during a science conference in Chicago last week.
   The research, led by Princeton psychology professor Susan Fiske, demonstrated that areas of the brain associated with the manipulation of handheld tools light up when pictures of women in bikinis are shown to some males. To make the discovery, Ms. Fiske used an MRI machine to monitor the brains of 21 men who identified themselves as heterosexuals, after they were shown pictures of bikini-clad women.
   The men were also shown pictures of fully clothed men and women, according to a report in The Daily Princetonian, which stated that the test subjects tended to recall the bodies of the swimsuit-clad women rather than their faces.
   Prior to the study, participants filled out surveys designed to measure their innate level of sexism.
   Men whose surveys indicated a high level of sexism had the lowest tendency to activate portions of the brain that are thought to be central to thinking about another human being as a person, rather than an object, according to reports.
   There is hope for men and their ability to control the objectification response, however.
   Researchers told The Daily Princetonian that men appear to have an ability to short-circuit objectification, demonstrated by how they look at their spouses or sisters.
   In fact, the research indicates the objectification response is similar to how people dehumanize groups they want to stay away from, like drug addicts and the homeless.