Through a Man’s Eyes

Photo from:  Victoria's Secret Swim 2014 Collection by Russell James 

   

   Even as a girl, I've always awed upon the perfectly sexy bodies of Adriana Lima, Candice Swanepoel, and Alessandra Ambrosio. These Victoria’s Secret Angels who grace the runway every year are most awaited not only by women who are fans of the undergarment line, but also by men who simply swoon over these half-naked women walk. But in the eyes of men, the way their brains react towards this sight is different, according to Susan Fiske, a professor of psychology and public affairs from Princeton University (Princeton, n.d.).

  According to a National Geographic article (2009), brain scans have shown that regions, of a man’s brain, that are associated with tools light up whenever a picture of women in bikini is seen. Some of you may be eager to conclude that men really are dirty, but I advise you not to. Going back to the brain scan part, men were more likely to associate images of these sexualized women with first-person action verbs such as “I push, I grasp, etc” instead of third-person verbs such as “pushes, grasps, etc” (CNN, 2009). This somehow shows that the brains of the men think of these scantily dressed women as tools that can be used, rather than people who can perform actions.

  Enough evidence? I think not. According to CNN, the participants took questionnaires that determined whether these men harbored “benevolent” or “hostile” sexism. Only the men who scored highest in the latter sexism, those who view women as controlling and invaders of male space, were the ones who had inactive brain regions that were responsible for empathy, or for analyzing the other person’s thoughts, feelings, and intentions. So not all the men are subconsciously (or unconsciously “fiends”).

   It should be noted that the men associated fully-clothed women with third-person verbs rather than the first person verbs. According to Fiske, So girls, if you want the guys’ brains to respect you, be careful of what you wear.  

   To the men who feel that they are judged, I am sorry. Fiske has expressed that if a study were done with women, it would be hard to predict whether a woman shown a scantily clad male body would dehumanize him in the same way (National Geographic, 2009). However, there were no evidences for this claim. It’s either Fiske does not want to discover something else or she is just saying the truth.

   To those who are eager to judge, just another food for thought, similar studies that revolved around dehumanizing people were done. Researchers have only the deactivation of the said brain regions whenever people, male or female, were shown unlikeable photographs of homeless and drug addicts.

Blogpost by: Franzelle P. Padilla 

References:

Dell’Amore, C. (2009). Bikinis Make Men See Women as Objects. National Geographic News. Retrieved January 23, 2014, from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/02/090216-bikinis-women-men-objects.html.

Landau, E. (2009). Men see bikini-clad women as objects, psychologists say. CNN Health. Retrieved January 23, 2014, from http://edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/02/19/women.bikinis.objects/

Princeton. (n.d). Susan Fiske. Profile. Retrieved January 23, 2014, from http://psych.princeton.edu/psychology/research/fiske/