User:Oaktree813/sandbox

Final Draft of Contribution

Rape culture is perpetrated through various levels of interactions that fall under the category sexualization. Sexual objectification contributes to the normalization of hyper-sexualized perceptions of women. (Schick) The sexualization of females in the media industry influences the perception of women and the culture of rape in how people behave and think sexually.

In the realm of media, the influence of those perpetuating this distinct portrayal with sexualized images has affected the perception of women in our culture. One 2016 study on male and female self perceptions was conducted to find the influence of sexualization. (Ward) After showing a romantic movie, sexualized music video, and reality television program, 1,107 U.S. undergraduate college students were surveyed to evaluate their sexual responses. (Ward) The researchers found that the music video produced high-levels of self-sexualization in men, the romantic movie produced high levels of self-sexualization in women, and the reality show produced high levels of self-sexualization in both men and women. (Ward) Through different modes of cultural communication, viewers readjusted their understanding of self to fit the societal norms set by these productions. (Ward).

In additional research, different sexually-related factors were studied to find the impact they had on people’s perception of women. Male and female research subjects were presented an image of a woman paired with a fictitious article describing the sexual assault of this character. (Blake) They were given varying portrayals of the character based on three factors. (Blake) These factors included the degree to which the woman was sexualized in the image, the woman’s described agency to alter her circumstances in the unwanted sexual encounter, and the degree of her described sexual openness. (Blake) The results showed that male respondents’ sexual aggression levels were higher towards the highly sexualized hypothetical woman with a low degree of agency to avoid the encounter. (Blake)

The idea that sexualized appearance can influence the sexual perception and behavior of the viewer is also studied through magazine portrayals. In one study of perceptions of sexualized women in magazines, a researcher had two standardized male groups separately participate in an evaluative survey to compare their acceptance of rape myth and inclination to act in a sexually harmful way. (Romero-Sanchez) After being shown the a cover, the men were presented with hypothetical scenarios interacting with women. (Romero-Sanchez) From the responses to the scenarios, the researchers found that men that had viewed the sexualized magazine cover showed a higher acceptance of rape myth and reported higher rape proclivity than the lower acceptance shown by group two that witnessed the neutral magazine cover. (Romero-Sanchez)

Another study also analyzed how perception can impact the placement of blame in acts of sexual assault. One study divided men and women into two equally distributed groups, and then inquired on their interpretation of blame in hypothetical rape scenarios. (Bernard) The researchers provided group one with a sexualized image of a woman and group two with a standard depiction of a woman. (Bernard) The researchers then presented subjects with a hypothetical story of her sexual assault and were tasked after to rank the level of blame placed upon the woman and the rapist in this situation. (Bernard) The researchers found that group one and group two reported consistent low levels of blame on the female’s behalf, but the group that was shown the sexualized image reported less blame to the fictitious perpetrator of rape than group two. (Bernard) The sexualized perception of woman here presented results of belief in rape myth as resulting from the depiction of images of the possible victims.

Revised Contribution Plan

With hopes to make a contribution to the article that upholds the elements of a quality Wikipedia article, I plan to add an additional heading covering the various impacts of sexualization on rape culture.

The other issues I mentioned in my evaluation also need attention if anyone is interested in addressing areas for improvement in this page. I feel it is of critical attention that someone should address the Overview section. With the limitations on time and focus of my class assignment, I will only be focusing on issues of sexualization.

For my written contribution, I’d like to add support and evidence for a section I will create on sexualization. The ideas of objectification and sexualized portrayal of women in media are reflected in our existing body of research, but not on this page. I would like to bring various sources covering this idea to the page to broaden its coverage. I want to add sources on how sexualization in society has contributed to rape culture, and support the existing points on objectification with more material. I have some sources already to address these ideas such as the study on sexualization of an image and perceived aggression levels (i.e. with "Lads" mags). These sources can be found in my sandbox. I also intend to link out several concepts, such as Sexualization and Rape myth, to their larger articles.

I believe this contribution will address the need for breadth in the article. The substance of the contribution will essentially be studies conducted providing information to address the unacknowledged but critical topic of sexualization. I believe this has been overlooked in the formulation of this article and, from my research so far, appears to be fundamental in the formation and persistence of rape culture.

Draft of Contribution

Rape culture is perpetrated through various levels of interactions that fall under the category sexualization. The normalization of hyper-sexualized characteristics in women is contributed to by sexual objectification and perception amongst others (Schick). The sexualization of females in the media and industry influences the perception of women and the culture of rape in how people behave and think sexually.

In the realm of media, the influence of those perpetuating sexualized images and portrayal of women has influenced the perception of women. One 2016 study on male and female self perceptions was conducted to find the influence of sexualization. After showing a romantic movie, sexualized music video, and reality program, 1,107 U.S. undergraduate college students were surveyed to find self-sexualizing repossess. The researchers found the reality show produced a perception of high levels of self-sexualization in both males and females, the music video produced high-levels in men, and the romantic movie produced high levels in women.  Through different facets, viewers are readjusting their understanding of self to fit the cultural standard set by these productions (Ward). This idea can be found in research by Dr. Khandis Blake, who studied the factorial impact self-sexualization, agency to alter circumstances, and sexual openness. To study these concepts, researchers used three experiments testing the reception to images of women portrayed in varying degrees of sexual appearance and then followed with the presentation of an article describing her hypothetical rape. The results found that the evaluated male respondents’ sexual aggression levels were higher towards the hypothetical woman with a high degree of self-sexulaization and a low degree of agency (Blake). The idea that sexulaized appearence can influence the sexual perception and behavior of the viewer is also studied through magazine portrayals. In Romero-Sanchez’s study of perceptions of sexualized women in magazines, she had two standardized male groups separately participate in an evaluatative survey to find compared sexual propondenscey. The researchers found that men that viewed the sexualized magazine cover, when provided response scenarios, showed a higher acceptance of rape myth and reported higher rape proclivity compared to the lower acceptance shown by group two that witnessed the neutral magazine cover (Romero-Sanchez). These findings turn toward consequences in understanding the blame in sexual deviance. One study found that when a divided into two equally distributed groups of men and women, respondents that were shown a sexualized image of a woman assigned lower blame to the fictitious perpetrator of rape that was hypothetically committed on the woman (Bernard). The sexualized perception of woman here presented results of belief in rape myth as resulting from the depiction of images of the possible victims.

In understanding the societal consequences of these studies, more studies have looked into the economic effects of sexualized perception of women. In the economy, pronographic depections of women and sexualized portrayals of women in advertisements have contributed to a general misperception of acceptable sexual behaviors (Garner)(Bray).

In college students and youth, this has an imprintable effect on how the next generation defines the perception of women (McMahon). A recent study produced that college students are much more likely to resort to bystander handling of sexual scenarios when presented with a sexualized image or attitude towards another adhering to the ideas of rape myth (McMahon). Another study believes the limited amount of youth sexual education contributes to this issue (Shashikumar). An ethnographic study conducted by Schick found how within the simple events of a middle school performance, the interwoven cultural influence to perform sexualized genders persisted due to adult encouragement and youth perception (Schick). College students adherence to rape myth (McMahon).

Contribution Plan

With hopes to make a contribution to the article that upholds the elements of a quality Wikipedia article, I plan to (attempt to) fix the, “Overview,” section of the article by restructuring its layout. As there are a lot of topics touched on within this section, I would like to divide it into subsections, placing similar ideas together, to make the article more fluid and readable. (For instance, the paragraphs discussing the topic of rape myth could all be put into a subsection titled, “Rape Myth.”) I could also link out topics that are better explained on pages of their own. Though eventually each subsection in, “Overview,” could become a section of its own with more information, I believe this would be a good start to addressing the problems of the article.

The other issues I mentioned in my evaluation also need attention if anyone is interested in addressing areas for improvement in this page. With the limitations on time and focus of my class assignment, I will only be focusing on issues I discussed in the, “Overview,” section.

For my written contribution, I’d like to add support and evidence to a subsection I will make on factors in rape culture. The ideas of misogynistic practices and objectification were touched on, but not supported with much evidence as to how they contribute to rape culture. I want to add sources on how sexualization in society has contributed to rape culture, and support the existing points on objectification with more material. I have some sources already to address these ideas such as the study on sexualization of an image and perceived aggression levels (with lads magazines, and a controlled study), but would like to find more supporting the ideas of objectification specifically. I may also try to find related Wikipedia articles to each of these concepts to link out too while attempting to improve the quality of this section (so for example, I would hyperlink the phrase sexual objectification to the existing Wikipedia article on it to provide more knowledge on the subject).

I believe this contribution will address the need for organization and substance required to hold this section to the standards of others. The substance of the contribution will essentially be the evidence to back the surface claims made throughout this subsection I will form, and majorly address the unacknowledged but critical topic of sexualization. I believe this has been overlooked in the formulation of this article and, from my research so far, appears to be fundamental in the formation and persistence of rape culture.

Annotated Bibliography for Work on Rape culture

Bernard, Philippe; Loughnan, Steve; Marchal, Cynthie; Godart, Audrey; Klein, Olivier (2015). “The Exonerating Effect of Sexual Objectification: Sexual Objectification Decreases Rapist Blame in a Stranger Rape Context”. Sex Roles. 72 (11-12): 499-508. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-015-0482-0

Philippe Bernard, Steve Loughnan, Cynthie Marchal, Audrey Godart, and Olivier Klein suggested in their article, “The Exonerating Effect of Sexual Objectification: Sexual Objectification Decreases Rapist Blame in a Stranger Rape Context,” that sexual objectification does not increase victim blame, but does decrease perpetrator blame. This author’s credentials include experience at the University of Hospital Brussels and previous publications in the peer reviewed journal Revue Internationale de Psychologie Sociale. In this study, the researchers split 58 males and 57 females into two groups and presented one group with a neutral depiction of a woman and then the other group with a sexualized depiction of the woman. Then each participant was asked to assign level of blame when presented with a newspaper article fictitiously stating that the woman was assaulted. The researchers found that though level of victim blame remained relatively constant despite how sexualized the image was, participants gave lower levels of blame for the perpetrator when they were shown the sexualized image. This leads to the conclusion that there is a possible relationship between the appearance of a victim and the perception of blame we place on an aggressor. The researchers provided a sound study for comparing the perception of sexual crimes on women through this process, so this source could be contributive towards my edit of the Rape culture Wikipedia page by providing a view of the matter on diffusion of perpetrator blame as a part of rape culture.

Blake, Khandis; Bastian, Brock; Denson, Thomas (2016). "Perceptions of low agency and high sexual openness mediate the relationship between sexualization and sexual aggression". Aggressive Behavior. 42 (5): 483-497. https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.21644

Khandis Blake, Brock Bastian, and Thomas Denson in their article, “Perceptions of low agency and high sexual openness mediate the relationship between sexualization and sexual aggression,” found multiple influencers on the factors that contribute to sexual aggression. Dr. Khandis Blake works at the University of New South Wales in the evolution and ecology research centre. To assess the effects of hypersexualization on perception of women, the researchers used three experiments testing the reception to images of women (one sexualized and one not) and then followed with the presentation of an article describing her hypothetical rape. The factors of self-sexualization, agency, and sexual openness were included in each and surveyed for impact. The participants then were surveyed for opinions on the hypothetical situations. They found that men have more sexually aggressive intentions towards woman who they view to have self-sexualized and low agency (to change the circumstances of their environment). This specific combination was viewed as most easy to victimize. The authors’ experiment was very well defined and direct in testing its purpose. I believe this source could be contributive towards my edit of the Rape culture Wikipedia page by providing an example of a study exhibiting the impact of sexualization on sexual perception.

Bray, Abigail (2008). “The Question of Intolerance: 'Corporate Paedophilia' and Child Sexual Abuse Moral Ethics”. Australian Feminist Studies. 23 (57): 323-341.

In, “The Question of Intolerance: ‘Corporate Paedophilia’ and Child Sexual Abuse Moral Ethics,” Abigail Bray constructed an argument on the effects of sexualization of young girls in economic industry. Bray’s credentials include her research fellowship at Edith Cowan University in the Social Justice Research Centre and her multiple academic journal publishings on child sexual abuse and pornography. Bray suggested that sexualization, through a corporate view, normalizes sexual activity with young girls by analyzing an accumulation of sources on subjects like published images and media of young girls and methods of which young girls are discussed in magazines. She analyzed the culture around how young girls are portrayed in media and how that contributes to the normalization of seeing young girls in a sexual way. Bray does a good job within the article at defending her main idea with multiple examples of objectifying media (ie. inappropriately staged pictures for advertisements). This source could be contributive towards my edit of the Rape culture Wikipedia page by providing a view on how the media influences ideas of sexualization of women in society.

Garner, Maria (2012). "The missing link: the sexualisation of culture and men". Gender & Education. 24 (3): 325-331.

In, “The Missing Link: the sexualisation of culture and men,” Maria Garner analyzed the noticed effects of sexualisation on various power structures of society and how this in turn affects the portrayal of women. Garner attained her PhD from London Metropolitan University focusing on gender studies. Using analyses branching from the greater body of scholarly work, Garner defended her claim that the sexualisation of women throughout society has persisted through new facets. She pointed out evidence defending this idea with past documented experiences, the effects of the pornographic industry, and sources providing negative effects found in political and economic systems. Garner’s work was very well explained and logical; however, I believe the information was very generalized. It covered a broad spectrum of ideas to provide a very comprehensive understanding of the issues produced by sexualisation. This source could be contributive towards my edit of the Rape culture Wikipedia page by taking from the more specific examples (such as ones on the pornographic industry) to add information on the subject.

Lussier, Patrick; Proulx, Jean; LeBlanc, Marc (2005). “Criminal Propensity, Deviant Sexual Interests and Criminal Activity of Sexual Aggressors Against Women: A Comparison of Explanatory Models”. Criminology. 43 (1): 249-282. http://doi.org/10.1111/j.0011-1348.2005.00008.x

Patrick Lussier, Jean Proulx, and LeBlanc Marc argued in their article, “Criminal Propensity, Deviant Sexual Interests and Criminal Activity of Sexual Aggressors Against Women: A Comparison of Explanatory Models,” that sexual aggression from males to females is not mostly generated from sexualization in society. Lussier’s experience in the field includes his teaching position as an Assistant Professor at the School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University in Canada. By analyzing surveys given to 209 men convicted for sexual acts against women, the researchers found that a majority of these criminals had witnessed persistent maltreatment of women by men in their early childhood. They reached the conclusion that instead of men being influenced by general sexualization to act aggressively towards women, that men were more likely to act aggressively if they’d been influenced by similar behavior during childhood. The authors did not seem to do a thorough job of comparing the three introduced hypothesis (aggression is a result of general sexualization, childhood experiences, and both). They seemed to only evaluate one majorly, and this might have skewed the results to lean towards suggesting childhood experiences had the greatest impact. This source could be contributive towards my edit of the Rape culture Wikipedia page by providing a counterargument. A lot of sections on the page call for resources that counter the ideas provided to maintain balance in the research, so this source may balance others I have found stating that general sexualiztion is a source of agency for aggression.

McMahon, Sarah (2010). “Rape Myth Beliefs and Bystander Attitudes Among Incoming College Students”. Journal of American College Health. 59 (3-5): 9-11.

In Sarah McMahon’s article, “Rape Myth Beliefs and Bystander Attitudes Among Incoming College Students,” the author conducted a study to explore the relationship between bystander attitudes and rape myths accepted by college students. McMahon received her PhD from Rutgers, works as an associate professor and director at the Center on Violence Against Women and Children, and has been published in several academic journals. Using a revised version of the Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale and the Bystander Attitude Scale, 2,338 undergraduate students in the northeast were surveyed. McMahon found from the surveys that males (especially those in greek life, athletics, or uneducated on rape) showed a higher acceptance of rape myth. On the other hand, females and those with previous education showed a greater willingness to get involved. These findings suggest that with proper education rape myth acceptance could possibly decrease and bystander intervention could possibly increase among college students. McMahon does a good job of explaining the possible consequences of these findings. She suggests further research possibilities and what educational methods could be beneficial in resolving the issue. This source could be contributive towards my edit of the Rape culture Wikipedia page by adding to the portion in, “Overview,” on college students.

Romero-Sánchez, Mónica; Toro-García, Virginia; Horvath, Miranda; Megías, Jesús (2017). “More Than a Magazine: Exploring the Links Between Lads’ Mags, Rape Myth Acceptance, and Rape Proclivity”. Journal of Interpersonal Voices. 32 (4): 515-534. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260515586366

In, “More Than a Magazine: Exploring the Links Between Lads’ Mags, Rape Myth Acceptance, and Rape Proclivity,” Mónica Romero-Sánchez, Virginia Toro-García, Miranda Horvath, and Jesús Megías, conducted a study on the effects of sexualization through male responses after viewing magazines. Romero-Sanchez’s credentials include her teaching experience at the University of Granada’s Department of Social Psychology, and previous peer-reviewed publications. The experiment was formulated with intentions to study the relation between exposure to sexualized media and acceptance of sexually aggressive behavior and attitudes towards women. After splitting a large number of Spanish men into two groups, the first group was shown what was described as a sexualized magazine cover and the second group was shown what was described as a neutral magazine cover. Using surveys after displaying the covers to group one and two, the researchers found that men in group one showed a higher acceptance of rape myth and when provided response scenarios, group one also reported higher rape proclivity. This insinuates that sexualized media can have an effect on the levels of rape acceptance among men. This source could be contributive towards my edit of the Rape culture Wikipedia page by providing evidence on sexualized media’s contribution to rape culture.

Schick, Laurie (2014). “'Hit Me Baby': From Britney Spears to the Socialization of Sexual Objectification of Girls in a Middle School Drama Program”. Sexuality & Culture. 18 (1): 39-55. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-013-9172-7

Laurie Schick found in her article, “Hit Me Baby': From Britney Spears to the Socialization of Sexual Objectification of Girls in a Middle School Drama Program,” that from observation, the sexual socialization of our culture can be understood further in the middle school level environment. Dr. Schick was a Fulbright Scholar focusing in Cultural Anthropology. Using an ethnographic and intertextual data collection method, Schick analyzed the socialization of sexual habits through a middle school production of Britney Spears’s music. It also studied adult complicity in this process observing the students’ and teachers’ actions and interviewing these groups for more information. The conclusion was reached that adults significantly contributed to this sexual socialization that encouraged female sexual objectification. Also, a general conclusion from observations, was that male dominance reigned in school-based activities. The author was very thorough in her ethnographic research and provided a great amount of supporting points to these findings. This source could be contributive towards my edit of the Rape culture Wikipedia page by providing a source on persistence due to adult behavior and youth perception.

Shashikumar, R.; Das, R.; Prabhu, H.; Srivastava, K.; Bhat, P.; Prakash, J.; Seema, P. (2012). “A cross-sectional study of factors associated with adolescent sexual activity”. Indian Journal of Psychiatry. 54 (2): 138-143. https://doi.org/10.4103/0019-5545.99532

Shashikumar, Das, Prabhu, Srivastava, Bhat, and Prakash, and Seema conducted the study, “A cross-sectional study of factors associated with adolescent sexual activity,” that explored the understanding of sexuality in boys and girls at a young age. Dr. Shashikumar works for the Department of Psychiatry at the AMFC in India. A statistical analysis was conducted by having 586 out of 1580 students at a co-education school complete a questionnaire. The researchers found a misconstrued view of sexuality in both youth genders. Reported sexual activity and sexual attitudes were paired with an absence of knowledge on sexual health; this finding also suggested that this premature sexual activity could contribute towards early sexualization. The authors did a good job on formulating the study cross-sectionally, so it covered a wide variety of areas. This source could be contributive towards my edit of the Rape culture Wikipedia page by providing content on what contributes to sexualization at an early age and sexual attitudes of youth.

Ward, Lucretia; Seabrook, Rita; Manago, Adriana; Reed, Lauren (2016). “Contributions of Diverse Media to Self-Sexualization among Undergraduate Women and Men”. Sex Roles. 74 (1-2): 12-23. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-015-0548-z

Lucretia Ward, Rita Seabrook, Adriana Manago, and Lauren Reed published the article, “Contributions of Diverse Media to Self-Sexualization among Undergraduate Women and Men,” on how sexualized media influences how men and women sexualize themselves. Lucretia Ward received her PhD from the University of California-Los Angeles and is now a psychology professor at the University of Michigan. After showing a romantic movie, sexualized music video, and reality program, 1,107 U.S. undergraduate college students were surveyed to find self-sexualizing repossess. The researchers found the reality show produced high levels of self-sexualization in both males and females, the music video produced high-levels in men, and the romantic movie produced high levels in women. The researchers did a good job connecting how sexualization in media could possibly in turn generate sexualization in ourselves. This source could be contributive towards my edit of the Rape culture Wikipedia page by providing a source on how cultural sexualization contributes to sexual behaviors.

Oaktree813 (talk) 03:27, 5 October 2017 (UTC) Oaktree813 (talk) 03:28, 5 October 2017 (UTC)

Finding Resources

In researching the impact of sexualization on rape culture, I have found a source that describes a study which analyzes the relationship linking the sexualization of females to sexual aggression of men. This study, titled, "Perceptions of Low Agency and High Sexual Openness Mediate the Relationship Between Sexualization and Sexual Aggression" by Khandis Blake, Brock Bastian, and Thomas Denson, included the analyses of sexually aggressive intentions measures that were given after presentation of sexualized and nonsexualized photographs of women. (Also a note for my citation: several of the sources were cited differently, so I attempted to cite it as a majority were cited.)

Choosing an Article

I am thinking about choosing one of the following articles to edit for our class assignments: Sexualization, Rape culture, Sexual objectification, or Pornographication. Oaktree813 (talk) 03:39, 19 September 2017 (UTC) On these pages, I found several issues with the neutrality of the words. There seemed to be words that could be changed to establish a more objective voice. I believe these could start as possible areas for improvement.Oaktree813 (talk) 04:04, 19 September 2017 (UTC)

Paragraph: 

This helps you set the style of the text. For example, a header, or plain paragraph text. You can also use it to offset block quotes.

A : Highlight your text, then click here to format it with bold, italics, etc. The "More" options allows you to underline, add code snippets, and change language keyboards.

Links: The chain button allows you to link your text. Highlight the word, and push the button. VisualEditor will automatically suggest related Wikipedia articles for that word or phrase. This is a great way to connect your article to more Wikipedia content. You only have to link important words once, usually during the first time they appear. If you want to link to pages outside of Wikipedia (for an "external links" section, for example) click on the "External link" tab.

• Bullets: To add bullet points or a numbered list, click here.

This is a magnificent Autumn Oak - bask in the beauty of nature

Insert: This tab lets you add media, images, or tables.

→ Ω The final tab allows you to add special characters, such as those found in non-English words, scientific notation, and a handful of language extensions. ←

Learning on Wikipedia is fun.

bold STEM Science peeps Oaktree813 (talk) 13:56, 7 September 2017 (UTC)