The association between gender roles, sexual objectification and perceptions of revenge pornography in heterosexual intimate relationships

• Main Author: Ho, Charmaine Ern Ning
• Other Authors: Olivia Choy
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2022
• Subjects: Social sciences::Psychology
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/157873
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Revenge pornography is an increasingly pervasive crime of sexual violence. The present study examined whether gender role endorsement and sexual objectification, specifically selfobjectification, partner-objectification, and experiences of interpersonal sexual objectification, predicted an individual’s judgements of revenge pornography offending in heterosexual intimate relationships. A sample of 208 young adults in Singapore were administered an online questionnaire. Results revealed that strong endorsement of traditional gender roles predicted lenient judgements of revenge pornography (β = .58, p < .001) but had no significant effect on relationship satisfaction. Higher partner-objectification and greater experiences of interpersonal sexual objectification predicted both lenient judgements toward revenge pornography offending (β = .23, p < .001; β = .18, p < .001) as well as lower relationship satisfaction (β = -.24, p < .001; β = -.161, p < .001). However, no evidence was found for the association between self-objectification and perceptions of revenge pornography. The body shame variable of self-objectification was significantly associated with relationship satisfaction, but the body surveillance variable was not. Our findings point towards the importance of understanding the role of gender role ideologies and sexual objectification in people’s acceptance of intimate partner violence such as revenge pornography. Keywords: Revenge pornography, gender role endorsement, self-objectification, partner-objectification, relationship satisfaction