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Beauty, Sex, And Death: The Role Of Mortality Salience In Objectification Processes, Kasey Lynn Morris

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Although much attention has been paid to the consequences of objectification, relatively little research has focused on the question of why women are objectified. From a terror management theory perspective, the association of women with (literal) objects strips them of the qualities that are threatening (on account of mortality concerns). Sexualization, however, underscores women’s animal nature, and this association is problematic in the management of existential anxiety. The current research builds on a distinction between sexual and appearance-focused objectification to identify the existential mechanisms in the motivation to dehumanize, and subsequently harm, women. Consistent with the hypothesis, participants primed with …