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Abstract

The objectifying gaze refers to the tendency to focus on one's sexual body parts, thereby reducing the target of the objectifying gaze to a mere object. This tendency has been shown to be more prevalent among men and directed frequently towards women. The present study investigated the gender differences in male and female gaze patterns towards same-sex and opposite-sex models. It was predicted that (1) males would attend to bodies of all models more than females, (2) the body regions of the female targets would be focused on more than the body regions of male targets, especially by male participants, and (3) appearance-focused participants would focus more on models' bodies than personality-focused participants. Eighty-two college students viewed images of male and female models and rated their appearance or personality, depending on the condition. Participants' eye-movements were tracked, and the amount of time they spent examining the models' bodies was established as the measure of the objectifying gaze. The results indicate that both male and female participants observed the bodies of female and male models for approximately the same time. Additionally, both conditions yielded approximately the same observation times.

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