When you purchase through links on our land site , we may earn an affiliate commission . Here ’s how it works .
Sure , it ’s skillful to have a looker at your side . But it turns out that reduce on their mate ' physical attraction may make the great unwashed less felicitous in relationships , Modern research suggest .
The study also see that magazines and movies that portray citizenry as sex objects can cause you to see your partner in that light , though not yourself .
angry couple
Self - objectification — when a someone is obsessively concerned about he or she look — has been point to affectwomen ’s self - icon , school performance and life felicity . But this quality has n’t been consider much in the setting of romanticist relationships . married person - objectification , where that direction is locate on a partner ’s forcible qualities over everything else , has n’t been consider at all in this circumstance .
" If you have these sort of thoughts and beliefs about your partner , it might be a closure that stops you from having that familiarity , which is authoritative in relationships , " said study researcher Eileen Zurbriggen of the University of California , Santa Cruz .
Studying students
For her study , Zurbriggen polled 159 sophomores at her university . The students were asked to fulfill out a study on their romantic relationships ( current or previous ) , their medium consumption and their notion of objectification .
Objectification was measured by how strongly the scholarly person consort or disagreed with affirmation such as : " I seldom remember about how I / my collaborator seem " ; " I rarely compare how I / my partner face with how others look " ; and " I often worry about whether the wearing apparel I’m / my married person is wearing make me / them count good . "
The men showed gamy level of partner - objectification than the women , but both reported standardised levels of self - objectification , in contrast to previous study . woman are traditionally believe to be more ego - objectifying .
Zurbriggen noted that UC Santa Cruz is traditionally a liberal institution , which may have skewed these results slimly . It ’s also potential , she speculated , that exposure to objectifying media is increasing the arcdegree of self - objectification in serviceman .
Zurbriggen also said the participant were untested , average out 19 , and none was married , so the results might be unlike from what she would have gotten from older adults inlonger - terminus relationships .
base on the participants ' responses , Zurbriggen found that the greater their consumption of objectifying media of all kinds , the more likely they were to focus on their partner ’s looks . Self - objectification , however , was join only to objectifying magazines and not to other media — a similar finding to previous studies .
" Partner objectification was a stronger forecaster than ego - objectification in determining yourrelationship atonement , for both men and women , " Zurbriggen said . " But ego - objectification was important in foretelling of sexual satisfaction in man , but not in women . "
Men discover less sexual atonement whether they sharpen on their partner ’s appearance or on their own , Zurbriggen ascertain .
Objectifying others
This goes against theories put forth by some philosopher , including Martha Nussbaum of the University of Chicago , that some objectification can be safe and even enjoyable in a relationship .
Having an attractive mate and being attractive to your partner could increase sexual satisfaction , Zurbriggen said — " When you hear that you arereally spicy and sexyand that can be satisfying . " But Zurbriggen found the diametric effect : cooperator - objectification lour human relationship atonement , as well as gentleman ’s sexual satisfaction . This could be because concentrate on your married person ’s attraction tends to make you less concerned with yourpartner as a whole , lead to a less solid family relationship and diminish intimacy , she read .
Janet Hyde of the University of Wisconsin , when ask about Zurbriggen ’s study , called it " new , clever , and important . "
Hyde order LiveScience in an email , " So , self - objectification suffer oneself , and then the event of media vulnerability seem to extend to partner objectification , which hurts relationship . "
Zurbriggen ’s group is planning to continue following her subjects , who are now in their sixth year of the work .
you may follow LiveScience staff writer Jennifer Welsh on Twitter @microbelover .
