Sexual Objectification Report

Sexual Assault is a horrible problem in the United States. On average, 1 in 5 women in the United States has reported being raped at least once in her life. In addition, 78.7% of women reported that their rape occurred before they turned 25, and 40.4% reported that their rape happened before they turned 18 (Itzin 2430). The sexual objectification of women in our society contributes to rape culture that allows sexual assault to happen. In addition, rape victims often do not report their rape due to victim blaming, which is also a part of rape culture. Police departments can also be insensitive when handling sexual assault cases, which can cause the victims to doubt themselves or maybe not even accurately report exactly what happened. Sexual

One was a non-sexualized condition, where they were given a picture of Laura wearing a white top and jeans. In the sexualized condition, they were given a photo of Laura in a more sexualized position with her wearing a bikini. They discovered that, overall, the participants in the non-sexualized condition had more moral concern for Laura than the participants in the sexualized condition. Near the end of the study, the authors conclude that “Objectification has implications for the victims of sexual assault. When women are objectified, perceivers withdraw attributions of mind and restrict their moral concern. This restriction of moral concern plays an important role in how victimhood is subsequently judged; the objectified are blamed more and tacitly seen to suffer less” (Loughnan 17). In summary, the sexualization and objectification of women often leads people to respect them less, and it also contributes to victim blaming in rape culture. A study by Rebecca Hayes, Katherine Lorenz, and Kristin Bell connects the dots between victim blaming and promiscuity. They write: “Research has shown that women were likely to hold the offender accountable for the assault whether the victim was thought of

False reports make up a small percentage of rape reports (Spohn 2), but they still hurt real rape victims who are struggling with victim-blaming and the fear of not being believed. An article by Cassia Spohn, Clair White, and Katharine Tellis investigates sexual assault cases reported to LAPD by interviewing detectives on their handling of the cases. They explain that “The results of the quantitative analysis are confirmed by the comments made by detectives when we asked them about the criteria they use when unfounding a sexual assault report. Consistent with our finding that a victim’s recant is neither necessary nor sufficient to unfound a case, a majority of the officers we interviewed reported that they were skeptical of complainants who recanted, noting that recanting “is often based on fear” of the suspect or his family and friends” (19). Their findings conclude that, as discussed earlier, intimidation by police and negligence in investigating these cases can often be detrimental to a victim’s psyche when attempting to come to terms with what happened to them. In conclusion, sexual assault is caused by our society’s perception and objectification of women, which leads to victim blaming. Victim blaming, which is a part of rape culture, can discourage victims from getting help and telling authorities about their experience. Also, the negligence of police