Latent Sexism in Print Ads Increases Acceptance of Sexual Assault

Abstract

In addition to the more obvious forms of sexism in advertising, media critics and scholars raise concerns about various forms of nonobvious, or latent, sexism (e.g., “dismembered” body parts; makeup possibly resembling a bruise; women in potentially dangerous locations; bodies decorated as products). There is, however, no evidence that the public considers these ads sexist or is affected by them. To determine whether ads promote sexism even if the content is not identified as sexist, participants were exposed to ads containing no sexism, overt sexism, or latent sexism (i.e., content considered sexist by media experts, but not identified as sexist by a lay sample) and then read two vignettes describing incidents of sexual assault and sexual coercion. Participants exposed to ads with latent sexism showed greater acceptance of the sexual assault than did those in the no sexism ad condition and in the overt sexism ad condition. Regarding the sexual coercion vignette, latent sexism did not have the same effects; instead, participants exposed to ads with overt sexism were less likely to minimize the seriousness of the incident than participants in the other ad conditions. Therefore, acceptance of sexual assault can be increased by sexist content in ads even if the content is not identified as sexist. In fact, the evidence suggests that the types of latent sexism in this study produce more deleterious effects than sexism that is easily recognized.