Psychology of Women Quarterly

Fear of institutional betrayal is a new conceptual extension of the original institutional betrayal framework. The original framework is a way of making sense of, and giving credibility to, the experiences of harm perpetrated by institutions. The original authors developed a checklist of institutional actions or inactions that harm survivors of sexual violence. Building on this work, fear of institutional betrayal is an attitudinal construct that represents the belief that post-secondary institutions will inevitably fail to prevent or acceptably respond to campus sexual violence, and that engagement with the institution in the aftermath of campus sexual violence will result in harm for survivors. In this paper, two studies provided evidence for the psychometric soundness of the Fear of Institutional Betrayal Questionnaire (FIBQ). The first study established the scale's reliability and unidimensional factor structure. A replication study in a larger, more diverse, national sample of students confirmed these findings. Construct validity was supported across both studies by theoretically consistent correlations and expected group differences across demographic characteristics. These studies demonstrate that the FIBQ is a psychometrically sound instrument that captures a construct not previously assessed in the literature.

This study examined college women's ability to detect aggression and intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration risk in unknown men's dating profiles across three samples. Across studies, women accurately distinguished profiles characterized by high, moderate, and low levels of aggression, but showed greater difficulty differentiating between moderate and low levels of IPV perpetration risk. Women's IPV victimization histories and childhood maltreatment exposure were each independently associated with greater accuracy in identifying both aggression and IPV risk. These findings align with trauma-informed frameworks of risk perception, which propose that lifetime interpersonal adversity may shape sensitivity to relational danger cues in early impression-formation contexts. Together, results highlight the complexity of early risk detection in online dating environments and underscore the importance of prevention and education efforts that support women's recognition of both overt and subtle indicators of risk.

In the current article, we tested the social interaction model of objectification to explore the effects of the activation and compatibility of sexual goals on women's perceptions of sexual objectification and behavioral intentions. Studies 1 (N = 272) and 2 (N = 141), conducted in Italy, demonstrated the importance of women's sexual goals in shaping favorable perceptions and subsequent behavioral intentions in sexually objectifying interactions. However, in both studies, when women desired sexual attention but did not receive it, they reported the highest levels of perceived benefits from remaining in the interaction, along with greater motivation for future interactions. Study 3 (N = 232), conducted in the United States, replicated the importance of women's sexual goal activation in fostering positive perceptions and intentions to continue the interaction. Nevertheless, contrary to the findings of the first two studies, the results showed that compatibility of sexual goals was preferable to incompatible conditions. The current research provides evidence supporting the social interaction model of objectification's proposition that, during objectifying interactions, women cognitively evaluate whether the interaction aligns with their own sexual goals. It also highlights the significant role of cultural differences in shaping perceptions of sexual goal compatibility in the objectifying interaction process.

Pregnancy is marked by visible bodily changes such as weight gain. Guided by objectification theory, this study aimed to test whether gestational body mass gain—an indicator of visible bodily transformation—is associated with perceived interpersonal objectification experiences that position one's body as an object of appearance-based evaluation. These experiences may, in turn, be related to greater self-objectification, which may subsequently correlate with poorer mental health (i.e., depressive symptoms, disordered eating, and sexual dysfunction). The sample included 399 heterosexual, cisgender pregnant women in their second to third trimester who had not previously given birth (Mage = 29.97, range = 19–48). As predicted, path analysis revealed that greater gestational body mass gain was associated with perceived interpersonal objectification, which in turn was related to self-objectification, which then was directly associated with all three mental health outcomes. The association between self-objectification and disordered eating was indirectly explained through body shame and interoceptive awareness, while self-objectification's association with sexual dysfunction was indirectly explained through interoceptive awareness. These findings support the applicability of objectification theory to pregnancy, underscoring the need to reduce weight and appearance-focused practices and foster health-oriented perceptions of pregnant bodies. Finally, findings highlight the importance of public health efforts to normalize pregnancy-related body mass changes.

In this study, we examined how sexual objectification, abortion circumstance, and sexist attitudes interacted to affect abortion stigma and dehumanization of women who have abortions. A total of 237 participants were randomly assigned to a vignette depicting a woman who was either (a) sexually objectified or (b) not sexually objectified and who sought an abortion in either (a) a typical circumstance (i.e., ill timed) or (b) an exceptionalized circumstance (i.e., fetal anomaly). Results indicated that in typical abortion circumstances, women who have abortions are at risk of dehumanization, regardless of whether they are seen as sexual objects. In contrast, exceptionalized conditions may yield humanizing effects for women who have abortions, unless they are seen as sexual objects. Furthermore, participants with moderate and high levels of hostile sexism judged women who have abortions more harshly: they believed that the woman deserved more punishment for having an abortion for typical reasons compared to having an abortion for exceptionalized reasons. Results also suggested that women who have abortions for more typical reasons may be granted less moral patiency (i.e., moral concern), regardless of sexual objectification. However, under exceptionalized circumstances, sexual objectification diminished perceptions of moral patiency among participants with moderate and high levels of hostile sexism. In short, our findings suggest that sexual objectification, abortion circumstance, and hostile sexism operate concomitantly to affect how women who have abortions are evaluated and perceived.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is prevalent among Latinx college students. Gender role stereotypes influence the ways IPV is perceived and sometimes tolerated within the Latinx culture. In addition, social media can shape the messages individuals receive about what is healthy and unhealthy in romantic relationships. La tóxica (the toxic woman) is a Latinx gender stereotype often used to describe controlling and demanding women. However, as the term has become more common, its colloquial meaning and the associated behaviors have expanded. The purpose of this study was to explore an emerging gender role stereotype of the label la tóxica among Latinxs. This study included 19 undergraduate Latinx college students. We used a conventional qualitative analysis approach to analyze the data. The participants were interviewed in English and responded to questions related to the concept of la tóxica. Interviews lasted an average of 93 minutes. Specifically, we sought to fill a gap in the literature regarding how the la tóxica label operates as a culturally embedded term that draws on feminine stereotypes and power, while reframing women's behavior in relationships. The qualitative data analysis yielded three themes: vernacular reframing and memetic spread, gendered scripts of power in intimate relationships, and love as leverage: normalizing control in relationships. These results are discussed in the context of intimate partner violence, gender roles, and the media's influence on the dissemination of gender role stereotypes.