Picturing Sexual Agency: A Visual Content Analysis of Adults ’ Sexual Stereotypes of Young Women

AbstractIn 2015, Bay-Cheng proposed that sexual stereotypes of young women had evolved into four types: sexually abstinent and in-controlVirgins; sexually experienced and in-controlAgents; sexually experienced and out-of-controlS.s; and sexually abstinent and out-of-controlLosers. Bay-Cheng also speculated that perceptions of the four types would align with the Stereotype Content Model ’s (Fiske et al., 2002) dimensions of competence-incompetence and warmth-coolness. We tested this through a fine-grained visual content analysis of 833 images selected by 175 participants (aged 19 –64) to represent the four sexual types. We coded each image’s composition (e.g., appearance, pose, attire, setting, race) for indicators of the depicted woman’s competence, incompetence, warmth, and coolness. Analyses indicated that images representing bothVirgins andAgents included more visual markers of competence and fewer markers of incompetence thanS.s andLosers; however,Agents were distinct fromVirgins in having significantly more markers of coolness. Images ofS.s had more visual markers of coolness thanVirgins andLosers, but significantly fewer markers of warmth thanVirgins andAgents. Images ofLosers were distinct in displaying the least competence and the most incompetence compared to the other sexual types. In a separate analysis of race,Losers were also disproportionately represented by Asian Pacific Islander Desi American women whereas Black women and women of mixed or ambiguous r...
Source: Sex Roles - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research