THE NEUROLOGICAL CORRELATES OF SEXUAL OBJECTIFICATION: A REVIEW OF EXISTING LITERATURE

Previous research finds that sexual objectification is a neurological phenomenon rather than "not being able to take a compliment" or a "metaphor". The three outlined studies investigate the underlying processes of sexual objectification. The first study outlines the "oddball effect," which is when people pay more attention to things that are unusual or unexpected. Considering sexual objectification, this means people may pay more attention to sexualized images presented in non-sexual contexts than to conventional sexualized images. The second study examines the "body inversion effect," which demonstrates that when people view others upside down, they struggle to recognize and comprehend information about them. The study investigates why this effect is more evident in sexualized or objectified bodies than in non-sexualized ones. Finally, the third study analyzes brain activity in specific neural regions to check individual perception. The studies prove that sexual objectification is more complex than ‘not being able to take a compliment.'