Objectification and the Candidate: Examining the Effects of Objectification Paired with Candidate Coverage on Candidate Evaluations and Gender Bias

In an experiment conducted during the 2016 presidential primary season, participants viewed an article about a speech attributed to either Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders. Men who read the Clinton article alongside an ad featuring an objectified woman (deemed paired objectification) rated Clinton as significantly less competent than when the article was accompanied by a neutral ad. No effect of paired objectification was found among women nor among participants who read the Sanders article. These results support existing calls to reduce media sexual objectification of women, highlighting its potential role in the underrepresentation of women in politics.