College Males Tend to Objectify Term Paper

g., Emmers-Sommer et al., 2005).

BIOLOGICAL BASES

Several studies support the contention that catecholamines create more violent and less sensitive reactions to the opposite sex, acting like hormones or neurotransmitters in the system; common catecholamines are epinephrine, nonepinephrine, and dopamine. Zuckerman and Litle (1986) found that men scored higher than women on scales of curiosity about sexual and morbid events in media in a study of the related variables between sensation seeking and morbid and sexual events. High sensation seekers, most of whom are men, are "interested in stimuli that increase activity in central catecholamine systems. Zuckerman and Litle's work showed a connection between exposure to media that involve violence, fear-inducement, and eroticism and an increased peripheral catecholamine activity" (Levi, 1969).

Researchers used the Rape Myth Acceptance scale (RMA) (Burt, 1981) the RMA is a 10-item, 1-7 likert scale (1=strongly agree, 7=strongly disagree) measure that provides statements about rape-related attitudes, beliefs, and the propensity to blame the victim for the perpetrator's actions. Such items as "Any healthy woman can successfully resist a rapist if she really wants to" and "In the majority of rapes, the victim is promiscuous or has a bad reputation" (p. 223) are found. "Past reliability of the scale has been reported as Cronbach's alpha=0.875" (Burt, 1980).

CONCLUSION

Research has shown that during the college years, both men and women can buy into the rape myth acceptance (Allen et al., 1995) and that on the college campus, desensitization can occur for both genders due to repeated exposure (Goleman, 1985). Thus, individuals who are frequently exposed to frequent cultural and sociological pressures and sexually violent material are likely to learn and abide by such negative behaviors and also to accept the violent treatment women receive as justified. Furthermore, individuals who view sexually violent media might be more willing to accept rape myths (Emmers-Sommer 11). All of these elements are present on the college campus and must be found to have some effect on the attitude of men's objectification of women while there.

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