When you log in to a virtual meeting, you are essentially doing all of these things at once.
Research has shown that being near a mirror, taking a picture of oneself and feeling that one’s appearance is being evaluated by others all increase self-objectification.
Researchers investigate self-objectification in experimental studies by having study participants focus on their appearance and then measure cognitive, emotional, behavioral or physiological outcomes. Consequently, women self-objectify, treating themselves as objects to be looked at. Because women and girls are socialized in a culture that prioritizes their appearance, they internalize the idea that they are objects. It’s not surprising that women’s bodies are treated as objects far more often than men’s.
Advertisements are rife with examples of this, where close-ups of certain body parts are often shown to help market a product, such as a bottle of cologne graphically nestled between a woman’s breasts. This often comes in the form of sexual objectification, where bodies and body parts are seen as separate from the person to which they are attached. Objectification is a bit of a buzzword, but the meaning is rather literal: being seen or treated as an object.
