Sexist Film Representations Endanger Women and Girls - The Research
This exhibition makes tangible the connection between sexist representations of women and girls in film and violence against actual women and girls.
The following research is the foundation for this exhibition:
Media-Induced Sexual Harassment: The Routes from Sexually Objectifying Media to Sexual Harassment
This research by Silvia Galdi & Francesca Guizzo shows how media that objectifies women can contribute to sexual harassment. It introduces the ‘Media-Induced Sexual Harassment framework’, which identifies three ways this happens:
Dehumanization – When women are repeatedly portrayed as objects rather than people, viewers start to see them as less human, making it easier to mistreat them.
Reduced Empathy – Exposure to objectifying media can make people less able to relate to or care about women’s feelings and experiences.
Shifting Gender Norms – Over time, media that reinforces harmful stereotypes can shape people’s beliefs about how women should be treated, making sexist attitudes and behaviours seem more acceptable.
In short, the more we see women being treated as objects in media, the more likely people are to adopt attitudes and behaviours that contribute to real-world harassment.
The Role of Transportation in the Persuasiveness of Public Narrative
Research by M.C. Green and T.C. Brock shows that when people get deeply absorbed in a story, they start adopting the ideas of the film. By immersing themselves in sexist films, viewers can begin to think and act in sexist ways themselves.
Insights into Men’s Sexual Aggression Toward Women: Dehumanization and Objectification
Finally, (with relevance to the Bechdel test):
This research by Casey L. Bevens & Steve Loughnan demonstrates that some men who commit sexual offences don’t see women as fully human. To reduce this behaviour, we need to show women as individuals with rich, full lives. The helpless victim meme this exhibition studies contributes to a dehumanised, sexualised stereotype of women that denies their human uniqueness.
We hope that this exhibition has inspired you to take further action against sexism, maybe call out sexist behaviour when you see it, or hold the men in your life accountable.
Organisations you can follow and join include:
www.endviolenceagainstwomen.org.uk
Further reading:
The Visual Language of Oppression by Nina Menkes
'A Fight About Nothing': Constructions of Domestic Violence
UNODC and UN Women, Femicides in 2023: Global Estimates of Intimate Partner/Family Member Femicides (United Nations publication, 2024)
See What You Made Me Do: Power, Control and Domestic Abuse
