Personality and Individual Differences 133 (2018) 85–90

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Personality and Individual Differences

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/paid

Picture this: Women's self-sexualization in photos on social media☆

Laura R. Ramsey ⁎, Amber L. Horan
Department of Psychology, Bridgewater State University, United States

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which young women post sexualized photos of them-
Received 1 August 2016 selves on Instagram and Facebook, whether these photos garner positive feedback in the form of “likes” and
Received in revised form 16 February 2017 friends/followers, explore individual differences that predict which women post self-sexualized photos, and
Accepted 15 June 2017
test whether posting self-sexualized photos on social media actually relate to feelings of sexual agency (i.e., con-
Available online 24 June 2017
trol over one's own sexuality). Undergraduate women (N = 61) downloaded the ten most recent photographs of
Keywords:
themselves posted on Instagram and/or Facebook and completed a variety of survey measures. Systematic coding
Social media of the resulting 1060 photos revealed that rates of self-sexualization were relatively low, though participants
Sexualization posted more sexualized photos to Instagram than to Facebook. Wanting attention on social media was the stron-
Objectification gest predictor of posting self-sexualized photos, and indeed, more sexualized photos garnered more likes on
Women Instagram than less sexualized photos, and women who post more sexualized photos tend to get more likes in
general and more friends/followers on both Instagram and Facebook. Interestingly, posting self-sexualizing
photos was not associated with actual sexual agency in offline encounters. These findings suggest the importance
of cultural differences between platforms and of understanding women's desire for attention on social media.
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The sexualization of women in Western media is pervasive and has
widespread consequences, including poorer body image among
women, greater support of sexist beliefs, and more tolerance toward sex-
ual violence against women (Ward, 2016). It also increases self-objectifi-
cation, wherein women see themselves from a third-person perspective,
value their bodies primarily for how they look, and present themselves in
a sexualized manner as objects to be used (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997).
Social media provides a new arena to investigate how women sexualize
themselves via user-generated content, such as the photos posted on
sites like Instagram and Facebook. Public concern has been repeatedly
expressed regarding the posting of sexualized photographs by young
women; for example, in early 2016 journalist Nancy Jo Sales published
a book about girls' sexualized behavior online that immediately made
it to the New York Times Best Seller list, and online articles about the
book garnered hundreds of concerned comments (e.g., NPR, 2016).
However, because of the relative novelty of social media, little research
has been published that explores this phenomenon. The present study
is a systematic analysis of the degree of sexualization in photographs
posted by young women on Instagram and Facebook, the responses (in
☆ Special thanks to Larissa Barbosa and Nicole Hathaway for assisting with the data
collection and to Heather Thompson for assisting with the coding of the photographs.
⁎ Corresponding author at: Department of Psychology, Bridgewater State University,
337 Hart Hall, 90 Burrill Avenue, Bridgewater, MA 02325, United States.
E-mail address: lramsey@bridgew.edu (L.R. Ramsey).
terms of “likes”) to those photographs, and the individual differences as-
sociated with posting them.
The scant previous research on self-sexualization (i.e., intentionally en-
gaging in activities to appear more sexually appealing; Smolak, Murnen, &
Myers, 2014) on social media leads to mixed conclusions. After
conducting focus groups with undergraduate students about MySpace,
Manago, Graham, Greenfield, and Salimkhan (2008) concluded that the
culture of objectification does pressure young women to post sexualized
photos (e.g., photos where women attempt to seem sexy, wear less cloth-
ing, etc.) of themselves online, in part because they are likely to receive
positive comments on sexualized photos. Indeed, Kapidzic and Herring
(2015) found that about half of the teenage girls in their study had profile
photos on a popular chat site where they were wearing revealing clothing
or were only partially dressed. On the other hand, an analysis of profile
photos on MySpace revealed relatively low rates of self-sexualization
(Hall, West, & McIntyre, 2012), as did an analysis of Facebook profile
photos (Ruckel & Hill, 2017). Furthermore, newer social media sites
have since emerged; for example, Instagram has a singular emphasis on
photo sharing and therefore may promote more self-sexualization.
Regardless of how common it is to post sexualized photos on social
media, doing so may come with costs. One experiment found that a
young woman with a sexualized profile photograph on Facebook was
viewed as less attractive and less competent by other young women
compared to when she had a nonsexualized profile photograph
(Daniels & Zurbriggen, 2016). Furthermore, focus groups with young
men found that they were more likely to expect sexual relations from

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2017.06.022
0191-8869/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
86 L.R. Ramsey, A.L. Horan / Personality and Individual Differences 133 (2018) 85–90
a woman who had posted sexualized photos on Facebook, though they
were less interested in pursuing a relationship with her (Moreno,
Swanson, Royer, & Roberts, 2011).
Given these potentially negative consequences, it is important to un-
derstand women's motivations behind posting self-sexualized photos.
Sales' (2016) interviews with girls and young women revealed that a
desire for attention may be the motivation. Attention is manifested
through “likes” and comments on social media, and one recent study
has found that these are particularly potent forms of social feedback.
Using fMRI methodology, adolescents who viewed photos with a lot of
“likes” showed greater activity in the regions of the brain associated
with reward processing and attention (Sherman, Payton, Hernandez,
Greenfield, & Dapretto, 2016). Thus, receiving more “likes” could be a
particularly powerful motivator for social media behavior.
Sexualized photos on social media may be particularly likely to gar-
ner positive social feedback because of our culture of objectification of
women, wherein women are frequently portrayed as objects and their
self-worth is depicted through their appearance (Fredrickson &
Roberts, 1997; Moradi & Huang, 2008). These images are pervasive
throughout the media (e.g., Conley & Ramsey, 2011), which could en-
courage women to post similar photos of themselves. Indeed, one exper-
iment found that women tended to self-objectify when writing a self-
description for an online profile that would be viewed by others, but
only when they had first been primed with sexually objectifying stimuli
(deVries & Peter, 2013). Another study found that women with higher
rates of self-objectification and those who staked their self-worth in
their appearance were more likely to post sexualized Facebook profile
photographs (Ruckel & Hill, 2017). These studies suggest that the culture
of objectification may translate to social media.
Self-objectification has been linked to many negative consequences,
such as shame, depression, anxiety, eating disorders, self-harm, sexual
dysfunction, reduced sexual agency, and increased sexual victimization
(Moradi & Huang, 2008; Ramsey & Hoyt, 2015). Despite these negative
consequences, some women seem to enjoy sexualization, in part because
it gives them a sense of empowerment (Erchull & Liss, 2013; Liss, Erchull,
& Ramsey, 2011). For example, Moor (2010) found that women were
motivated to wear revealing clothing because they wanted to feel attrac-
tive and desired, even though they did not want to signal interest in sex.
Although images of women actively encouraging sexualized attention
may seem empowering, some researchers believe they may simply rep-
resent another form of social control over women and their sexuality
(Gill, 2008). Indeed, enjoying sexualization is associated with increased
self-objectification and objectification from others (Liss et al., 2011;
Ramsey, Marotta, & Hoyt, 2017), which motivates researchers to better
understand the phenomenon of self-sexualization.
The present study explores four primary research questions.
First, to what extent do young women post self-sexualized photos
on Instagram and Facebook? Second, do self-sexualized photos on
social media garner positive feedback in the form of “likes” and
friends/followers? Third, what individual differences predict which
women post self-sexualized photos on social media? We examined a
number of different individual differences, including body surveillance
(i.e., taking a third-person perspective of your own body, which is a
symptom of self-objectification; McKinley & Hyde, 1996), self-objectifi-
cation, enjoying sexualization, viewing sex as a source of power, staking
one's self-worth in likes/comments on social media, and desiring atten-
tion on social media. Finally, to what extent does posting self-sexualized
photos on social media actually relate to feelings of sexual agency (i.e.,
control over one's own sexuality)?
1. Method
1.1. Participants
Participants (N = 61; Mage = 19.23, SD = 1.15) were recruited
through a psychology department participant pool. The criteria for
enrollment in this study were that participants must be female,
18 years or older, and have a Facebook and/or Instagram account.
Most participants were White (79%), but 8% were Latina, 5% were Afri-
can American, 3% were Asian/Asian American, 3% were multiracial,
and 2% identified as something other than the categories listed. Most
participants identified as middle class (66%), though 20% were working
class, 13% were upper-middle class, and 2% were in poverty. Most par-
ticipants were heterosexual (87%), though 7% were bisexual, 2% were
lesbian, and 5% preferred not to disclose.
The sample size was determined by the logistics of the project (e.g.,
timing of the project and availability of participants). A sensitivity anal-
ysis using G⁎Power 3.1 (Faul, Erdfelder, Buchner, & Lang, 2009) revealed
that this sample size allows us to detect statistical significance with 80%
power for bivariate correlations greater than or equal to 0.31. Thus, me-
dium- and large-sized effects could be detected in this study.
1.2. Procedure
After providing consent, participants were asked to log into their so-
cial media accounts (Instagram and/or Facebook). Once logged in, the
participant informed the researcher how many friends/followers they
had on each site. Next, participants were given an instruction sheet on
how to take screenshots of the ten most recent photos posted of them-
selves. To be selected, the photo had to (1) include the participant and
(2) have been uploaded to the social media account by the participant
herself. Once the participants had saved the screenshots to the computer,
they were moved to another computer where they completed the survey
measures via Qualtrics. In the meantime, the researcher removed any
possible information that can be linked back to the participant, such as
their username, as well as erased any other person in the photo besides
the participant, in order to comply with IRB restrictions. The researcher
also recorded how many “likes” each photo had.
1.3. Survey measures
1.3.1. Body surveillance
To assess the extent to which women take a third-person perspective
of their own bodies, participants completed the surveillance subscale of
the Objectified Body Consciousness Scale (McKinley & Hyde, 1996). Par-
ticipants responded to 8 items such as “during the day, I think about how
I look many times” (α = 0.82) on a scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 6
(strongly agree).
1.3.2. Self-objectification
To assess self-objectification, participants completed the Self-Objecti-
fication Questionnaire (Noll & Fredrickson, 1998). Participants ranked 10
attributes according to their impact on their personal self-concept. This
measure compared how they rank attributes pertaining to how their
bodies look (e.g., “weight”) vs. how their bodies function (e.g., “health”).
Responses ranged from 1 (being most important) to 10 (being least
important).
1.3.3. Enjoyment of sexualization
To assess the extent to which women enjoy being sexualized by men,
participants completed the Enjoyment of Sexualization Scale (Liss et al.,
2011). This was an 8-item scale with statements such as “I want men
to look at me” (α = 0.84). Responses ranged from 1 (strongly disagree)
to 6 (strongly agree).
1.3.4. Sex as a source of power
Participants completed the Sex is Power scale (Erchull & Liss, 2013),
which is a 13-item scale that assessed the extent to which women be-
lieve that they gain power over men through their sexuality. Statements
included “If a man is attracted to me, I can usually get him to do what I
want him to do” (α = 0.89). Responses ranged from 1 (strongly dis-
agree) to 6 (strongly agree).
 L.R. Ramsey, A.L. Horan / Personality and Individual Differences 133 (2018) 85–90
1.3.5. Sexual agency
To assess sexual agency, participants completed the Sexual Self-Effi-
cacy Scale for Women (Bailes et al., 1989), which consists of 18 items
that assess how confident the participant feels in five aspects of sexual
interactions, including desire (e.g., “Feel sexual desire for the partner;”
α = 0.96), affection (e.g., “Be interested in sex,” α = 0.87), communica-
tion (e.g., “Ask the partner to provide the type and amount of sexual
stimulation requested,” α = 0.85), body acceptance (e.g., “Feel comfort-
able being nude with the partner,” α = 0.89), and refusal (e.g., “Refuse a
sexual advance by the partner,” α = 0.80). Participants ranked their con-
fidence with which they can do the activities listed on a scale from 2
(quite uncertain) to 11 (quite certain). If they thought they were unable
to do the activity then they chose 1.
1.3.6. Contingencies of self-worth for social media
To assess the extent to which social media plays a role in one's self-
esteem, the contingencies of Self-Worth-Relationships measure
(Sanchez & Kwang, 2007) was modified by replacing relationship refer-
ences such as “significant other” to social media references such as
“likes and comments on a picture of myself on social media.” This 4-
item subscale contained items such as “I feel worthwhile when I have
a picture of myself on social media with multiple ‘likes’ and ‘comments’”
(α = 0.87). Responses ranged from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly
agree).
1.3.7. Desire for attention on social media
Four items were created to assess participants' desire for attention on
social media (“I post photos on social media to bring attention to myself;”
“I post photos on social media to get people to like me;” “I take photos
down from social media if they do not get a lot of ‘likes;’” “I post many
photos to get more people to friend and/or follow me on social
media”). Responses ranged from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly
agree), and they were averaged across the four items because satisfacto-
ry reliability was established (α = 0.80).
1.3.8. Demographics
Participants reported their demographics at the beginning of the sur-
vey. Taking into account sexual orientation, two of the measures, the En-
joyment of Sexualization scale and the Sex is power scale, incorporate
statements that specifically relate to being heterosexual, so when partic-
ipants indicated they were lesbian (n = 1), they received slightly modi-
fied versions of these scales.
1.4. Coding procedure
Of the 61 participants, 13 only had Instagram, 3 only had Facebook,
and 45 had both accounts, resulting in a total of 1060 photographs. A re-
vised version of the coding scheme used by Ruckel and Hill (2017),
which was based on a scheme by Hatton and Trautner (2011), was
used to determine the degree of sexualization in each photograph. The
scale consists of a point system with 14 categories, including clothing/
nudity, breast/chest, buttocks, genitals, legs/thighs, mouth, eyes, head
v. body shot, pose, self-taken photo, sex act, sexual role play, touch,
and hair. See Supplemental materials for full coding scheme. Scores
for each category were summed to create a sexualization score for
each photograph. The highest scores across all categories sums to
27, though given that some categories are mutually exclusive (e.g.,
it is difficult to have both breasts and buttocks as the focal point of
a photograph), a more realistic upper limit for the coding scheme is
23.
After a norming session on 10 practice photos, two researchers coded
the photos to establish inter-rater reliability. After initial coding, 74% of
the scores were within 3 points from each other. After discussion on
the photos that varied by 4 or more points, those photos were recoded
and then 98.2% of the sexualization scores were within 3 points from
each other. The two researchers' scores were averaged for use in the
87
analyses of individual photographs, and the scores from all 10 photos
for each participant were averaged to create a total sexualization score
for each platform (Instagram and Facebook).
2. Results
To begin analyses, we ran descriptive statistics for all variables (see
Table 1). Notably, there were relatively low rates of sexualization in
photos posted on social media; out of a possible score of 23, the mean
scores were 4.86 and 4.24 on Instagram and Facebook, respectively. A
paired samples t-test conducted for the participants who had both
Facebook and Instagram profiles (n = 45) showed that photos on
Instagram (M = 4.71, SD = 1.44) were more sexualized than those on
Facebook (M = 4.23, SD = 1.28), t(44) = 2.95, p = 0.01.
Correlations explored women's motivations for posting sexualized
photos on social media (see Table 2). Correlations revealed that the de-
gree of sexualization in photos on Instagram was positively correlated
with self-objectification, and sexualization in photos on both Instagram
and Facebook were positively correlated with a desire for attention on
social media. Interestingly, desiring attention on social media was also
positively correlated with surveillance (marginally), self-objectification,
enjoyment of sexualization, and viewing sex as a source of power. Sim-
ilarly, staking one's self-worth in receiving “likes” and comments on so-
cial media was also positively correlated with surveillance, enjoyment
of sexualization, and viewing sex as a source of power.
To further understand women's motivations for posting sexual-
ized photos, two multiple regression analyses were conducted to
see which of the survey variables predicted posting sexualized
photos on Instagram and Facebook. The predictors explained 26% of
the variance for sexualization in Instagram photos, F(6,51) = 2.94,
p = 0.02, and 23% of the variance for sexualization in Facebook
photos, F(6,47) = 2.05, p = 0.08. Desire for attention on social
media emerged as the single strongest predictor in both regressions
(see Table 3).
Because desire for attention was such a strong predictor of
sexualization on social media, we next ran a series of analyses to assess
“likes” and friends/followers, as these are the behavioral manifestations
of attention on social media (see Table 4). For participants who had both
Instagram and Facebook accounts (n = 45), participants received more
“likes” on their Instagram photos (M = 60.45, SD = 48.30) than their
Facebook photos (M = 17.79, SD = 18.01), t(44) = 5.62, p b 0.001,
even though they had more friends/followers on Facebook (M =
772.66, SD = 392.96) than on Instagram (M = 538.77, SD = 402.52),
t(43) = − 4.15, p b 0.001. Participants who posted more sexualized
photos on Instagram were more likely to have a higher number of aver-
age likes, r = 0.52, p b 0.001, and followers, r = 0.48, p b 0.001. The same
was true for Facebook as well (likes: r = 0.48, p b 0.001; friends: r =
0.34, p = 0.02). Finally, to see if the more sexualized photos were the
ones getting the likes, we computed a correlation between the
sexualization scores and the number of likes across the 10 photos for
each participant on each platform. The average correlation for
Instagram (M = 0.26, SD = 0.33) was significantly different from 0,
t(54) = 5.70, p b 0.001, indicating that more sexualized photos are
more likely to receive likes than less sexualized photos. The average cor-
relation for Facebook (M = 0.07, SD = 0.36) was not significantly differ-
ent from 0, t(44) = 1.32, p = 0.19.
Finally, to test whether posting sexualized photos on social media ac-
tually indicated that women have more control over their sexuality, cor-
relations were run between the sexualization scores and the measures of
sexual agency. Results showed that posting sexualized photos on
Instagram was negatively related to being able to communicate about
sex, r = −0.28, p = 0.04, and no other correlations were statistically sig-
nificant (though posting sexualized photos on Facebook was marginally
related to body acceptance, r = 0.27, p = 0.07; all other correlations,
−0.18 N rs b 0.04, ps N 0.17).
88 L.R. Ramsey, A.L. Horan / Personality and Individual Differences 133 (2018) 85–90

Table 1
Descriptive statistics.

N Possible range Actual range M SD

Social media variables

Sexualization in Instagram photos 58 0–23 2–8.85 4.86 1.49
Sexualization in Facebook photos 48 0–23 1.85–7.85 4.24 1.26
Average number of likes for Instagram photos 57 n/a 2.20–274.50 63.67 52.20
Average number of likes for Facebook photos 49 n/a 0.60–74.50 17.76 18.07
Number of Instagram followers 57 n/a 44–2087 523.56 399.93
Number of Facebook friends 48 n/a 81–1930 773.04 382.80
Sexuality survey measures
Body surveillance 61 1–6 1.75–5.38 3.73 0.86
Self-objectification 61 −5–5 −5.00–5.00 −1.33 2.62
Enjoyment of sexualization 60 1–6 1.00–5.13 3.49 0.87
Sex is power 60 1–6 1.00–4.92 2.67 0.83
Sexual agency subscales
Desire 61 1–11 1–11 8.33 2.74
Affection 61 1–11 1–11 8.70 2.54
Communication 61 1–11 1–11 7.93 2.44
Acceptance 61 1–11 1–11 6.79 3.06
Refusal 61 1–11 1–11 8.55 2.82
Social media survey measures
Contingencies of self-worth: social media 61 1–7 1.00–6.00 3.50 1.33
Desire for attention on social media 61 1–7 1.00–5.50 2.43 1.23

3. Discussion
Despite public concerns regarding self-sexualization on social media,
the findings from this study of over a thousand photographs suggest
young women do not post many sexualized photographs of themselves
on social media, echoing previous research (e.g., Hall et al., 2012). It
may be that public outcry is a result of the availability heuristic – i.e., sex-
ualized photos are more memorable and more likely to be discussed and
thus overestimated in the public's mind. It could also be that even though
not many are posted, the consequences of posting a very sexualized
photo are great enough to warrant concern (e.g., Daniels & Zurbriggen,
2016).
Interestingly, behavior seems to vary by platform, as more sexualized
photos were posted to Instagram than Facebook. Findings suggest that
women who want attention on social media are more likely to post sex-
ualized photos, and it appears that this strategy works, as women who
post more sexualized photos are more likely to have more friends/fol-
lowers and get more likes in general than those who do not. However,
only on Instagram are sexualized photographs receiving more likes
than non-sexualized photographs. In other words, on both platforms
women who post more sexualized photos are more likely to receive
more likes on any of their photos, but on Instagram the sexualized
photos receive more likes than the non-sexualized photos, whereas on
Facebook there is no relationship between the sexualization of the indi-
vidual photograph and the number of likes it receives. These findings
suggest that Instagram is a more sexualized online environment than
Facebook. Future research on social media should therefore be sensitive
to the culture of specific platforms, as well as expand the present re-
search to additional platforms (e.g., Snapchat, etc.). Future research
could also explore why one platform may be more sexualized than an-
other; for example, friends on Facebook may be more likely to include
older friends and family members, whereas older people are less likely
to have Instagram accounts than younger people (e.g., Marketing
Charts, 2013). Additionally, Instagram may just have different norms
that compel self-sexualization, perhaps due to its photo-centric design
or its high-profile celebrity users. Perceptions of the audience and
other users on a particular platform may influence its culture. Investigat-
ing participants' intent regarding the posting of specific photos to each
platform could be quite enlightening as well.
Desiring attention on social media was the clearest individual differ-
ence associated with posting sexualized photos. Interestingly, the aver-
age score on that measure was below the midpoint of the scale, perhaps
because only a subset of young women has a strong desire for attention
on social media, or perhaps because admitting a desire for attention
triggered social desirability concerns in the self-report measure. Regard-
less, this variable is worthy of further study, as journalistic endeavors
have pointed to the strong desire for attention on social media as well
(Sales, 2016). To that end, the average score for the measure of how im-
portant social media is to their self-worth was around the midpoint,
suggesting that some young women do really care about the feedback
they receive on social media via likes and comments. This attempt to
gain attention and self-worth by posting sexualized photos on social
media may be indicative of the cultural pressures that women face re-
garding their appearance and sexuality, which may distract women
from pursuing other avenues for positive feedback (e.g., intellectual en-
deavors). Indeed, while the measures of self-objectification and sexual
empowerment were not significantly related to posting sexualized
photos, they were generally associated with desiring attention on social

Table 2
Correlations among survey measures and sexualization in photos on social media.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

1. Sexualization in Instagram photos –

2. Sexualization in Facebook photos 0.69⁎⁎ –
3. Body surveillance 0.04 −0.08 –
4. Self-objectification 0.27⁎ −0.04 0.41⁎⁎ –
5. Enjoyment of sexualization 0.17 0.15 0.44⁎⁎ 0.21 –
6. Sex as a source of power 0.11 −0.02 0.33⁎⁎ 0.28⁎ 0.45⁎⁎ –
7. Contingencies of self-worth for social media 0.11 0.09 0.39⁎⁎ 0.11 0.43⁎⁎ 0.33⁎⁎ –
8. Desire for attention on social media 0.42⁎⁎ 0.39⁎⁎ 0.21† 0.34⁎⁎ 0.52⁎⁎ 0.54⁎⁎ 0.56⁎⁎
†
p ≤ 0.10.
⁎ p ≤ 0.05.
⁎⁎ p ≤ 0.01.
 L.R. Ramsey, A.L. Horan / Personality and Individual Differences 133 (2018) 85–90 89

Table 3
Regression analyses predicting sexualization in photos on social media.

Sexualization in Instagram photos Sexualization in Facebook photos

Predictors B SE β p B SE β p

Body surveillance −0.02 0.27 −0.01 0.95 0.06 0.26 0.04 0.82
Self-objectification 0.10 0.08 0.18 0.22 −0.09 0.09 −0.17 0.32
Enjoyment of sexualization 0.05 0.27 0.03 0.84 0.01 0.25 0.01 0.96
Sex as a source of power −0.47 0.29 −0.26 0.11 −0.32 0.24 −0.21 0.20
Contingencies of self-worth for social media −0.16 0.18 −0.15 0.37 −0.19 0.18 −0.19 0.28
Desire for attention on social media 0.70 0.22 0.58 0.003 0.64 0.21 0.61 0.004

Note. Standardized regression coefficients for two separate multiple regression analyses.

media and staking one's self-worth in social media. Therefore, it seems
that individual differences regarding objectification and feelings of sex-
ual empowerment are not totally divorced from attitudes and behaviors
on social media, and thus warrant future study.
Interestingly, the findings from this study do not support the conclu-
sion that posting sexualized photos is a sign of sexual agency. In fact, it
seems as though posting sexualized photos is associated with less confi-
dence in the ability to communicate during a sexual encounter. Because
we should be cautious when interpreting null findings, future research
should replicate these findings and further explore how online sexual
behavior may or may not be representative of an individual's attitudes
and behaviors during an offline sexual encounter.
The biggest limitation of this research is the sample. The participants
consisted of 61 young women, with an average age of 19 who needed to
partake in research for a course requirement. Collecting a larger and
more diverse (especially in terms of age, race, and class) sample in future
research will increase the ability to reliably detect small effects as well as
increase the generalizability of the findings. For example, including
women from a variety of age groups might show generational or age dif-
ferences in self-sexualization on social media. Also, due to IRB restric-
tions, we were not permitted to directly access the participants' social
media profiles and instead had to rely on participants saving screenshots
for use in the study, which introduces the possibility of bias if partici-
pants did not strictly follow the instructions of the researchers. Partici-
pants may have skipped photos they believed to be inappropriate for
the researcher to view, which provides an alternative explanation to
the low rates of sexualization in the photos. However, the researcher
was in the room throughout the entire procedure and witnessed no ev-
idence that participants were not following instructions. Participants
first saved screenshots of their social media photos and then completed
the measures; that way the sexualization measures could not prime the
participants with the topic of the study, which could have biased which
photographs they included. However, having the participants save the
photos first may have primed their responses to the survey measures.
Future research could use counterbalancing to see the extent to which
the order of the procedure impacted the findings. Another limitation to
this study may be the subjective nature of sexualization. The methodol-
ogy used here was an attempt to use a more objective coding scheme by
looking for specific body parts, poses, etc., but this approach may miss
important context in the photographs that could offer deeper insight
into the phenomenon of self-sexualization on social media. Future
Table 4
Correlations among social media variables.
1. 2. 3. 4.
1. Sexualization in Instagram photos – and exploration of the enjoyment of sexualization scale. Personality and Social
2. Sexualization in Facebook photos 0.69⁎⁎ – Psychology Bulletin, 37(1), 55–68. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0146167210386119.
3. Likes for Instagram photos 0.52⁎⁎ 0.29† – Manago, A. M., Graham, M. B., Greenfield, P. M., & Salimkhan, G. (2008). Self-presentation
4. Likes for Facebook photos 0.24† 0.48⁎⁎ 0.03 – and gender on MySpace. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 29, 446–458.
5. Number of Instagram followers 0.48⁎⁎ 0.32⁎ 0.83⁎⁎ 0.09
6. Number of Facebook friends 0.25† 0.34⁎ 0.48⁎⁎ 0.33⁎
†
p ≤ 0.10.
⁎ p ≤ 0.05.
⁎⁎ p ≤ 0.01.
research may compare various methodologies to guide future work in
this area.
4. Conclusion
The sexualization of women throughout the media is pervasive, and
social media provides a new context for the study of women's self-
sexualization. Contrary to much public discourse, rates of self-
sexualization on social media appear to be low, though they are higher
on Instagram than Facebook. Young women appear to post sexualized
photos of themselves on social media because they desire attention,
which is also associated with self-objectification and feelings of sexual
empowerment. Posting sexualized photos is associated with getting
more “likes” and friends/followers, and so understanding women's de-
sire for attention and the self-worth derived from social media should
be a focus of future research.
Appendix A. Supplementary materials
The coding scheme utilized in this study can be found online at
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2017.06.022.
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