It's probably been going on since the beginning of time--men ogling and cat-calling women. Ever happened to you? While some women consider it a compliment, others say it makes them feel gross, and objectifies women (I'm in the latter camp). And, just wait until you hear what researchers say such unwanted attention from men actually does to us--they studied it!
Do you deal with cat calls and ogling from guys? Ugh, right? (You have to read this funny thing that happened to me, and how I got sweet (and unexpected) revenge when a guy hassled me during a jog many months ago!) Well, researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln say that this unwanted attention may produce a weird outcome for women.
In fact, according to their recent research, an objectifying gaze or comment from a guy may set off a vicious cognitive cycle that can actually affect the way we function. In the study, women performed significantly worse on math problems after being ogled. And, here's an even weirder thing: Despite the negative attention, women tended to be motivated to seek out and interact with the person who looked them over, report the researchers.
"The objectifying gaze may lead to a vicious cycle in which women underperform in their work, giving people the impression that their looks are more important than what they do," said Sarah Gervais, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln assistant professor of psychology and the study's lead author. "Unfortunately, this cycle may persist if women continue to interact with the people who led them to underperform in the first place."
Kind of disturbing, isn't it?
Tell me, how do you react to this sort of attention from guys?
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