Sexual Cues Emanating From the Anchorette Chair: Implications for Perceived Professionalism, Fitness...

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Title: Sexual Cues Emanating From the Anchorette Chair: Implications for Perceived Professionalism, Fitness for Beat, and Memory for News;
Authors and Corporations: Grabe, Maria Elizabeth, Samson, Lelia
In: Communication Research, 38, 2011, 4, p. 471-496
published:
SAGE Publications
Media Type: Article, E-Article

Not logged in

further information
Physical Description: 471-496
ISSN: 0093-6502
1552-3810
DOI: 10.1177/0093650210384986
published in: Communication Research
Language: English
Subjects:
Collection: SAGE Publications (CrossRef)
Table of Contents

<jats:p> The experimental study reported here employed one of the most compelling visual cues of female sexual attractiveness (low waist-to-hip ratio) to test the influence of news anchor sexualization on audience evaluations of her as a professional and their memory for the news that she presents. Male participants saw the sexualized version of the anchor as less suited for war and political reporting. They also encoded less news information presented by the sexualized than her unsexualized version. Conclusions were drawn in line with evolutionary psychology expectations of men’s cognitive susceptibility to visual sex cues. Women participants, on the other hand, did not vary across conditions in their assessments of the anchor’s competence to report on war and political news. Moreover, they encoded more news information presented by the sexualized than unsexualized anchor condition. </jats:p>