Empirical investigations demonstrate similar cognitive processing patterns for objects and sexualized women. However, sexual objectification (SO) extends beyond sexualized women. To explore SO, we apply eye-tracking technique in conjunction with local/global and body-inversion paradigms. Ninety-four college students participated in the study. The visual gaze on non-sexualized South-Asian wo(men) images and the response time in Navon task post-priming with upright and inverted images is analyzed. Results indicate that participants of both genders gaze objectify females. Interestingly, male images are also gaze objectified. A comparison of attention allocation to face versus sexual body parts in upright versus inverted female images shows a reduced face-to-body ratio for the latter orientation, indicating a gender-specific attention shift. Combining the two SO theories, the study objectively substantiates the claim that women undergo objectification in even in non-sexual attire.

In this study, we investigate the priming effect of camera-induced objectifying-gaze, operationalised via sexualised music video(MV), on university students when looking at target female images in traditional (saree, salwar) and western (shirt-pant, short-dress) attires in the Indian demographics. We showed participants two videos where female leads wore unrevealing Indian attire (saree) and revealing western clothing in sexualised and traditional MVs respectively. We quantified gaze as fixation-duration and visit-count (revisit frequency) metrics. Our findings report that there is a priming effect of sexualised media. Female images in all attires are equally objectified and body-biased gaze is more pronounced in sexualised MV priming, short-dress is more objectified in traditional MV priming, and saree is less objectified overall, which confirms the social stereotypes on attire and respectability — traditionally clad (vs. non-traditional) women are seen as more moral and worthy of respect and protection compared to women in hypersexualized and objectified roles.