How Sexually Objectifying Others Undermines Connection and Collaboration.

Abstract

Sexual objectification is widely recognized as a driver of gender inequality, harming women by reducing them to bodies and undermining their agency. Yet psychological science has rarely asked a consequential question: Does sexual objectification also harm the individuals who objectify? In this theoretical article, we reframe objectification as not only oppressive but also self-undermining. Drawing from social, cognitive, organizational, and relationship science, we argue that objectifying others can compromise the capacity to form close relationships, collaborate effectively, and function well in social and professional life. These costs are traced to four mechanisms-cognitive load, face-body attentional trade-off, goal-based perception, and dehumanization. These mechanisms are proposed to operate as parallel, mutually reinforcing pathways that converge on social miscalibration. The framework further motivates a methodological agenda for studying objectification as a dynamic, dyadic process embedded in ongoing interaction. By foregrounding the objectifiers' costs, we extend existing theories and highlight objectification as a mode of social perception that degrades the very relationships and institutions on which objectifiers rely. Identifying these costs offers an additional reason to reduce objectification, one that complements rather than replaces concern for the harms it inflicts on targets.