The Effects of Gender and Music Video Imagery on Sexual Attitudes

Abstract

This study examined the influence of gender and exposure to gender-stereo-typed music video imagery on sexual attitudes (adversarial sexual beliefs, acceptance of rape myths, acceptance of interpersonal violence, and gender role stereotyping). A group of 44 U.S. college students were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 groups that viewed either a video portraying stereotyped sexual imagery or a video that excluded all sexual images. Exposure to traditional sexual imagery had a significant main effect on attitudes about adversarial sexual relationships, and gender had main effects on 3 of 4 sexual attitudes. There was some evidence of an interaction between gender and exposure to traditional sexual imagery on the acceptance of interpersonal violence.