Sexual cues emanating from the Anchorette chair : implications for perceived professionalism, fitness for beat, and memory for news

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Date

Authors

Grabe, Maria Elizabeth
Samson, Lelia

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Sage

Abstract

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.

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Keywords

Professionalism, Waist-to-hip-ratio, Female anchor

Sustainable Development Goals

Citation

Grabe, ME & Samson, L 2010, 'Sexual cues emanating from the Anchorette chair : implications for perceived professionalism, fitness for beat, and memory for news', Communication Research, vol. 38, no. 94, pp. 471-496.