Hyderabad: Regardless of what women wear, be it modest clothing or a short dress, women are subjected to the male gaze and sexual objectification, revealed a study conducted by IIIT Hyderabad.
The study, funded by the department of science and technology’s (DST) cognitive science research initiative, presented at the cognitive science society’s 2024 conference in Rotterdam, reveals that women experience objectification even when dressed in non-sexualized attire.
The paper titled “Objectifying Gaze: An Empirical Study With Non-Sexualized Images,” by Ayushi Agrawal and Srija Bhupathiraju, under the guidance of Prof Kavita Vemuri from the cognitive science lab at IIIT-H, examined visual gaze patterns using eye-tracking technology and cognitive science theories.
The study found that women, even in non-sexualized attire, are subject to objectifying gazes. “Regardless of their clothing, women face intrusive gazes in public or any space,” said Professor Vemuri.
A key difference between Western and Indian contexts was noted: While Western studies showed a focus on sexual body parts, the IIIT-H study observed that Indian participants focused on both sexual body parts and the face. “Facial features still hold significant importance in the Indian context, where social cues and attractiveness are evaluated through the face,” Prof Vemuri explained.
Furthermore, the study found that both men and women objectify women. For women, this could be due to internalized socio-cultural norms or social evaluation. For men, the gaze reduces women to mere objects of desire. The study also revealed that men often self-objectify.
Follow on Twitter | Posted by Tamreen Sultana | 
