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After analyzing more than 1,000 images of men and women on Rolling Stone covers over the course of 43 years, researchers at the University at Buffalo found that representations of both women and men have become more sexualized over time, and that women continue to be more frequently sexualized than men. Their most striking finding, however, was the change in how intensely sexualized images of women—but not men—have become.

They developed a “scale of sexualization.” An image was given “points” for being sexualized if, for example, the subject’s lips were parted or his/her tongue was showing, the subject was only partially clad or naked, or the text describing the subject used explicitly sexual language.

In the 1960s, 11 percent of men and 44 percent of women on the covers of Rolling Stone were sexualized. In the 2000s, 17 percent of men were sexualized (an increase of 55 percent from the 1960s), and 83 percent of women were sexualized (an increase of 89 percent), a new study shows. Among those images that were sexualized, 2 percent of men and 61 percent of women were hypersexualized.

“We chose Rolling Stone,” explains study co-author Erin Hatton, assistant professor of sociology at the University at Buffalo, “because it is a well-established, pop-culture media outlet. It is not explicitly about sex or relationships; foremost it is about music. But it also covers politics, film, television, and current events, and so offers a useful window into how women and men are portrayed generally in popular culture.”

Full story at Futurity.

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Photo credit: University at Buffalo