In times of Instagram, OnlyFans and Co., freedom of movement hardly knows any limits. This is also the case with online dating portals like Tinder. Every few match suggestions, a topless picture, a bikini picture, a bathing suit picture or even a bare bottom will appear. A study has now found that these sexualized images are anything but beneficial for dating.
The study was conducted by psychologists from the US universities of Arizona and Santa Barbara in California. They asked 262 straight college students to look at a fictitious dating site and rate each member. The profile descriptions were all kept neutral, nothing obscene or particularly out of the ordinary, but there were differences in the photos. About half of the profiles were filled with revealing photos, the other half remained clothed.
The result was clear: people who resorted to sexualized images in their dating profile were classified as unsympathetic and, even more surprisingly, as more incompetent by the protagonists. Viewers also immediately mentally ruled out the profile for a long-term relationship.
“Our results found that sexualized dating profiles cause social deficits (e.g., less perceived task competence, less likeability, and less social attractiveness), and the revealing profiles are also more likely to be subjected to cyber dating sexual abuse than theirs non-sexualized counterparts,” the researchers wrote.
The study also found that male profiles with nude photos performed the worst. Women apparently exclude a half-naked man as a marriage candidate on a dating portal. The US researchers also found that attractiveness and ethnicity are the most important factors in determining whether people would swipe left or right. These two characteristics turned out to be almost twice as important compared to all other factors. Other individual items such as personality and hobbies were rather poor indicators of how someone would choose. The average right swipe time was just under a second. However, if a swiper didn’t like someone, that time would be even shorter, at around half a second.
Quellen: Daily Mail, Study The Costs of Sexualization
