Picturing Sexual Agency: A Visual Content Analysis of Adults’ Sexual Stereotypes of Young Women

In 2015, Bay-Cheng proposed that sexual stereotypes of young women had evolved into four types: sexually abstinent and in-control Virgins ; sexually experienced and in-control Agents ; sexually experienced and out-of-control Sluts ; and sexually abstinent and out-of-control Losers. Bay-Cheng also speculated that perceptions of the four types would align with the Stereotype Content Model’s (Fiske et al., 2002 ) dimensions of competence-incompetence and warmth-coolness. We tested this through a fine-grained visual content analysis of 833 images selected by 175 participants (aged 19–64) to represent the four sexual types. We coded each image’s composition (e.g., appearance, pose, attire, setting, race) for indicators of the depicted woman’s competence, incompetence, warmth, and coolness. Analyses indicated that images representing both Virgins and Agents included more visual markers of competence and fewer markers of incompetence than Sluts and Losers ; however, Agents were distinct from Virgins in having significantly more markers of coolness. Images of Sluts had more visual markers of coolness than Virgins and Losers , but significantly fewer markers of warmth than Virgins and Agents . Images of Losers were distinct in displaying the least competence and the most incompetence compared to the other sexual types. In a separate analysis of race, Losers were also disproportionately represented by Asian Pacific Islander Desi American women whereas Black women and women of mixed or ambiguous race were disproportionately selected as Agents. Findings indicate that although sanctions against sexually active young women (i.e., Agents and Sluts ) may be receding, young women who are involuntarily abstinent may be vulnerable to ridicule.