Why Men Stare at Women According to Science

At last science reveals the secret why men stare at women.

Is men feel women are Objects?

IT'S true: Women are objects - at least when it comes to the way men look at them.

And women are equal offenders, according to a study published in the European Journal of Social Psychology. Sarah Gervais, assistant professor and lead author of the study, said the brains of men and women both look at men as a "whole person".

"We don’t break people down to their parts, except when it comes to women, which is really striking. Women were perceived in the same ways that objects are viewed," she said.

"It could be related to different motives. Men might be doing it because they're interested in potential mates, while women may do it more of a comparison with themselves.

"What we do know is they're both doing it."

BODY IMAGE

A young woman enjoys the sea at Ipanema beach in Rio de Janeiro. Men and women look at women as a collection of body objects, a study has found. 

“We always hear that women are reduced to their sexual body parts; you hear about examples in the media all the time,” Gervais said. 

“This research takes it a step further and finds that this perception spills over to everyday women, too.”

The study analysed the way men and women looked at images of both genders in a bid to determine what mental processes were being applied.

The study presented standardised images of clothed men and women to 227 subjects made up of equal numbers of both genders. They were shown a sequence of images before two images settled on their screen. One was an original image, the other simply showed the groin area.

The participants had to quickly point to which image they had seen before.

BODY IMAGE

A man lays on the beach at the eastern German costal town of Zingst. A study has found men and women look at other men as a package of all their attributes and character. 

Men and women were more likely to recognise body parts when shown images of women. Both were more likely to recognise the whole image when shown pictures of men.

The data showed both men and women utilised a "global" psychological process when looking at images of men. But a more "local" process kicked in when looking at women.

Local processing defines the way we think about objects such cars, computers and houses.

Global processing defines a much more inclusive and broader "wrap" of all aspects related to a person.