Menschen verwenden in ihren Online-Dating-Profilen häufig sexualisierte Bilder, um aufzufallen. Die Studie ergab ein vermindertes Interesse an langfristigen Beziehungen mit sexualisierten Profilinhabern. Das Hinzufügen humanisierender Selbstbeschreibungen wirkte den negativen Auswirkungen der Sexualisierung bei weiblichen Profilen entgegen, nicht jedoch bei Männern.

Birnbaum, G. E., Zholtack, K., & Reis, H. T. (2026). Selling yourself short: How sexualized online dating profiles affect viewers’ perceptions and relationship intentions. Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace, 20(2), Article 3. https://doi.org/10.5817/CP2026-2-3

Abstract

People often use sexualized images in their online dating profiles to stand out. However, this strategy can backfire, hurting their chances of finding a partner. Three studies examined the effects of sexualized profiles on how viewers see profile owners while investigating why and when sexualization can have negative effects. Across all studies, unpartnered participants assessed sexualized and non-sexualized dating profiles, providing ratings on their perceptions of profile owners and their own relationship intentions. Study 1 revealed that owners of sexualized profiles faced heightened negative judgments and were perceived as less desirable partners (although these findings should be regarded as preliminary due to the use of different profile owners across conditions). Study 2 found diminished interest in establishing long-term relationships with sexualized profile owners due to perceiving them as less suitable partners. Study 3 showed that adding humanizing self-descriptions counteracted the negative effects of sexualization for female profiles but not for male profiles. These findings suggest that whether sexualization leads to negative judgments depends on its contextual meaning.

For years now if you pointed out to women that sexualizing themselves negatively affects how they are perceived, and can harm their prospects of long-term partnership, you would be shouted down and called names.