Death and beauty: mortality salience and creatureliness increase self-objectification not only in females but also in males

These findings provide evidence for dual pathways-cultural worldview compliance and creatureliness suppression-underlying self-objectification as a defense against death anxiety. However, while cultural compliance explains gender differences in self-objectification at baseline, creatureliness suppression appears to function universally across genders. This study clarifies the boundaries of gender differences, emphasizing that the observed gender differences were limited to perceptions of objectification and creatureliness, rather than self-objectification itself. These insights contribute to interventions targeting the maladaptive effects of self-objectification, advocating for gender-sensitive approaches to enhance psychological wellbeing.