The Association Between Internalized Sexualization and Peer Victimization: The Moderating Role of Sexist Beliefs

Adolescent girls receive mixed messages about the value of being sexually attractive to men while at the same time receiving warnings about the risks of being perceived as overly sexual. How girls internalize messages about sexuality and gender may be linked with variations in their social relationships, including their experiences of peer victimization. We propose that internalized sexualization can have different meanings (and hence be linked with different outcomes) depending on other beliefs held by the adolescent about gender (i.e. sexist beliefs). Employing a sample of 202 adolescent girls, we examined associations between internalized sexualization and experiences of both general and sexuality-specific victimization (i.e. slut-shaming), and whether sexist beliefs moderated these associations. Linear regressions showed significant interactions between sexist beliefs and internalized sexualization on both general and sexualization-specific victimization. Alignment between external and internalized gender norms was associated with lower victimization, whereas misalignment was associated with higher vulnerability. These findings also suggest that whether social environments support or challenge sexualized attitudes and feminine gender roles are associated with how girls interpret and cope with peer victimization. These findings highlight how sexist beliefs and internalized sexualization may jointly relate to peer victimization, with implications for prevention and intervention research.