Perceptions of Violence and the Objectification of Women Among Young People

Normalization of Violence and Asymmetrical Models of Desire

Early and unregulated access to explicit audiovisual content via digital devices has a decisive influence on the formation of young people’s erotic imagination.

These representations frequently depict aggressive behaviors, dynamics of subjugation, and models of interaction in which male desire constitutes the sole legitimate focus of the experience.

As a direct consequence of this massive exposure on personal screens, degrading behaviors, misogynistic language, and physical pain end up being eroticized and normalized.

For a significant and growing proportion of young people, aggression loses its traumatic dimension and becomes an everyday component of erotic entertainment.

This distortion profoundly alters the understanding and valuation of intimacy, reducing emotional encounters to mechanical, genital, and immediate acts, in which women’s autonomous pleasure, emotional health, and free will are completely relegated to the margins of the emotional relationship.

Gender Disparity in the Perception of Objectification

There is a clear gender gap when assessing the level of objectification and sexist violence present in the contemporary digital ecosystem.

Young women demonstrate a remarkable and indispensable critical ability to identify misogynistic behaviors, physical aggression, and dynamics of explicit coercion in various forms of adult entertainment.

They clearly perceive how the female figure is systematically reduced to a commercial object intended for the satisfaction of others, devoid of autonomy, a voice of her own, or genuine desire.

In contrast, young men show a widespread tendency to downplay these factors, viewing them as harmless elements of fiction or digital entertainment.

This troubling asymmetry in perception hinders the eradication of sexist behaviors, obscures structural discrimination, and reinforces sexist stereotypes that justify unequal treatment in young people’s interpersonal and romantic relationships.

The Erotization of Submission and Risks in Youth Behavior

Continued exposure to dynamics of patriarchal domination fosters a gradual and dangerous desensitization to humiliation and the suffering of others.

By transferring fictional models to personal relationships, many adolescents face daily pressures to replicate risky practices, aggressive behaviors, or degrading treatment in their own intimate and romantic lives.

The systematic objectification of women weakens interpersonal empathy and fosters the acceptance of false myths about consent, leading young people to view verbal pressure or persistence as legitimate forms of interaction.

In the face of this complex issue, it is essential to strengthen programs for affective-sexual coeducation and critical digital literacy.

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