Role
Full Professor of Social Psychology at the University of Padua
Bio
After graduating in Philosophy at the University of Trieste (1988), she obtained a PhD in Social Psychology at the University of Oregon in 1996. In 1996, she began her career as a researcher at the University of Padua, where she is currently a full professor.
Research on gender-related topics. Among these, the problem of sexual objectification of women and sexual harassment was investigated, as well as the way in which the media, such as Italian television, supports these phenomena. This line of research has shown that viewing Italian television clips with sexually objectified depictions of women increases adherence to traditional gender norms, which in turn increases the propensity to engage in sexual harassment. As part of a media literacy program, it was also demonstrated that viewing videos denouncing female sexual objectification increased the intention to take collective action, such as signing a petition against sexist and objectifying media, but only among female participants. Furthermore, viewing a video denouncing women by a group of male participants was effective in reducing their sexual harassment, such as sending sexist jokes to an unknown woman, and their intention to engage in more serious sexual harassment, such as blackmail.