Sexualization, objectification and dehumanization are topics often studied within social psychology and feminist theory. Research on sexualization and objectification has primarily focused on the sexual objectification of women’s bodies, whereas the dehumanization literature has mostly concentrated on dehumanization in the context of racial and ethnic groups. In recent years these constructs have been studied in relation to other contexts such as political science (e.g., in relation to abortion rights), health science (e.g., in relation to dehumanization in medical settings), organizational behaviour (e.g., treating workers as objects), sustainability (e.g., in relation to meat eating), and in new directions, such as robotics (e.g. robot-human interaction). These new contexts allow new ways of thinking about these concepts (e.g., adaptive self-objectification in medical contexts; Courtney & Goldenberg, 2021).

The aim of this meeting is to discuss new directions in research on sexualization, objectification and dehumanization. Moving forward requires returning to the basics and dealing with problems stemming from sibling constructs (Lawson & Robins, 2021). The goal is therefore to advance our understanding of how the three constructs are interrelated but also how they are distinct from each other.