Preteen girls who dress in sexualized clothing are judged as less competent and less moral than kids in age-appropriate garb¹, new research finds.

新研究发现，那些穿性感衣服的十三岁以下的小女孩被认为在能力和品德上都不如那些穿适合自己年龄衣服的小孩。

Earlier studies have found that adult women who dress in revealing clothing are seen as less competent（有能力的） than women who are more buttoned-up. One study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology² in November even found that scantily³（缺乏地） clad men suffer similar judgment⁴.

Clothing for young girls has become increasing sexualized, said Sarah Murnen, a social psychologist at Kenyon College in Ohio and the senior author of the new study. Last year, a study by Murnen and colleagues found that 30 percent of children's clothing at major retailers⁵ had sexualizing characteristics.

The researchers recruited 162 students, 106 of them women, to view photographs of a prepubescent（青春期前的） blonde white girl wearing one of three different outfits⁷ and rate them on traits such as competence⁸ and intelligence. In the "childlike" condition, the girl wore a gray shirt with ruffled⁹ sleeves, jeans and Mary Jane-style shoes. In the "ambiguously sexualized" condition, the girl wore a modest-length dress with a leopard-print pattern — a pattern that is often associated with sexy clothes, but is not overtly¹⁰ sexual.

In the final condition, the girl wore an obviously sexualized outfit⁶: a very short dress with a leopard-print cardigan and purse.

In some photos, the girl was described as an average fifth-grader who enjoys reading and is a member of the student council. In others, she was described as being a top reader at the top of her class and president of the student council.

Describing the girl as a higher achiever（获得成功的人） did prompt people to rate her as more intelligent and capable, as you might expect, Murnen said. But across the board, people's rankings of the girl's capability¹¹, competence, determination and intelligence dropped when she wore the obviously sexualizing outfit. They also ranked her as having lower self-respect and less morality than more modestly dressed versions.

In fact, when the researchers asked participants for feedback after the experiment, many were quite aware of their judgments¹².

"I formed my assumptions based on her outfit even after being aware of her accomplishments," one woman wrote.

"Seems like a caricature of a Bratz doll," wrote another man, referring to a line of sultry-eyed, mini-skirted fashion dolls. "Overall first impression isn't strong."