Can Self-Esteem Protect Against the Deleterious Consequences of Self-Objectification for Mood and Body Satisfaction in Physically Active Female University Students?

Using objectification theory (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997), this study tested the interaction between self-objectification, appearance evaluation, and self-esteem in predicting body satisfaction and mood states. Participants (N = 93) were physically active female university students. State self-objectification was manipulated by participants wearing tight revealing exercise attire (experimental condition) or baggy exercise clothes (control condition). Significant interactions emerged predicting depression, anger, fatness, and satisfaction with body shape and size. For participants in the self-objectification condition who had low (as opposed to high) appearance evaluation, low self-esteem was associated with high depression, anger, and fatness and low satisfaction with body shape and size. In contrast, for participants with high self-esteem, these mood and body satisfaction states were more favorable irrespective of their levels of appearance evaluation. For female exercisers, self-esteem-enhancing strategies may protect against some of the negative outcomes of self-objectification

Cutting words: Priming self-objectification increases the intention to pursue cosmetic surgery

We examined whether subtle exposure to sexually objectifying cues increases women’s intentions to have cosmetic surgery. Undergraduate women (N = 116) were randomly assigned to a condition in which they unscrambled sentences containing words associated with sexual objectification, non-self-objectifying physicality, or neutral content. Following a manipulation check of these primes, participants reported their body shame and intentions to have cosmetic surgery in the future. Results revealed that priming a state of self-objectification, compared to the two non-self-objectifying conditions, increased both body shame and intentions to have cosmetic surgery. In a mediational model, the link between self-objectification and intentions to have cosmetic surgery was partially mediated by body shame. Controlling for other key intrapersonal and social motives linked to interest in cosmetic surgery did not alter these patterns. These findings highlight the potential for the consumption of cosmetic surgery to stand as another harmful micro-level consequence of self-objectification that may be perpetuated via subtle exposure to sexually objectifying words, even in the absence of visual depictions or more explicit encounters of sexual objectification

Body conscious?:Interoceptive awareness, measured by heartbeat perception, is negatively correlated with self-objectification

BACKGROUND: 'Self-objectification' is the tendency to experience one's body principally as an object, to be evaluated for its appearance rather than for its effectiveness. Within objectification theory, it has been proposed that self-objectification accounts for the poorer interoceptive awareness observed in women, as measured by heartbeat perception. Our study is, we believe, the first specifically to test this relationship. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Using a well-validated and reliable heartbeat perception task, we measured interoceptive awareness in women and compared this with their scores on the Self-Objectification Questionnaire, the Self-Consciousness Scale and the Body Consciousness Questionnaire. Interoceptive awareness was negatively correlated with self-objectification. Interoceptive awareness, public body consciousness and private body consciousness together explained 31% of the variance in self-objectification. However, private body consciousness was not significantly correlated with interoceptive awareness, which may explain the many nonsignificant results in self-objectification studies that have used private body consciousness as a measure of body awareness. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: We propose interoceptive awareness, assessed by heartbeat perception, as a measure of body awareness in self-objectification studies. Our findings have implications for those clinical conditions, in women, which are characterised by self-objectification and low interoceptive awareness, such as eating disorders

Media exposure, extracurricular activities, and appearance-related comments as predictors of female adolescents’ self-objectification

Author version made available in accordance with the publisher's policy.Our study examined three potential predictors of self-objectification in female adolescents, namely media exposure, extracurricular activities, and appearance-related comments (both positive and negative). Participants were 1,087 female adolescents ranging in age from 12 to 16, who completed questionnaire measures of media exposure (television, magazines, Internet, and social networking), time spent on extracurricular activities, positive and negative appearance-related comments, self-objectification, self-surveillance, body shame, and disordered eating. Tests of the hypothesized path model revealed that self-reported exposure to magazines and social networking sites each independently was associated positively with self-objectification. In addition, positive appearance-related comments were shown to be associated positively with self-objectification. On the other hand, time spent on extracurricular activities was not related to self-objectification. The results offer support for the role of media exposure and appearance-related comments in the development of self-objectification in female adolescents. In particular, the results suggest that positive appearance-related comments (compliments) may be just as, or even more, likely to give rise to self-objectification as negative appearance-related comments. The findings suggest practical strategies for the potential protection of the development of self-objectification and its deleterious consequences.ARC. This work was funded in part by an Australian Research Council Discovery Project (DP0986623) awarded to Marika Tiggemann

Selfie-Objectification: Does Taking One’s Own Picture Increase Levels of State Self-Objectification among College Females?

The current experiment investigated the effects of taking a selfie on self-objectification. In the experiment, 107 women either took 5 selfies, unlimited selfies, had 5 photos taken of them, or had no photos taken. Participants completed an Objectified Body Consciousness Scale and 10 “I am” statements, which were coded for self-objectification. Women in the unlimited selfie condition made more appearance-based self-statements than those whose photos were not taken

The role of self-objectification and women’s blame, sympathy, and support for a rape victim

Sexual aggression is prevalent and damaging in our culture, and sources of support or blame following an attack of this kind can be important influences on the recovery process. This pair of studies investigate the nature of women's blame reactions towards survivors of sexual aggression, as well as the potential for provision of sympathy and support. Specifically, we focused on the previously neglected role of female self-objectification. It was expected that increased self-objectification would lead to decreased sympathy and support, and more rape victim blame. However, results of Study 1 showed that chronic self-objectification was actually related to higher levels of sympathy and support for a rape victim. Study two built upon the limitations of study one, and examined similar questions. It was expected that women who engaged in greater self-objectification would again show greater sympathy and support for the victim, replicating study one's results, and this was supported with a different scale. The overall relationship between self-objectification and sympathy and support was driven by body-relevant control beliefs. Implications and future directions are discussed

The developmental effects of media-ideal internalization and self-objectification processes on adolescents’ negative body-feelings, dietary restraint, and binge eating

Despite accumulated experimental evidence of the negative effects of exposure to media-idealized images, the degree to which body image, and eating related disturbances are caused by media portrayals of gendered beauty ideals remains controversial. On the basis of the most up-to-date meta-analysis of experimental studies indicating that media-idealized images have the most harmful and substantial impact on vulnerable individuals regardless of gender (i.e., “internalizers” and “self-objectifiers”), the current longitudinal study examined the direct and mediated links posited in objectification theory among media-ideal internalization, self-objectification, shame and anxiety surrounding the body and appearance, dietary restraint, and binge eating. Data collected from 685 adolescents aged between 14 and 15 at baseline (47 % males), who were interviewed and completed standardized measures annually over a 3-year period, were analyzed using a structural equation modeling approach. Results indicated that media-ideal internalization predicted later thinking and scrutinizing of one’s body from an external observer’s standpoint (or self-objectification), which then predicted later negative emotional experiences related to one’s body and appearance. In turn, these negative emotional experiences predicted subsequent dietary restraint and binge eating, and each of these core features of eating disorders influenced each other. Differences in the strength of these associations across gender were not observed, and all indirect effects were significant. The study provides valuable information about how the cultural values embodied by gendered beauty ideals negatively influence adolescents’ feelings, thoughts and behaviors regarding their own body, and on the complex processes involved in disordered eating. Practical implications are discussed

The Object of Desire: How Being Objectified Creates Sexual Pressure for Heterosexual Women in Relationships

The objectification of women is widespread in the United States (American Psychological Association, 2007). In heterosexual relationships, a woman can feel objectified by her partner. When a woman feels objectified by her partner, she may internalize the objectification, feel like she has less control, and perceive more sexual pressure and coercion. However, there is relatively little research on objectification in romantic relationships. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to explore how partner objectification might be related to sexual pressure in heterosexual relationships. A sample of 162 women from all over the United States participated in an online study that measured partner-objectification, self-objectification, sexual agency, and sexual pressure and coercion. The data were analyzed using bivariate correlations. Results showed that (a) partner-objectification is positively correlated with women’s self-objectification, (b) self-objectification is negatively correlated with less freedom and control, and (c) less freedom and control is related to more sexual pressure. This research adds to the literature on romantic relationships and can inform interventions aimed at reducing sexual coercion

The Object of Desire: How Being Objectified Creates Sexual Pressure for Women in Heterosexual Relationships

The objectification of women is widespread in the United States (American Psychological Association, 2007), although there is relatively little research on objectification in romantic relationships. The purpose of this research was to explore how partner-objectification might be related to sexual pressure in heterosexual relationships. It was hypothesized that men who objectify their partners would be more likely to sexually pressure and/or coerce their partners. Additionally, a woman who feels objectified by her partner was hypothesized to internalize the objectification, feel like she has less control in the relationship (i.e., less sexual agency), and perceive more sexual pressure and coercion from her partner. Data from both men and women were collected online in two studies. In Study 1, men (119 from all over the United States and 57 from the BSU student subject pool) completed measures on partner-objectification, coercion, and pressure. Partner-objectification was positively correlated with sexual pressure and coercion in the general sample, but not consistently for the student sample. In Study 2, women (162 from all over the United States and 117 from the BSU student subject pool) completed measures of partner-objectification, self-objectification, sexual agency, sexual pressure and coercion. In Study 2, results in both samples showed that (a) partner-objectification is positively correlated with women’s self-objectification, (b) self-objectification is negatively correlated with sexual agency, and (c) lower sexual agency is related to more sexual pressure. This research can inform interventions aimed at reducing sexual coercion and improve the way people learn to treat one another within romantic relationships

From attire to assault: clothing, objectification, and de-humanization - a possible prelude to sexual violence?

In the context of objectification and violence, little attention has been paid to the perception neuroscience of how the human brain perceives bodies and objectifies them. Various studies point to how external cues such as appearance and attire could play a key role in encouraging objectification, dehumanization and the denial of agency. Reviewing new experimental findings across several areas of research, it seems that common threads run through issues of clothing, sexual objectification, body perception, dehumanization, and assault. Collating findings from several different lines of research, this article reviews additional evidence from cognitive and neural dynamics of person perception (body and face perception processes) that predict downstream social behavior. Specifically, new findings demonstrate cognitive processing of sexualized female bodies as object-like, a crucial aspect of dehumanized percept devoid of agency and personhood. Sexual violence is a consequence of a dehumanized perception of female bodies that aggressors acquire through their exposure and interpretation of objectified body images. Integrating these findings and identifying triggers for sexual violence may help develop remedial measures and inform law enforcement processes and policy makers alike