Relation Between Body Image, Sexual Functioning, Women's Genital Self Image, and Feminist Identity

The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between body image, sexual functioning, genital self image, and feminist identity among a sample of female undergraduate students (N = 288). Exploratory Factor Analysis was used to assess the psychometric properties of the GSI measure. On average the sample reported relatively neutral thoughts and ideations about their genitals regardless of ever having a sexual partner or not. As hypothesized, womens overall body image rating and GSImodified were positively related, r(288) = .238, p esteem was significantly positively correlated with GSImodified, r(288) = .177, p modified, r(288) = .00, p = .99. When looking at the women who reported sexual activity in the last 30 days, less than 40% reported that they sometimes or always experienced pleasure through sexual activity with their partner. Further analysis assessing this subsample is necessary to further understand young womens sexual identity and genital self image. Overall it was found that body image was related to genital self image, however ovulation and feminist identity were not. The results of this study suggested that on average, young women neither liked nor disliked their genitals but were relatively neutral about their genital appearance and functioning. This study was a preliminary attempt to explore this relatively complex topic, therefore additional research is necessary to develop a developmental understanding of women's body image, sexual functioning, genital self image, and feminist identity across the lifespan.Department of Psycholog

Knowing Thyself : Constructing Women'S Sexual Identity Theory with Sexual Anatomy Knowledge, Vulva Genital Awareness, and Sociopolitical Ideations

A Women's Sexual Health Model suggests women's sexual identity centers on four interrelated concepts of the self. The four interrelated concepts center on the self concept, followed by the sexual self, the social self, and the sociopolitical self. The current research study examined and validated a three-factor structure of a newly designed measure of women's genital perceptions, titled, vulva genital awareness (VGA). The VGA measure contains two hierarchic factors that capture women's genital perceptions in terms of the sexual self (VGA-Self) and the sexual self with a partner (VGA-Partner). The study also investigated the role of sexual anatomy knowledge in young women's lives. The women in this sample completed a sexual anatomy assessment. The women with high sexual anatomy knowledge were also more likely to report higher VGA and sexual satisfaction, when compared to women with low sexual anatomy knowledge. Furthermore, the women who reported masturbation to orgasm were more likely to know more about their sexual anatomy and more likely to report sexual satisfaction than women who reported no masturbation activity in the past 30 days or ever. The findings from this study suggest the importance of sexual anatomy education and masturbation in the development of women's sexual self-concept, thus the inclusion of these aspects could improve comprehensive sexual education programming in the U.S. Future research and clinical implications are discussed.Psycholog