Addressing Gender and Cultural Diversity in Body Image: Objectification Theory as a Framework for Integrating Theories and Grounding Research

Abstract

This article discusses the promise of objectification theory as a framework for consolidating extant theories, integrating findings across the studies in the current issue, and grounding future research on body image and eating problems across diverse populations. Specifically, this article (a) provides an overview of objectification theory and describes its promise for addressing gender and cultural diversity, (b) articulates aspects of overlap and distinction between objectification theory and several other influential frameworks, (c) describes the advancements made by the research presented in this issue relative to the 15 recommendations offered in Moradi and Huang's (2008) review of the past decade of objectification theory research, and (d) concludes with suggestions for further advancements in body image research grounded in objectification theory.

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

“…While boys may not necessarily experience evaluation of their bodies to the same extent as girls in the interpersonal context [27,28], there is increasing evidence that boys are similarly over-stimulated by unrealistic body shape ideals and objectified in contemporary mass media [19,26,30,38,40,77]. In accordance with scholars' suggestion that men may be likely to internalize the masculine beauty ideal perpetuated by the media as the only type of body to be valued [16-18, 30, 31, 40], which would result in self-objectification similar to the process observed for women [30,31,[38][39][40][41]63], our results indicated that initial (T1) levels of media-ideal internalization predicted (T2) self-objectification via body surveillance and these associations were equivalent across gender. In turn, (T2) self-objectification via body surveillance predicted later (T3) body shame and (T3) appearance anxiety.…”

“…Overlapping sociocultural models of EDs (see [16,29,38] for a comprehensive review) posit that girls and boys who have endorsed media messages that promote unrealistic ideals for beauty and attractiveness and the striving toward such ideals would be at risk for developing negative body-feelings (and subsequent disordered eating) when the gendered ideals are not actualized. However, these models (i.e., the dual pathway model of binge eating) currently lack comprehensive explanations as to how media-ideal internalization contributes to negative body-feelings [29,50].…”

“…Self-objectification (via body surveillance): whereas self-objectification involves a broad orientation to valuing appearance attributes over other personal characteristics (e.g., competence) [36,37], in line with prior objectification theory research [30,38,40,[47][48][49] we preferred to define it more narrowly as body surveillance [43,44]. Indeed, the literature has often equated body surveillance with self-objectification using these constructs interchangeably [32,34].…”

“…This sexual objectification is ubiquitous, occurring interpersonally across a variety of social interactions and mainly via media representations of female and male bodies that equate an individual's worth with the extent to which he/she fits the promoted standard of body size/shape [17,[27][28][29][30][31][32][35][36][37][38][39][40]. Although women and men may experience the cultural meaning of such objectification differently, both genders may encounter sexual objectification and the associated consequences [17,30,31,[38][39][40][41]. According to the objectification theory proposed by Fredrickson and Roberts [35] and refined by Dakanalis and Riva [17], repeated sexual objectification experiences gradually encourage individuals to endorse the unrealistic body shape ideals portrayed in the media ("media-ideal internalization").…”

“…In doing so subjects adopt an observer's perspective on their own bodies and they learn to view and treat themselves as objects to be looked at and evaluated on the basis of physical appearance [17, 27-32, 35, 42]. Taking this observer's (or third-person) perspective on the self ("self-objectification") manifests as habitual body surveillance [28,29,32,34,[42][43][44], whereby individuals monitor their compliance with the genderspecific sociocultural body shape ideals to avoid negative judgments from others [18,38,[40][41][42][43][44]. In turn, selfobjectification is theorized [17,35] to lead to body shame and appearance anxiety, which could then motivate dietary restraint in an attempt to lose body fat to appear more consistent with the female thin-ideal and male lean-muscular ideal standards (as subcutaneous body fat can hide musculature [45]).…”