Body-Image and Body-Beautification among Female College Students

Abstract

Women's body-image has social and personal implications. Judgments about the body can be based on appearance (public body-consciousness), internal sensations (private body-consciousness) or body-effectiveness (body-competence). The correlates of body-image and beautification were studied in a group of 245 female undergraduates who completed a body-beautification questionnaire, the Body-consciousness Inventory, the Body-cathexis/Self-cathexis Scale, and questions on feminist identification. Significant correlations were found between public body-consciousness and beautification. Body-cathexis was also correlated with body-competence. For feminists, a competent body was correlated with awareness of internal sensations, while nonfeminists connect a competent body with appearance. Results were discussed in relation to the social and cultural pressures for women to focus on appearance.

Feminism: What is it Good For? Feminine Norms and Objectification as the Link between Feminist Identity and Clinically Relevant Outcomes

“…Past research examining the role of feminism in relation to clinical outcomes has generally used measures of feminist beliefs, rather than feminist identity (for an exception, see Kelson et al 1990). In the current study, we measured feminist identity as opposed to beliefs.…”

“…One study found that women who self-identified as feminist judge their bodies based on whether they feel healthy and suggested that nonfeminists may judge their bodies based on its appearance (Kelson et al 1990). A recent study indicated that an intervention focusing on feminist theories of body image worked both to increase feminist self-identification (as assessed by a Likert-type scale) and decrease negative body image (Peterson et al 2006).…”

Exploring Feminist Women's Body Consciousness

“…Ojerholm and Rothblum (1999) found that neither feminist self-identification (measured on a Likert-type scale) nor attitudes toward feminism were related to body image among undergraduate college women, although feminist identity and positive attitudes toward feminism were related to less negative attitudes toward fat people in general. Only two studies have asked women to directly state whether they self-identify as a feminist, whereas the others have measured feminist attitudes or the degree to which women consider themselves feminists (Garner, 1997;Kelson et al, 1990). This is an important distinction, as many women endorse feminist attitudes, but fewer actually identify themselves as a "feminist" (Williams & Wittig, 1997).…”

Feminist Identity, Gender Traits, and Symptoms of Disturbed Eating Among College Women

“…A dimension of gender-role attitudes examined in only a few studies of body concerns and disturbed eating is one's stance with respect to feminist values and goals. Although some feminist attitudes about women's roles appear unrelated to measures of disturbed eating (Bailey & Hamilton, 1992) or relationships between body image and self-esteem (Mintz & Betz, 1986), relationships between body image and appearance concerns did differ for women divided into groups based on self-identification as feminists and suggested that feminists may use personal rather than external standards for body evaluations (Kelson, Kearney-Cooke, & Lansky, 1990).…”