“Change my selfie”: Relationships between self‐objectification and selfie‐behavior in young Italian women

Abstract

Self‐objectification is a pervasive phenomenon, related to specific socio‐cultural context, that can lead to many psychological and interpersonal consequences. With the present study, we investigated the correlates of self‐objectification in young Italian women analyzing both its traditional antecedents and its consequences for self‐presentation on social network sites (SNS). A total of 676 Italian university female students completed a self‐reported questionnaire on self‐objectification, internalization of a thin‐ideal and related influences, internalized sexism, self‐esteem, SNS use, selfie‐posting on SNS and selfies’ manipulation. Results indicated that media and peers, but not family pressures, were positively associated with thin‐ideal internalization, which, in turn, was positively associated with self‐objectification. Moreover, both sexism and self‐esteem were significantly associated with self‐objectification. Regarding self‐objectification consequences for SNS usage, results revealed that self‐objectification was positively associated with time spent on SNS, frequency of selfie‐posting and selfie‐editing. It was concluded that objectification theory can be extended into the context of image‐related behaviors on SNS. Results suggest that young women with low self‐esteem, traditional attitudes toward gender roles and high levels of internalization of thin‐ideal may report high levels of self‐objectification which, in turn, may be related to specific self‐promotion behaviors on social media. The limitations of the present study, particularly in terms of sampling and implications for future research on selfie‐behavior are discussed.

Why do selfies increase young women’s willingness to consider cosmetic surgery in China? The mediating roles of body surveillance and body shame

“…Young adult women with selfie behavior may be more likely to engage in body surveillance and as a result experience body image disturbance (Butkowski et al, 2019). Higher frequency of posting selfies was associated with trait selfobjectification (Bell et al, 2018;Caso et al, 2020) and can predicted increases in self-objectification (Wang et al, 2019). Thus, selfie behavior may foster self-objectification and plays a critical role in shaping individuals' attitudes towards their bodies, including increasing body surveillance and body shame.…”

Augmented Reality Filters and the Faces as Brands: Personal Identities and Marketing Strategies in the Age of Algorithmic Images

“…Effectively, social media using ARF have been accused by an increasing number of studies to promote "Snapchat dysmorphia" [9], a particular occurrence of body dysmorphic disorders (BDD), consisting in a misalignment between the desired image of one's body and the one actually perceived, due to continuous and intensive use of beautification ARF [10,11]. In turn, Snapchat dysmorphia would lead to lower levels of self-esteem [12] and higher levels of depression [13][14][15]; to several disorders of nutritional behaviour [16] and more frequent use of plastic surgery [17][18][19]; to selfobjectification [20,21] and adaptation to stereotypical socio-cultural aesthetic standards [22] (including racial and skin-colours ones [23]); to "aesthetic labour" [24] and mutual surveillance through female "policing gazes" [25]. However, other studies have shown that beautification is neither the only reason for the use of ARFs nor the prevailing one; in fact, aesthetic motivations are flanked by entertainment, coolness, curiosity, social interaction, silliness, having fun, creativity, brand "fandomship" and so on [26][27][28][29].…”

Unhealthy eating and academic stress: The moderating effect of eating style and BMI

“…In addition, it has been shown that women, generally, report higher levels of dietary restraint than men ( Conner and Armitage, 2002 ; Wardle et al, 2000 ), which in turn has been associated to media pressure, thin-ideal internalisation, and body dissatisfaction ( Chang et al, 2013 ; Kong et al, 2013 ). In fact, women, compared to men, have a greater tendency to internalise cultural body standards ( Boursier et al, 2020 ; Caso et al, 2020 ; Gioia et al, 2020 ), in particular the thin-ideal.…”