What is sexual objectification and internalization of beauty standards and why is it important to know as a parent?
What is sexual objectification? Women exist in a culture where their bodies are looked at and evaluated A patriarchal society promotes women to be treated as bodies and not beings Learning about sexual objectification and how it manifests within our society is important to disrupt the system of objectification Read more: Objectification theory informs us that women exist in a culture in which their bodies are looked at, evaluated, and always potentially objectified (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997). It is within our patriarchal society that women are treated as bodies rather than beings, existing particularly for the use and pleasure of others that we conceptualize sexual objectification. In addition to sexual objectification, there is also self-objectification, where “women view and treat themselves as objects to be gazed upon and/or evaluated by others” (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997). Examples of sexual objectification are cat-calling, using women’s bodies to sell products,...