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, talking about women based on what their bodies look like (e.g. breast size or shape). Researchers explain that through an objectification theory lens, women can internalize an observer’s perspective of themselves, thus creating habitual body monitoring, where one is focused inwardly on themself and their appearance (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997). Through investigating the consequences of sexual objectification among women, researchers have found that women experience body surveillance, body dissatisfaction, body shame, appearance anxiety, and decreased peak motivational states and this can lead to outcomes such as depression, sexual dysfunction and eating disorders (Brewster et al., 2014; Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997; Guizzo & Cadinu, 2017; Moradi et al., 2005; Tiggemann & Lynch, 2001).

What is internalization of beauty standards? 

  • Routine experiences of sexual objectification can lead people to internalize beauty standards
  • Internalization is when we feel like we should look like the dominant beauty standard
  • This can lead to behaviors we adopt that monitor how we look: This is referred to as body surveillance
Examples of body surveillance include
  • Consistently looking at your body in the mirror
  • Sucking in your stomach to appear thinner
  • Pulling out your camera in public to check your face
  • “Mewing”
    • Read more: Objectification theory suggests that routine experiences of sexual objectification can lead women to internalize cultural standards of beauty (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997). Internalizing beauty standards can create a strong desire to look like the dominant beauty standard. For example, wanting to look like models you see in magazines, commercials, or social media. Internalization of cultural beauty standards can lead to body surveillance, the habitual monitoring of your body (Velez et al., 2015). Examples of body surveillance include consistently examining how your body looks in a mirror, pulling out your camera in public to check your face, the act of sucking in your stomach, and “mewing”. These behaviors are usually meant to make sure your body looks a certain way.

How can parents unintentionally enforce beauty ideals onto their children?

  • Children may internalize their parent’s comments about their body, other people’s bodies, and even the parent’s own body
  • Kids are smart! They learn eating behaviors (like dieting) and attitudes (like valuing thinness) by watching their parents and repeating them via modeling
    • Read more: Cooley et al. (2006) found that predictors for a daughter’s body image included negative feedback from their mother, mother’s disapproval of the daughter’s figure, and the daughter’s perception of their mother's eating attitudes and behaviors. Mothers who showed a greater internalization of media messages about thickness were more likely to have daughters with disordered eating behaviors.

Prevention

How can parents opt out of the system of objectification?

Women continuing to invest in appearance as the means to self-worth and social status maintains the system of sexual objectification (Calogero & Tylka, 2014). Researchers suggest that articulating and discussing the ill effects of sexual objectification as well as developing a schema to contextualize it are useful prevention factors (Calogero & Tylka, 2014). A contextualization schema is where a girl or woman places appropriate blame on the threatening cultural factors that facilitate sexual objectification. When doing this, it allows a girl or woman to acknowledge and state that in a situation of sexual objectification, “my discomfort is a reflection of the person (or media) objectifying me rather than an indication of my worth.” (Calogero & Tylka, 2014). Parents, teachers, coaches, peers, and any community members who wish to advocate for girls and women must communicate about the harm of sexual objectification more consistently (Calogero & Tylka, 2014)! Overall, promoting positive language around the functionality of your body versus your bodies’ appearance is a good start.

Here are our references!


Brewster, M. E., Velez, B. L., Esposito, J., Wong, S., Geiger, E., & Keum, B. T. (2014). Moving beyond the binary with disordered eating research: A test and extension of objectification theory with bisexual women. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 61(1), 50–62. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0034748

Cooley, E., Toray, T., Wang, M. C., & Valdez, N. N. (2008). Maternal effects on daughters’ eating pathology and body image. Eating Behaviors, 9(1), 52–61. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eatbeh.2007.03.001 

Fredrickson, B. L., & Roberts, T.-A. (1997). Objectification theory: Toward understanding women’s lived experiences and mental health risks. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 21(2), 173–206. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-6402.1997.tb00108.x 

Guizzo, F., & Cadinu, M. (2017). Effects of objectifying gaze on female cognitive performance: The role of flow experience and internalization of beauty ideals. British Journal of Social Psychology, 56(2), 281–292. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12170 

Moradi, B., Dirks, D., & Matteson, A. V. (2005). Roles of sexual objectification experiences and internalization of standards of beauty in eating disorder symptomatology: A test and extension of objectification theory. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 52(3), 420–428. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.52.3.420 

Tiggemann, M., & Lynch, J. E. (2001). Body image across the life span in adult women: The role of self-objectification. Developmental Psychology, 37(2), 243–253. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.37.2.243 

Velez, B. L., Campos, I. D., & Moradi, B. (2015). Relations of sexual objectification and racist discrimination with Latina women’s body image and mental health. The Counseling Psychologist, 43(6), 906–935. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011000015591287


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