Potential Implications of the Objectification of Women’s Bodies for Women’s Sexual Satisfaction
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-2009
Keywords
Media internalization, Body surveillance, Objectification of women, Self-objectification, Sexual satisfaction
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2009.01.001
Abstract
The present study tested a sociocultural model of women's sexual satisfaction grounded in Objectification Theory (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997). One hundred and one college women attending university in the UK completed measures of media internalization, body surveillance, body shame, sexual self-esteem, and sexual satisfaction. Consistent with predictions, the results of a path analysis indicated that greater internalization of appearance ideals from media sources leads to more body surveillance, which leads to higher body shame and lower sexual self-esteem, which, in turn, predicts less sexual satisfaction (only reached marginal significance for sexual self-esteem). In addition, body surveillance and body shame directly predicted sexual satisfaction. These results further implicate the sociocultural practices that objectify women in the disruption of women's experiences of sexual satisfaction.
Was this content written or created while at USF?
Yes
Citation / Publisher Attribution
Body Image: An International Journal of Research, v. 6, issue 2, p. 145-148
Scholar Commons Citation
Calogero, Rachel M. and Thompson, Joel K., "Potential Implications of the Objectification of Women’s Bodies for Women’s Sexual Satisfaction" (2009). Psychology Faculty Publications. 2231.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/psy_facpub/2231
