We all know how objectification works, some men see women as an object for their sexual pleasure.
But, what happens when girls and women begin to see themselves as an object for men’s sexual pleasure?
The Association for the American Psychological Association
(APA) calls this self-objectification and/or self-sexualization in the Report of the APA Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls.
There’s a host of evidence that when girls are exposed to too much media that they begin to view themselves less as three dimensional human beings and more as sexual objects. When this occurs, psychologists note the increase of:
* eating disorders
* low self-esteem
* depression or depressed mood
One interesting study noted that teenage girls from Figi had great body image and self esteem – until they were exposed to Western television. Once exposed, they became preoccupied with weight and body shape, purging behavior (throwing up) and body disparagement. Prior to television the Figian culture emphasized a robust body shape and based notions of identity not on body, but on family, community and relationships. The transition between healthy self-image to the increase of eating disorders was only 3 years.
Self-objectification is also directly linked to “diminished sexual health” among adolescent girls. One study found that when girls viewed their own bodies as objects for male pleasure condom use and sexual assertiveness, (saying “no”) decreased.
Another study found that “undergraduate women who frequently watched music videos or read women’s magazines, who attribute greater realism to media content, or who identify strongly with popular TV characters were also more accepting of sexually objectifying notions of women.”
Accepting these sexually stereotypical and objectifying views manifested in negative attitudes toward breastfeeding and negative attitudes about normal body functions like menstruation and sweating.
When I read the APA’s definition of self-objectification and self-sexualization it was like a mini-awakening for me.
That explains why, as a teen and young adult, I allowed boyfriends to treat me as their sexual object or plaything. It explains why I crossed many of my own sexual boundaries and didn’t want to object “for fear of being rude” on several occasions. It explains why I allowed boys and men to make inappropriate comments about my body and its development from even the earliest age – heck, I didn’t even know was “allowed to object.”
Do you think you’ve ever self-sexualized or self-objectified?
Do you worry about this with your daughter?
Read 10 Antidotes to Self-Objectification and Sexualization of Girls for ways to prevent your daughter from objectifying her own body.
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9 comments ↓
Great post!
‘heck, I didn’t even know was “allowed to object.”‘
Neither did I. I recall many times when I was younger feeling awkward and uncomfortable when I’d walk through a mall, or in Downtown Boston and men would make comments, leer and whistle. I’d walk a little faster, lower my head and stare at the ground for fear of making eye contact with anyone.
I never want my daughter (or *anyone’s* daughter) to feel that way…
When I think back to even just the jokes men and boys told in my presence it makes me furious.
Or boys and men making comments about “my headlights” if it got cold unexpectedly.
Hello, no one would dare say that crap to me now. They did it because they knew I was primarily defenseless.
And how about wearing entirely inappropriate outfits throughout college thinking it was just the way things were… i.e. being completely uncomfortable in skin-tight clothing you could barely breathe in, super high-heels that killed your feet, and cleavage-cutting/ mid-drift bearing tops was simply “part of being a girl”. Hoo boy.
i read an article a while back (Newsweek, maybe?) about how teenagers do all this stuff to be attractive to boys, and they don’t need to… boys would be attracted anyways. But the point was that the girls put so much focus on attracting boys that that’s what they put their whole worth into…
I do worry about this, both with my daughter and with myself. It’s pretty easy to get wrapped up in that and the message that comes through in so much media. Being aware is helpful, but how do we get the media messages to CHANGE?
Well, it’s a primary biological function – to attract boys. I mean, it’s what every animal does in the entire Universe. Attract a mate to reproduce. You hardly ever hear of a happily alone Gorilla or duck with a lot of self worth independent of finding a mate and reproducing. Why would that be our goal?
The question I’ve been asking myself is why is it wrong or dangerous to do what we naturally do – attract a mate?
It’s not my definition of self worth now – because I already have children.
I’m thinking what I’d like to teach my daughter is to have a high standard about which mate to attract.
I did once meet a platypus who had finally, in mid-life, come to terms that she didn’t need a platy-man in her life to fullfill her – and she was finally okay with her pouch and webbed feet . . . oh wait, that was something else.
Reading this, I think I must have had the same college experience as a lot of other women. I have kept that part of my life secret because I was ashamed – I didn’t know other women went through it too. I guess, the truth is, only once that cycle is exposed to the light can we stop it and make sure our daughters don’t fall prey to the same thing.
LOL Platypus! Lucky Her.
[...] second emotional consequence of self-objectification is appearance anxiety; which is manifested by checking and adjusting one’s appearance. [...]
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