Self-objectification and that “not so fresh feeling”: Feminist therapeutic interventions for healthy female embodiment

Women and Therapy

Volumn 27, Issue 3-4, 2004, Pages 5-21

  Roberts, Tomi Ann ^a   Waters, Patricia L ^a  

^a Department of Psychology   (United States)

Author keywords

Disgust; Embodiment; Menstruation; Objectification; Shame

Indexed keywords

EID: 2042472104     PISSN: 02703149     EISSN: 15410315     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1300/J015v27n03_02     Document Type: Article

References (64)

1. Aristotle. 1984. “Generation of animals”. In The complete works of Aristotle, Edited by:Barnes, J., and Platt, A., Princeton, NJ:Princeton University Press.
2. Attie, I., and Brooks-Gunn, J., 1989. Development of eating problems in adolescence:A longitudinal study. Developmental Psychology, 25:70–79.
3. Bem, S. L., 1981. Gender schema theory:A cognitive account of sex typing. Psychological Review, 88:354–364.
4. Berscheid, E., Dion, K., Walster, E., and Walster, G. W., 1971. Physical attractiveness and dating choice:A test of the matching hypothesis. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 7:173–189.
5. Brooks-Gunn, J., 1987. “Pubertal processes and girls' psychological adaptation”. In Biological-psychosocial interactions in early adolescence, Edited by:Lerner, R. M., and Foch, T. T., 124–153. Hillsdale, NJ:Erlbaum.
6. Brown, L. M., and Gilligan, C., Meeting at the crossroads:Women's psychology and girls' development. Cambridge, MA:Harvard University Press.
7. Cauffman, E., and Steinberg, L., 1996. Interactive effects of menarcheal status and dating on dieting and disordered eating among adolescent girls. Developmental Psychology, 32:631–635.
8. Chrisler, J. C., 1988. Age, gender role orientation, and attitudes toward menstruation. Psychological Reports, 63:827–834.
9. Coutts, L. B., and Berg, D. H., 1993. The portrayal of the menstruating woman in menstrual product advertisements. Health Care for Women International, 14:179–191.
10. de Beauvoir, S., 1952. The second sex, New York:Random House.
11. Delaney, J., Lupton, M. J., and Toth, E., 1988. The curse:A cultural history of menstruation, Urbana, IL:University of Illinois Press.
12. Fredrickson, B. L., and Roberts, T., 1997. Objectification theory:Toward understanding women's lived experiences and mental health risks. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 21:173–206.
13. Fredrickson, B. L., Roberts, T., Noll, S. M., Quinn, D. M., and Twenge, J. M., 1998. That swimsuit becomes you:Sex differences in self-objectification, restrained eating, and math performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75:269–284.
14. Freud, S., 1918/1964. “Femininity”. In Complete psychological works (Vol. 22), Edited by:Strachey, J., London:Hogarth Press.
15. Genero, N. P., Miller, J. B., Surrey, J., and Baldwin, L. M., 1992. Measuring perceived mutuality in close relationships:Validation of the Mutual Psychological Development Questionnaire. Journal of Family Psychology, 6:36–48.
16. Glick, P., and Fiske, S. T., 1996. The Ambivalent Sexism Inventory:Differentiating hostile and benevolent sexism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70:491–512.
17. Graber, J., Brooks-Gunn, J., Paikoff, R., and Warren, M., 1994. Predictions of eating problems:An 8-year study of adolescent girls. Developmental Psychology, 30:823–834.
18. Harter, S., 1999. The construction of the self:A developmental perspective, New York:Guilford Press.
19. Harter, S., Waters, P. L., Pettitt, L., Whitesell, N., Kofkin, J., and Jordan, J. V., 1997. Autonomy and connectedness as dimensions of relationship style in adult men and women. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 14:147–164.
20. Harter, S., Waters, P. L., and Whitesell, N., 1997. False self behavior and lack of voice among adolescent males and females. Educational Psychologist, 32:153–173.
21. Harter, S., Waters, P. L., Whitesell, N., and Kastelic, D., 1998. Predictors of level of voice among high school females and males:Relational context, support, and gender orientation. Developmental Psychology, 34:1–10.
22. Havens, B. B., and Swenson, I., 1988. Imagery associated with menstruation in advertising targeted to adolescent women. Adolescence, 23:89–97.
23. Higgins, E. T., 1991. “Development of self-regulatory and self-evaluative processes:Costs, benefits, and tradeoffs”. In Self processes and development:The Minnesota Symposia on Child Development Vol. 23, Edited by:Gunnar, M. R., and Sroufe, L. A., 135–166. Hillsdale, NJ:Erlbaum.
24. Horney, K., 1945. Our inner conflicts, New York:Basic Books.
25. Jack, D. C., and Dill, D., 1992. The Silencing the Self Scale:Schemas of intimacy associated with depression. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 16:97–106.
26. James, W., 1892. Psychology:The briefer course, New York:Henry Holt.
27. Kaschak, E., 1992. Engendered lives:A new psychology of women's experience, New York:Basic Books.
28. Kissling, E. A., 1996. “That's just a basic teen-age rule”:Girls' linguistic strategies for managing the menstrual communication taboo. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 24:292–309.
29. Koff, E., and Rierdan, J., 1995. Preparing girls for menstruation:Recommendations from adolescent girls. Adolescence, 30:795–812.
30. Koff, E., Rierdan, J., and Jacobson, S., 1981. The personal and interpersonal significance of menarche. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 20:148–158.
31. Koutroulis, G., 2001. Soiled identity:Memory work narratives of menstruation. Health, 5(2):187–205.
32. Lee, J., 1994. Menarche and the (hetero)sexualization of the female body. Gender & Society, 8:343–362.
33. Lerner, H. G., 1993. The dance of deception:Pretending and truth-telling in women's lives, New York:Harper Collins.
34. Margolin, L., and White, L., 1987. The continuing role of physical attractiveness in marriage. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 49:21–27.
35. Martin, E., 1992. The woman in the body:A cultural analysis of reproduction, Boston, MA:Beacon Press.
36. Martin, K., 1996. Puberty, sexuality, and the self:Boys and girls at adolescence, New York:Routledge.
37. McKinley, N. M., and Hyde, J. S., 1996. The Objectified Body Consciousness Scale. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 20:181–215.
38. Miller, J., 1987. Toward a new psychology of women, 2nd ed., Boston:Beacon Press.
39. Miller, J., 1991. “The development of women's sense of self”. In Women's growth in connection:Writings from the Stone Center, Edited by:Jordan, J. V., Kaplan, A. C., Miller, J. B., Stiver, I. P., and Surrey, J. L., New York:Guilford Press.
40. Nolen-Hoeksema, S., 1990. Sex differences in depression, Stanford, CA:Stanford University Press.
41. Noll, S. M., and Fredrickson, B. L., 1998. A mediational model linking self-objectification, body shame, disordered eating. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 22:623–636.
42. Rich, A., 1976. Of woman born, New York:Bantam.
43. Roberts, T-A., “Female trouble”:Self-objectification and women's attitudes toward menstruation. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association of Women in Psychology. Salt Lake City, UT. March.
44. Roberts, T-A., Gettman, J. Y., Konik, J., and Fredrickson, B. L., “Mere exposure”:Gender differences in the negative effects of priming a state of self-objectification. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. San Antonio, TX. January.
45. Roberts, T-A., Goldenberg, J. L., Power, C., and Pyszczynski, T., 2002. “Feminine protection”:The effects of menstruation on attitudes toward women. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 26:131–139.
46. Roberts, T-A., and Pennebaker, J. W., 1995. Gender differences in perceiving internal state:Toward a his and hers model of perceptual cue use. Advance in Experimental Social Psychology, 27:143–175.
47. Rogers, C., and Dymond, R., 1954. Psychotherapy and personality change, Chicago:University of Chicago Press.
48. Ruble, D. N., and Brooks-Gunn, J., 1982. The experience of menarche. Child Development, 53:1537–1566.
49. Selman, R. L., 1980. The growth of interpersonal understanding, New York:Academic Press.
50. Simes, M. R., and Berg, D. H., 2001. Surreptitious learning:Menarche and menstrual product advertisement. Health Care for Women International, 22:455–469.
51. Simons, R. G., and Blyth, D. A., 1987. Moving into adolescence:The impact of pubertal change and school context, Hawthorne, NJ:Aldine.
52. Slonim, R., 1996. Total immersion, Northvale, NJ:Aronson.
53. Smolak, L., Levine, M. P., and Gralen, S., 1993. The impact of puberty and dating on eating problems among middle school girls. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 22:355–368.
54. Steinem, G., 1983. Outrageous acts and everyday rebellions, New York:Signet.
55. Stiles, D., Gibbons, J. L., and Schnellmann, J., 1987. Young adolescents' images of the ideal woman and man. Journal of Early Adolescence, 7:411–427.
56. Striegel-Moore, R. H., Silberstein, L. R., and Rodin, J., 1986. Toward an understanding of risk factors for bulimia. American Psychologist, 41:246–263.
57. 1981. Tampax Report, The, New York:Ruder, Finn, & Rotman.
58. Tauna, N., 1993. The less noble sex:Scientific, religious, and philosophical conceptions of women's nature, Indianapolis:Indiana University Press.
59. Tiggemann, M., and Kenyon, S. J., 1998. The hairlessness norm:The removal of body hair in women. Sex Roles, 39:873–885.
60. Unger, R. K., 1979. Female and male, New York:Harper and Row.
61. Ussher, J., 1989. The psychology of the female body, New York:Routledge.
62. Whelan, E. M., 1975. Attitudes toward menstruation. Studies in Family Planning, 6:106–108.
63. Wolf, N., 1991. The beauty myth:How images of beauty are used against women, New York:Morrow.
64. Young, I. M., 1990. Throwing like a girl and other essays in feminist philosophy and social theory, Bloomington, IN:Indiana University Press.