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Landor AM, Ramseyer Winter VL, Thurston IB, Chan J, Craddock N, Ladd BA, Tylka TL, Swami V, Watson LB, Choukas-Bradley S. The Sociostructural-Intersectional Body Image (SIBI) framework: Understanding the impact of white supremacy in body image research and practice. Body Image 2024; 48:101674. [PMID: 38154289 DOI: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2023.101674] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2023] [Revised: 12/01/2023] [Accepted: 12/12/2023] [Indexed: 12/30/2023]
Abstract
White supremacy and racial inequities have long pervaded psychological research, including body image scholarship and practice. The experiences of white, heterosexual, able-bodied, cisgender (predominantly college) women from wealthy, Westernized nations have been centered throughout body image research and practice, thereby perpetuating myths of invulnerability among racialized groups and casting white ideals and experiences as the standard by which marginalized bodies are compared. Body image is shaped by multiple axes of oppression that exist within systemic and structural systems, ultimately privileging certain bodies above others. In this position paper, we highlight how white supremacy has shaped body image research and practice. In doing so, we first review the history of body image research and explain how participant sampling, measurement, interpretive frameworks, and dissemination of research have upheld and reinforced white supremacy. Next, grounded in inclusivity and intersectionality, we advance the Sociostructural-Intersectional Body Image (SIBI) framework to more fully understand the body image experiences of those with racialized and minoritized bodies, while challenging and seeking to upend white supremacy in body image research and practice. We encourage other scholars to utilize the SIBI framework to better understand body inequities and the body image experiences of all people, in all bodies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antoinette M Landor
- Human Development and Family Science, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, United States; Center for Body Image Research & Policy, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, United States
| | - Virginia L Ramseyer Winter
- Center for Body Image Research & Policy, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, United States; School of Social Work, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, United States.
| | - Idia Binitie Thurston
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, United States; Department of Health Behavior, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Jamie Chan
- School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Falmer, United Kingdom
| | - Nadia Craddock
- Centre for Appearance Research, University of the West of England, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - Brianna A Ladd
- Department of Counseling, Higher Education, and Special Education, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, United States
| | - Tracy L Tylka
- Department of Psychology, Ohio State University, Marion and Columbus, OH, United States
| | - Viren Swami
- School of Psychology and Sport Science, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, United Kingdom; Centre for Psychological Medicine, Perdana University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
| | - Laurel B Watson
- Department of Psychology & Counseling, University of Missouri-Kansas City, Kansas City, MO, United States
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