The role of sexual orientation in the relationships between body perception, body weight dissatisfaction, physical comparison, and eating psychopathology in the cisgender population

PURPOSE

Body weight dissatisfaction (BWD) and visual body perception are specific aspects that can influence the own body image, and that can concur with the development or the maintenance of specific psychopathological dimensions of different psychiatric disorders. The sexual orientation is a fundamental but understudied aspect in this field, and, for this reason, the purpose of this study is to improve knowledge about the relationships among BWD, visual body size-perception, and sexual orientation.

METHODS

A total of 1033 individuals participated in an online survey. Physical comparison, depression, and self-esteem was evaluated, as well as sexual orientation and the presence of an eating disorder. A Figure Rating Scale was used to assess different valences of body weight, and mediation analyses were performed to investigated specific relationships between psychological aspects.

RESULTS

Bisexual women and gay men reported significantly higher BWD than other groups (p < 0.001); instead, higher body misperception was present in gay men (p = 0.001). Physical appearance comparison mediated the effect of sexual orientation in both BWD and perceptual distortion. No difference emerged between women with a history of eating disorders and without, as regards the value of body weight attributed to attractiveness, health, and presence on social media.

CONCLUSION

This study contributes to understanding the relationship between sexual orientations and body image representation and evaluation. Physical appearance comparisons should be considered as critical psychological factors that can improve and affect well-being. The impact on subjects with high levels of eating concerns is also discussed.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

Level III: case-control analytic study.

An Experiencer, An Animal or An Object? Erection Salience Decreases Men's Perceived Agency

Three experiments investigated the influence of penile erection on ascriptions of mental capabilities to men. Drawing on sexual objectification literature and the distinction between agency and experience in mind perception, three competing predictions were formulated. The mind redistribution hypothesis assumed that penile erection would lower agency and heighten experience attributions, the animalistic dehumanization hypothesis predicted the decrease in agency, but not experience, and the literal objectification hypothesis implied the simultaneous decrease in both agency and experience. In Experiment 1 (N = 219; 128 females), erection salience lowered agency, but not experience capabilities ascribed to male targets. Experiment 2 (N = 201, 113 females) replicated the negative effect of erection salience on perceived agency (but not experience) and revealed that erection salience lowered intentions to hire a male target. This effect was explained with the loss of perceived agency. Experiment 3 (N = 203, 98 females) verified the causal relationship between penile erection, agency and hiring intentions. Taken together, these results supported the animalistic dehumanization hypothesis.

African American Women’s Sexual Objectification Experiences

The purpose of our study was to investigate African American women’s experiences with sexual objectification. Utilizing grounded theory methodology as well as Black feminist thought and objectification theory as the research lenses, the results of this study uncovered how racist, sexist, and classist ideologies contributed to sexual objectification experiences (SOEs) among African American women. Twenty African American female graduate students and others recruited from a campus community participated in semistructured interviews. Data revealed a number of different sociocultural factors that contributed to the sexual objectification of African American women (i.e., historical influence of slavery, sexualized views and images of African American women, and patriarchal social structure). These factors were observed to contribute to different forms of sexual objectification, ranging from comments and objectifying gazes to more extreme forms, such as sexual abuse. Participants described a number of effects of sexual objectification, including self-objectification, physical safety anxiety, eating concerns, psychological/emotional, and interpersonal. Participants also described how they coped with and grew from these experiences. Psychologists and mental health professionals are encouraged to consider how African American women’s SOEs are rooted in racism, sexism, and classism. Furthermore, these practitioners are urged to develop an awareness of how these oppressions intersect and contribute to the sexual objectification of African American women.

Underscoring the Need for Social Justice Initiatives Concerning the Sexual Objectification of Women

In this article, we emphasize the need to continually think outside the traditional therapy box in ways that we can intervene (and empower clients to intervene) to more directly address social problems, such as the sexual objectification of women, and to develop our own and our students’ advocacy skills to intervene at the level of organizations, processes, systems, and social policy. In addition, we encourage psychologists to actively take steps to increase the ways in which they turn their social justice agendas into action.