Petal Grower’s research while affiliated with University of Michigan and other places

Although objectification theory posits negative consequences of self‐objectification for adolescent girls, few studies have tested how objectification and sexualization contribute to mental health for youth of color. Accordingly, the current study explores the relations among body surveillance, enjoyment of sexualization, and mental health for a sample of 473 Black and White adolescent girls (Mage = 15.21, SD = 1.43). As expected, body surveillance and enjoyment of sexualization were associated with various forms of diminished well‐being. Race moderated two of these links, with Black girls who reported higher levels of body surveillance also reporting higher levels of depression and hostility compared with their White peers. Future work should examine the implications of enjoyment of sexualization for youth of color.

This review summarizes recent findings (2000–2020) concerning media's contributions to the development of gender stereotypes in children and adolescents. Content analyses document that there continues to be an underrepresentation of women and a misrepresentation of femininity and masculinity in mainstream media, although some positive changes are noted. Concerning the strength of media's impact, findings from three meta-analyses indicate a small but consistent association between frequent television viewing and expressing more stereotypic beliefs about gender. Concerning the nature of these effects, analyses indicate significant connections between young people's screen media use and their general gender role attitudes; their beliefs about the importance of appearance for girls and women; their stereotyping of toys, activities, and occupations; and their support for traditional sexual roles. We offer several approaches for moving this field forward, including incorporating additional theories (e.g., stereotype threat), focusing more on boys and ethnic minority youth, and centering developmental milestones. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Developmental Psychology, Volume 2 is December 15, 2020. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Most research on Black girls’ sexuality emphasizes reducing risk behaviors, with less attention to dimensions of healthy and normative sexual development, such as body positivity. To address this gap, we sought to explore the diversity of sexual messaging young Black women received during their formative years. Using consensual qualitative research methods, we explored how 50 Black college women (ages 18–24 years) described their sexual socialization within family contexts in relation to their current sexual beliefs and behaviors. The following themes emerged from the data: messages of discretion, negative messages about physical appearance, messages of deference, messages of abstinence, absence of sexual messages, messages of body positivity, messages of egalitarianism, messages of sex positivity, and messages of sexual distrust and dismissiveness. Black families’ sexual socialization processes were also influenced by ethnicity, social class, and religious orientation. Our findings situate Black women’s family sexual socialization practices within a sociohistorical framework and highlight the need to support Black girls’ healthy sexual development by eliminating fear, shame, or taboo around sexual exploration. Education and advocacy efforts should focus on communicating openly with youth to help them make more positive decisions about sex and bodily autonomy.

Although everyday exposure to mainstream media is theorized to be associated with women’s self-objectification, empirical tests of this association have yielded mixed results. There are several possible explanations for these mixed results. For example, it may be that mainstream media relate to women’s broader tendency to self-sexualize rather than to self-objectify, that newer forms of media (i.e., social media) should be incorporated into these models, or that these associations may operate indirectly. Accordingly, the current study examines how traditional media and Facebook investment are associated with women’s tendency to self-sexualize and tests whether these associations are mediated by the view of women as sexual objects, internalization of the thin ideal, and perceived pressure to conform to this ideal. Structural equation modeling demonstrated that magazine and Facebook investment predicted only internalization of the thin ideal, whereas reality television and sitcom exposure predicted all three mediators. Media use was indirectly related to self-sexualization through internalization of the thin ideal and the view of women as sexual objects. These results support the value of incorporating broader definitions of self-sexualization, diverse forms of media, and potential mediators into future models.

Introduction Puberty is a critical biopsychosocial event that has long‐term consequences for adolescents' behavior and well‐being. Research has shown that developing earlier than one's peers may worsen adolescent girls' body image, in part due to weight redistribution and increases in adiposity resulting from pubertal development. However, research has yet to examine if pubertal timing is associated with girls' body beliefs related to self‐objectification, self‐sexualization, and positive body image beyond the adolescent years. We address that issue here. Methods Participants were 287 undergraduate White women (Mage = 18.62, SDage = 0.93) from the United States who completed surveys containing a retrospective report of pubertal timing and several scales assessing their current body beliefs. Results Regression analyses demonstrated that earlier pubertal timing was linked to greater body surveillance, greater sex appeal self‐worth, and less body appreciation, but not to body shame or enjoyment of sexualization, which were negatively related to age. Conclusions This study provides preliminary evidence that pubertal timing has downstream consequences for a variety of women's body beliefs. However, older women reported less body shame and less enjoyment of sexualization than younger women, suggesting possible age (and not puberty‐) related developmental trends in these two body beliefs. These findings highlight a need for future work with larger, more diverse samples and longitudinal data.

Although numerous studies demonstrate links between negative body image and sexual well-being, recent research has emphasized studying the positive aspects of these constructs. The current study built upon this prior research by examining the association between body appreciation and sexual agency among a US community sample of 355 heterosexual women aged 18-40. This study also examined whether body appreciation is uniquely associated with sexual agency above and beyond levels of self-objectification. Regression analyses demonstrated that women who reported greater body appreciation also reported greater condom use self-efficacy, sexual satisfaction, sexual assertiveness, and feelings of entitlement to sexual pleasure, and lower levels of body self-consciousness during intimacy. These findings remained consistent even when self-objectification was entered into the model as a covariate. Results highlight the importance of studying how body appreciation may promote women's sexual agency.

Objectification theorists argue that repeated exposure to sexually objectifying media content leads to higher levels of self-objectification. Although consequences of self-objectification for women’s sexual health and sexual agency have been proposed, efforts to test these connections have been infrequent and have yielded inconsistent results. We used structural equation modeling to test connections between exposure to three media genres (women’s magazines, lifestyle reality TV, and situation comedies), self-sexualization, and four dimensions of sexual agency among 754 heterosexual and bisexual undergraduate women aged 16–23 (M = 18.5). Our assessments of sexual agency focused on sexual assertiveness, condom use self-efficacy, sexual affect, and alcohol use to feel sexual. Findings confirmed our expectations. More frequent consumption of women’s magazines, lifestyle reality TV programs, and situation comedies each predicted greater self-sexualization, which in turn predicted greater use of alcohol to feel sexual, less condom use self-efficacy, and more negative sexual affect. We discuss implications for women’s sexual well-being and for research on media sexualization. We also offer suggestions for practitioners, parents, and educators to disrupt the associations among media use, self-sexualization, and diminished sexual agency.