Abstract
In the US, psychological researchers have been at the forefront of establishing and contributing to a public discourse on sexualization that holds responsible the media and corporations for using sexualization for profit. A growing body of knowledge produced by psychologists asks a particular set of research questions: What are the negative effects of sexualization on girls and women? How can we understand girls’ and women’s ‘participation’ in sexualization practices while maintaining the perspective that external forces are ultimately responsible and should therefore be called out and redressed? In the US public discourse, sexualization is understood as perhaps an unfortunately simplistic word for two distinct phenomena: (1) the sexualization of culture, which is an intensified presence and infusion of often uncalled-for sexuality into products, media and norms; and (2) the sexualization of individuals, meaning both the process and the effects of living within this sexualized context particularly on girls and women. This includes how girls navigate these pervasive representations of women and girls as sexual objects and introduces the psychological phenomena of self-sexualization and overt resistance to sexualization and being sexualized. Consistent with much of mainstream psychology, the behaviour of girls and women in relation to sexualization is studied with the assumption that this process is a response to the cultural omnipresence of sexualized imagery.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ali, S., Wong, C., & Slobe, T. (7 February 2014) Trans people speak their own truths — and that scares Piers Morgan. [Weblog post]. Retrieved from http://www.sparksummit.com/2014/02/07/trans-people-speak-their-own-truths-and-that-scares-piers-morgan/
American Psychological Association (2013) Experts available to discuss Halloween costumes, body image, sexualization of girls. [Press release]. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2013/10/costumes-sexualization.aspx
American Psychological Association, Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls. (2007) Report of the APA task force on the sexualization of girls. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Retrieved from www.apa.org/pi/wpo/sexualization.html
Attwood, F. (2006) Sexed up: Theorizing the sexualization of culture. Sexualities, 9, 77–94.
Aubrey, J., Hopper, K., & Mbure, W. G. (2011) Check that body! The effects of sexually objectifying music videos on college men’s sexual beliefs. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 55, 360–379.
Bailey, R. (2011) Letting children be children: Report of an independent review of the commercialisation and sexualisation of childhood. London: Department of Education.
Beauvoir, S. (1952) The second sex (H. M. Parshley Trans.). New York: Knopf.
Beck, V. S., Boys, S., Rose, C., & Beck, E. (2012) Violence against women in video games: A prequel or sequel to rape myth acceptance? Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 27, 3016–3031.
Behm-Morawitz, E., & Mastro, D. (2009) The effects of the sexualization of female video game characters on gender stereotyping and female self-concept. Sex Roles, 61, 808–823.
Bragg, S., & Buckingham, D. (2013) Global concerns, local negotiations and moral selves: Contemporary parenting and the ‘sexualisation of childhood’ debate. Feminist Media Studies, 13, 643–659.
Burgess, M. R., & Burpo, S. (2012) The effect of music videos on college students’ perceptions of rape. College Student Journal, 46, 748–763.
Calogero, R. M., & Thompson, J. K. (2009a) Sexual self-esteem in American and British college women: Relations with self-objectification and eating problems. Sex Roles, 60, 160–173. doi: 10.1007/s11199–008-9517-
Calogero, R. M., & Thompson, J. K. (2009b) Potential implications of the objectification of women’s bodies for women’s sexual satisfaction. Body Image, 6, 145–148.
Carr, E. R., & Szymanski, D. M. (2011) Sexual objectification and substance use in young adult women. The Counseling Psychologist, 39, 39–66.
Chen, Z., Teng, F., & Zhang, H. (2013) Sinful flesh: Sexual objectification threatens women’s moral self. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 49, 1042–1048.
Daniels, E. (2009) Sex objects, athletes, and sexy athletes: How media representations of women athletes can impact adolescent girls and college women. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 24 (4), 399–422.
Dines, G. (2010) Pornland: How porn has hijacked our sexuality. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
Duschinsky, R. (2013) The emergence of sexualization as a social problem: 1981–2010. Social Politics, 20 (1), 137–156. doi: 10.1093/sp/jxs016.
Edell, D., Brown, L. M., & Tolman, D. (2013) Embodying sexualisation: When theory meets practice in intergenerational feminist activism. Feminist Theory, 14 (3), 275–284.
Egan, R. D. (2013) Becoming sexual: A critical appraisal of the sexualization of girls. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
Egan, R. D., & Hawkes, G. L. (2008) Endangered girls and incendiary objects: Unpacking the discourse on sexualization. Sexuality & Culture, 12, 291–311.
Else-Quest, N. M., & Hyde, J. S. (2009) The missing discourse of development: Commentary on Lerum and Dworkin. Journal of Sex Research, 46, 264–267.
Erchull, M. J., Liss, M., & Lichiello, S. (2013) Extending the negative consequences of media internalization and self-objectification to dissociation and self-harm. Sex Roles, 69, 583–593.
Ferguson, A. (1984) Sex war: The debate between radical and libertarian feminists. Signs, 10 (1), 106–112.
Fiss, O. M. (1985) Free speech and social structure. Iowa Law Review, 71, 1405–1425.
Fredrickson, B. L., & Harrison, K. (2005) Throwing like a girl: Self-objectification predicts adolescent girls’ motor performance. Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 29, 79–101.
Fredrickson, B. L., & Roberts, T. (1997) Objectification theory: Toward understanding women’s lived experiences and mental health risks. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 21, 173–206.
Fredrickson, B. L., Roberts, T., Noll, S. M., Quinn, D. M., & 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.
Gay, R. K., & Castano, E. (2010) My body or my mind: The impact of state and trait objectification on women’s cognitive resources. European Journal of Social Psychology, 40, 695–703
Grabe, S., & Hyde, J. S. (2009) Body objectification, MTV, and psychological outcomes among female adolescents. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 39, 2840–2858.
Grabe, S., Ward, M. L., & Hyde, J. S. (2008) The role of the media in body image concerns among women: A meta-analysis of experimental and correlational studies. Psychological Bulletin, 134, 460–476.
Graff, K. A., Murnen, S. K., & Krause, A. K. (2013) Low-cut shirts and high-heeled shoes: Increased sexualization across time in magazine depictions of girls. Sex Roles, 69, 571–582.
Graff, K., Murnen, S., & Smolak, L. (2012) Too sexualized to be taken seriously? Perceptions of a girl in childlike vs. sexualizing clothing. Sex Roles, 66, 764–775.
Harrison, L., & Secarea, A. M. (2010) College students’ attitudes toward the sexualization of professional women athletes. Journal of Sport Behavior, 33, 403–426.
Hatton, E., & Trautner, M. (2011) Equal opportunity objectification? The sexualization of men and women on the cover of Rolling Stone. Sexuality & Culture, 15, 256–278.
Hatton, E., & Trautner, M. (2013) Images of powerful women in the age of ‘choice feminism’. Journal of Gender Studies, 22, 65–78.
Hebl, M. R., King, E. B., & Lin, J. (2004) The swimsuit becomes us all: Ethnicity, gender, and vulnerability to self-objectification. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30, 1322–1331.
Hill Collins, P. (1990) Black feminist thought. New York: Routledge.
Impett, E. A., Schooler, D., & Tolman, D. L. (2006) To be seen and not heard: Femininity ideology and adolescent girls’ sexual health. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 35, 131–144.
Jones, M., Nesbitt, M., Gujral, M., Evans, L., Luckhurst, G., & Ubiñas, B. (14 February 2014) Real girls, real talk: ‘I’d give #AerieReal a B’. [Weblog post]. Retrieved from http://www.sparksummit.com/2014/02/14/real-girls-real-talk-id-give-aeriereal-a-b/
Kofoed, J., & Ringrose, J. (2012) Travelling and sticky affects: Exploring teens and sexualized cyberbullying through a Butlerian-Deleuzian-Guattarian lens. Discourse, 33 (1), 5–20.
Labbe, I. (17 June 2013) Ugh, dress codes. [Weblog post]. Retrieved from http://www.sparksummit.com/2013/06/17/ugh-dress-codes/
Lindberg, S. M., Grabe, S., & Hyde, J. S. (2007) Gender, pubertal development, and peer sexual harassment predict objectified body consciousness in early adolescence. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 17, 723–742.
Loughnan, S., Pina, A., Vasquez, E. A., & Puvia, E. (2013) Sexual objectification increases rape victim blame and decreases perceived suffering. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 37, 455–461.
Machia, M., & Lamb, S. (2009) Sexualized innocence: Effects of magazine ads portraying adult women as sexy little girls. Journal of Media Psychology: Theories, Methods, and Applications, 21, 15–24.
McClelland, S. I., & Fine, M. (2008) Writing on cellophane: Studying teen women’s sexual desires, inventing methodological release points. The Methodological Dilemma: Creative, Critical and Collaborative Approaches to Qualitative Research, 232–260.
Mercurio, A. E., & Landry, L. J. (2008) Self-objectification and well-being: The impact of self-objectification on women’s overall sense of self-worth and life satisfaction. Sex Roles, 58, 458–466.
Moscovici, S. (1984) The phenomenon of social representations, in R. Farr & S. Moscovici (Eds.) Social Representations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Papadopoulos, L. (2010) Sexualisation of young people review. London: Home Office. Retrieved from http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/Sexualisation-of-young-people.html
Petersen, J. L., & Hyde, J. S. (2013) Peer sexual harassment and disordered eating in early adolescence. Developmental Psychology, 49, 184–195.
Quinn, D. M., Kallen, R. W., Twenge, J. M., & Fredrickson, B. L. (2006) The disruptive effect of self-objectification on performance. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 30, 59–64.
Renold, E., & Ringrose, J. (2011) Schizoid subjectivities? Re-theorizing teen girls’ sexual cultures in an era of ‘sexualization’. Journal of Sociology, 47, 389–409.
Ringrose, J. (2010) Sluts, whores, fat slags and playboy bunnies: Teen girls’ negotiations of ‘sexy’ on social networking sites and at school, in C. Jackson, C. Paechter, & E. Renold (Eds.) Girls and Education 3–16: Continuing Concerns, New Agendas. Basingstoke: Open University Press, pp. 170–182.
Ringrose, J., & Renold, E. (2012) Slut-shaming, girl power and ‘sexualisation’: Thinking through the politics of the international SlutWalks with teen girls. Gender and Education, 24, 333–343.
Rush, E., & La Nauze, A. (2006) Corporate paedophilia: Sexualisation of children in Australia. Canberra: The Australia Institute.
Sanchez, D. T., & Kiefer, A. K. (2007) Body concerns in and out of the bedroom: Implications for sexual pleasure and problems. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 36, 808–820.
Schooler, D., Ward, L. M., Merriwether, A., & Caruthers, A. S. (2005) Cycles of shame: Menstrual shame, body shame, and sexual decision-making. The Journal of Sex Research, 42 (4), 324–334.
Starr, C., & Ferguson, G. (2012) Sexy dolls, sexy grade-schoolers? Media & maternal influences on young girls’ self-sexualization. Sex Roles, 67, 463–476.
Tolman, D. L. (2002) Dilemmas of Desire: Teenage Girls Talk about Sexuality. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Tolman, D. L. (2012) Female adolescents, sexual empowerment and desire: A missing discourse of gender inequity. Sex Roles, 66 (11–12), 746–757.
Tolman, D. L., & Brown, L. M. (2010) Halloween and the sexualization of girls. Retrieved 24 July 2014 from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deborah-ltolman/halloween-and-the-sexuali_b_769891.html
Tolman, D. L., & McClelland, S. I. (2011) Normative sexuality development in adolescence: A decade in review, 2000–2009. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 21(1), 242–255.
Young, I. M. (1990) Throwing like a girl: A phenomenology of feminine body comportment, motility, and spatiality, in Throwing Like a Girl and Other Essays in Feminist Philosophy and Social Theory. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, pp. 141–159.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2015 Deborah L. Tolman, Christin P. Bowman and Jennifer F. Chmielewski
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Tolman, D.L., Bowman, C.P., Chmielewski, J.F. (2015). Anchoring Sexualization: Contextualizing and Explicating the Contribution of Psychological Research on the Sexualization of Girls in the US and Beyond. In: Renold, E., Ringrose, J., Egan, R.D. (eds) Children, Sexuality and Sexualization. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137353399_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137353399_5
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-55581-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-35339-9
eBook Packages: Palgrave Social Sciences CollectionSocial Sciences (R0)