Title

Empowerment and powerlessness: A closer look at the relationship between feminism, body image and eating disturbance

Authors

Authors

R. D. Peterson; K. P. Grippo;S. Tantleff-Dunn

Comments

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Abbreviated Journal Title

Sex Roles

Keywords

body image; eating disorders; feminism; empowerment; prevention; SELF-OBJECTIFICATION; IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT; LIFE-SPAN; PSYCHOLOGICAL; EMPOWERMENT; ADOLESCENT GIRLS; COLLEGE-WOMEN; DISORDERS; ATTITUDES; MODEL; DISSATISFACTION; Psychology, Developmental; Psychology, Social; Women's Studies

Abstract

Objectification Theory (Frederickson & Roberts, 1997) states that women's bodies are viewed as objects to be evaluated and this societal objectification may lead to self-objectification when women view their own bodies as objects. The current study theorized that empowerment is an important factor in reducing self-objectification. Although empowerment is a central tenet of feminist theory, this study is the first to examine the relationship between empowerment, feminism, and body image and eating disturbance. Participants were 276 women from the southeastern USA. Results demonstrated that empowerment was more predictive of body image and eating disturbance than was feminism. Development of a validated empowerment scale specific to body image and eating disturbance may be useful for future research, prevention, and treatment efforts.

Journal Title

Sex Roles

Volume

58

Issue/Number

9-10

Publication Date

1-1-2008

Document Type

Article

Language

English

First Page

639

Last Page

648

WOS Identifier

WOS:000254850100004

ISSN

0360-0025

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