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

    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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