Our study extended a modified version of objectification theory to a sample of sexual minority women in order to understand their experiences with body image and disordered eating concerns. Specifically, reported experiences of heterosexist discrimination and internalized heterosexism were integrated into the objectification theory framework. A total of 243 U.S. sexual minority women (primarily White and lesbian) participated in our online study. Results of a path analysis and tests of direct and indirect relations elucidated the important role of heterosexist experiences in sexual minority women’s eating disordered behaviors. Moreover, internalized sociocultural standards of beauty and internalized heterosexism were important predictors of sexual minority women’s body image concerns. Overall, our results supported the applicability of tenets of objectification theory to sexual minority women, with some important modifications. Our study demonstrates the importance of attending to stressors that uniquely affect sexual minority women, which arise from a sexist and heterosexist sociocultural context.

In this qualitative study, the authors examined the experience of discrimination and its relationship to the career development trajectory of 9 female‐to‐male transgender persons. Participants were between 21 and 48 years old and had a variety of vocational experiences. Individual semistructured interviews were conducted via telephone and analyzed using grounded theory methodology. The emergent model consisted of forms of discrimination and impact of discrimination. These components intersected with the career development trajectory. Participants provided their own suggestions for improving the workplace environment. Counseling, advocacy, and future research implications are discussed.

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.

This study is a longitudinal evaluation of the effectiveness of genderaffirming hormones for improving psychological well-being and decreasing suicidality among transgender youth referred to a transgender health specialty clinic at a large Midwest children's hospital. Method: Forty-seven youth (13.73-19.04 years; M ϭ 16.59, SD ϭ 1.19) who received gender-affirming hormones were assessed at least 2 times: before the start of treatment and at least 3 months after treatment. Results: After gender-affirming hormones, a significant increase in levels of general well-being and a significant decrease in levels of suicidality were observed. Conclusion: These findings suggest that gender-affirming hormones are a valuable medical intervention with promising psychosocial outcomes for transgender youth. Implications for Impact StatementThis study suggests that gender-affirming hormones are a helpful medical intervention for transgender youth. Gender-affirming hormones were found to be associated with decreases in suicidality and improvements in general well-being.

The purpose of our study was to extend tenets of objectification theory to a sample of 278 undergraduate African American women. We hypothesized that internalized multiculturally inclusive racial identity attitudes would moderate the relationship between sexually objectifying experiences and internalized sociocultural standards of beauty, which would then correlate with less body surveillance. In turn, we predicted that less body surveillance would be associated with less body shame, appearance anxiety, and greater interoceptive awareness, which would likely be associated with decreased eating disordered behaviors. A moderated mediation analysis supported the overall model, suggesting that internalized multiculturally inclusive racial identity attitudes buffer against sexually objectifying experiences. When sexually objectifying experiences were high and internalized multiculturally inclusive racial identity attitudes were low, participants were more likely to internalize dominant standards of beauty, which was then associated with increased body surveillance, body shame, appearance anxiety, disordered eating, and poorer interoceptive awareness. Interventions aimed to assist African American women develop a positive race salience and challenge sociocultural standards of beauty seem warranted in order to diminish body image concerns and disordered eating.

Latent variable structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test expectations of stigma, internalized heterosexism, and identity disclosure as mediators of the associations of heterosexist discrimination with psychological distress and well-being. Multigroup invariance testing was used to evaluate the predictions of the greater risk perspective, which contends that racial or ethnic minority (REM) sexual minorities (a) experience higher levels of minority stressors relative to their White peers and (b) that the associations among these stressors and between the stressors and mental health outcomes are stronger for REM sexual minority people than for White sexual minority people. Participants were 813 sexual minority adults (n ϭ 318 REM; n ϭ 495 White) who completed an online survey. Results of the SEM indicated that heterosexist discrimination, expectations of stigma, and low disclosure were each uniquely related to poorer mental health (i.e., higher distress, lower well-being); internalized heterosexism's unique associations with both mental health outcomes were nonsignificant. Expectations of stigma and disclosure (but not internalized heterosexism) mediated the relations of heterosexist discrimination with psychological distress and well-being. The invariance tests did not support the predictions of the greater risk perspective. Implications of these findings for clinical work and research with racially and ethnically diverse sexual minority people are discussed. Public Significance StatementThis study found that various heterosexist stressors were independently associated with poorer mental health among sexual minority people. Furthermore, the levels of these stressors and their associations with mental health did not differ between White and racial/ethnic minority people. Thus, it is important to explore the role of heterosexism in the lives and mental health of diverse sexual minority people.

No abstract

In this study, we examined the relations between multiple forms of oppressive experiences (i.e., racism, sexism, and sexual objectification) and trauma symptoms among Women of Color (WOC). In addition, self-esteem was explored as a partial mediating variable in these links, and ethnic identity strength was proposed to buffer the negative relationship between multiple forms of oppression and self-esteem, and the positive relationship between oppressive experiences and trauma symptoms. Results suggested that self-esteem partially mediated the positive relationship between racist experiences and trauma symptoms, such that racism was related to lower self-esteem, which was then related to more trauma symptoms. Sexism and sexual objectification were directly linked with trauma symptoms. Moreover, average and high levels of ethnic identity strength buffered the positive link between racism and trauma symptoms. Consistent with an additive intersectionality framework, results demonstrate the importance of attending to multiple forms of oppression as they relate to trauma symptoms among WOC. (PsycINFO Database Record