Asian American Women’s Body Image Experiences

Abstract

The purpose of our study was to explore Asian American women's body image experiences from an intersectional framework. Utilizing grounded theory methodology, we sought to understand how gender and race intersect with unique experiences of oppression to contribute to body dissatisfaction among Asian American women. Twenty Asian American undergraduate women born in the United States participated in semi-structured interviews. The core category "body image" was composed of attitudes and perceptions about body weight, shape, and size; facial features (e.g., eye size); and skin complexion or tone. Five categories emerged that informed the body image experiences of Asian American women: (1) navigating cultural beauty norms, (2) experiences of sexism and racism, (3) parental influences, (4) peer influences, and (5) identity management processes. Each of these categories appeared to have both positive and negative consequences for appearance evaluation, ranging from self-consciousness to confidence. Participants also described coping strategies for managing these experiences. We encourage psychologists and clinicians to consider culture-specific beauty standards for Asian American women as well as salient racial and cultural factors (e.g., perceived discrimination and biculturative stress) that may influence body image beliefs. Our results offer a new model for understanding Asian American women's body dissatisfaction as rooted in experiences of racism and sexism.

Forging Diversity‐Science‐Informed Guidelines for Research on Race and Racism in Psychological Science

“…Intersectionality theory has since expanded to incorporate other dimensions of diversity (e.g., sexual orientation, class, disability) through varied conceptual and analytic lenses. For example, intersectionality provides a framework in which to investigate a broad range of topics using multiple methodologies including constructing a scale to assess gendered-racial microaggressions among Black women (Lewis & Neville, 2015), examining intersections between ambiguous and obvious social categories (Remedios, Chasteen, Rule, & Plaks, 2011), exploring Asian American women's body image (Brady et al, 2017), comparing experiences of racism and sexism among Asian women (Remedios, Chasteen, & Paek, 2012), and evaluating an intervention designed to increase condom use among Latino gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (Rhodes et al, 2017).…”

Discrepancies in East Asians’ perceived actual and ideal phenotypic facial features.

“…Taken together with past research on East Asians' appearance-related concerns (Arkoff & Weaver, 1966;Brady et al, 2017;Chin Evans & McConnell, 2010;Frederick et EAST ASIAN ACTUAL-IDEAL DISCREPANCIES 14 al., 2016;Sue & Morishima, 1982;White & Chan, 1983), the present findings illustrate that phenotypic self-perceptions represent a real issue for East Asians. Practically, the finding that East Asians experience a phenotypic actual-ideal discrepancy in their facial selfperceptions may contribute to our understanding about the use of face-altering applications and "beauty" filters among young East Asian people to change their facial features in photographs and on social media (Nguyen, 2017).…”

“…Such a movement may also prove beneficial for people of East Asian descent. Scholars have also highlighted the globalization of the "White ideal" through Western mass media as a key determinant of the ongoing internalization of phenotype-based stigma in many racial minority group members (Brady et al, 2017;Jung & Lee, 2006;Murray & Price, 2011). Thus, increasing the prominence of alternative beauty ideals in mainstream media to counteract the overwhelming "White ideal" may be a potent way to foster more positive phenotypic selfperceptions in East Asians and other racial minority groups.…”

“…Furthermore, East Asian women are more likely to endorse mainstream, "White" beauty standards (Brady et al, 2017) and consequently experience greater dissatisfaction with their bodies than Black women (Chin Evans & McConnell, 2010). These appearance concerns also manifest in behavior; East Asians are the racial minority group most likely to undergo cosmetic surgery (Chen, 1994).…”

“…Based on past research into racial minority actual-ideal discrepancies (Bond & Cash, 1992) and the phenotypic self-perceptions of East Asians (Arkoff & Weaver, 1966;Brady et al, 2017;Chin Evans & McConnell, 2010;Frederick et al, 2016;Hall, 1995;Sue & Morishima, 1982;White & Chan, 1983), we hypothesized an actual-ideal discrepancy in East Asian participants, such that they would select an ideal face that is phenotypically "Whiter" than the face they select as their perceived actual face. As a secondary, exploratory research question, we also investigated how durable any observed actual-ideal discrepancy was; that is, whether it could shift as a function of fleeting reminders of racial discrimination or racial acceptance.…”