Sexual objectification: advancements and avenues for future research

Self-objectification endorsement among heterosexual and sexual minority people and its association with negative affect and substance use.

“…Extending previous studies and heeding calls to go beyond the binary for the assessment of both sexual orientation (Brewster et al, 2014) and gender identity (Pecini et al, 2023), the present research examined differences in self-objectification and resulting appearance anxiety as a function of sexual orientation (homosexual people vs. bi-/pansexual people vs. heterosexual people) and gender identity (women vs. men. vs. nonbinary people) in a large sample of 2,770 participants.…”

“…The frequency of being exposed to sexual objectification, both directly and indirectly, might contribute to higher levels of self-objectification among gay men compared to heterosexual men (Martins et al, 2007). Importantly, research on nonbinary people is completely lacking and urgently needed (see also Pecini et al, 2023).…”

“…In the last 25 years, this phenomenon was studied within objectification theory, which provides an integrative framework for understanding how socialization and experiences of sexual objectification are translated into mental health problems (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997; Pecini et al, 2023). The theory focused on women, because in Western societies women are disproportionately subjected to objectification (e.g., Holland et al, 2017; McKee, 2005).…”

“…Although objectification theory has primarily been applied to heterosexual women (Calogero, 2012), some research has extended the theory to other social groups as well (see e.g., Jones & Griffiths, 2015; Pecini et al, 2023). A number of studies have shown that heterosexual women are not the only ones who are objectified (e.g., Martins et al, 2007; Morrison et al, 2003) or self-objectify (e.g., Schwartz et al, 2010).…”

“…However, other studies found that lesbian women reported lower levels of body surveillance (a construct that often serves as a proxy for self-objectification) than heterosexual women (Engeln-Maddox et al, 2011; Frederick et al, 2022), and bisexual women reported more body surveillance than both heterosexual and lesbian women (Frederick et al, 2022). There is a stark gap in the research on self-objectification when it comes to nonbinary individuals; research testing objectification endorsement must not be limited by the gender binary (Pecini et al, 2023). Thus, it is not yet known to what extent nonbinary people are objectified and what unique objectifying experiences they face.…”