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The present study tested the components of the model proposed by Objectification Theory (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997) in a sample of adolescent girls. Two groups of girls aged between 12 and 16 years (38 girls who currently studied classical ballet, and 45 girls who did not study classical ballet) completed questionnaire measures of self-objectification, body shame, appearance anxiety, and disordered eating. Contrary to prediction, there was no difference between the 2 groups on self-objectification or on any of its proposed consequences. For the total sample, however, the proposed model was largely supported. In particular, body shame and appearance anxiety partially mediated the relationship between self-objectification and disordered eating. It was concluded that Objectification Theory is applicable to adolescents.
KEY WORDS: objectification; dancers; adolescence; body image.
Objectification Theory, recently proposed by Fredrickson and Roberts (1997), attempts to understand the consequences of being female in a society that sexually objectifies the female body. Sexual objectification occurs when a woman's body is treated as an object (especially as an object that exists for the pleasure and use of others), and is illustrated interpersonally through gaze or "checking out," and in the representation of women in the media. As such sexual objectification is not within a woman's control, very few women are completely able to avoid contexts that may be potentially objectifying. Of central importance to Objectification Theory, however, is the proposal that the pervasiveness of sexual objectification in our society influences girls and women to internalise the views present in society and to begin viewing themselves in the same way. That is, girls and women gradually learn to adopt an observer's perspective on their physical selves and to treat themselves as an object to be looked at and evaluated on the basis of appearance. Fredrickson and Roberts (1997) term this particular perspective "self-objectification," and describe it as a form of self-consciousness that is characterised by habitual and constant self-monitoring of one's outward appearance.
Fredrickson and Roberts (1997) propose that the constant monitoring of appearance accompanying self-objectification has a number of negative behavioural and experiential consequences. In particular, internalising an observer's objectifying perspective leads to increased levels of shame about one's body and increased levels of appearance anxiety. These experiences arise partly because it is virtually impossible...