Take Back the Bedroom: A Discussion of Body Objectification and Sexuality
By Katelynn Shimanski
In Western culture, desirability is often associated with thinness and physical attractiveness. The media’s portrayal of women can have negative impacts on a woman’s self-esteem, which can cause problems with intimacy. While we as a society often try to avoid talking about sex, our issues have evolved into such a problem that we take them home to our own bedrooms and suffer privately. Take back the bedroom by understanding what the objectification of women does to a woman’s sexuality, and the negative impacts that will continue to hurt young women.
Sexual objectification can occur in several different ways: everyday social encounters, in media depictions of these encounters, and in the media when women’s bodies or body parts are objectified. In regard to the media’s portrayal of men versus women, there tends to be an emphasis on a man’s head and face, whereas women’s faces and heads are often not included, instead focusing on their bodies (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997). While this in itself is an issue, another issue arises from the fact that the bodies that are being shown are often edited and unrealistic. Combined with other pressures such as the idea that women are only desirable if they are “feminine,” many women experience poor body image and low self-esteem.
Research has shown that the development of a healthy sexuality is a critical part of development in young women (Impett, Schooler, and Jones, 2006). As they develop, young women are taught the importance of physical appearance and that they must be feminine and partake in western beauty standards to be sexually desirable. As a response, girls learn to internalize their thoughts and feelings, and objectify themselves in the same way that the media has objectified women for so long. As young women, we train ourselves to conform to these unrealistic standards, and lose sense of ourselves and our sexuality. As we focus on turning ourselves into this “perfect” woman, we begin to dissociate from our own bodies, critiquing and assessing our appearance until we no longer love the body that we are in.
Body objectification, when a woman’s body, body parts, or sexuality is regarded as an object, has huge impacts on not only self-esteem, but on our sexuality. Sexual self-efficacy is defined as “A girl’s conviction that she can act upon her own sexual needs in a relationship, such as enjoying sex, refusing unwanted sex, and insisting on the use of protection” (Impett, Schooler, and Jones, 2006, p. 5). Body objectivity has been shown to reduce sexual self-efficacy in women, thus making them more likely to participate in risky sexual behaviors like not using condoms or birth control, which could have serious long-term ramifications. Additionally, this decreases the likelihood that during sex, women will be able to communicate their own desires, or be assertive when they want to say no (Impett, Schooler, and Jones, 2006).
While we often focus on body positivity and self-esteem, there is never a focus on what body objectification does in the bedroom. Women are having less sex, more risky sex, and finding themselves less and less likely to say no. Women are still encouraged to conform to unrealistic beauty standards and are taught to objectify themselves through everyday conversations and the media. Our culture struggles to discuss sex even if half of the popular suffers in the bedroom. Women should never be taught that they should be seen and not heard in life or during sex, and problems with assertiveness need to be addressed so that women feel that they can say no to any unwanted activities.
References
Fredrickson, B. L., & Roberts, T. (1997). Objectification theory: Toward understanding women's lived experiences and mental health risks. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 21(2), 173-206. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.mnsu.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.mnsu.edu/docview/57487435?accountid=12259
Impett, E. A., Schooler, D., & Tolman, D. L. (2006). To be seen and not heard: Femininity ideology and adolescent girls' sexual health. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 35(2), 131-144. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.mnsu.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.mnsu.edu/docview/68040759?accountid=12259