Empowering or oppressing? Development and exploration of the Enjoyment of Sexualization Scale.
Sexualization of girls and women in America is rampant and has many negative consequences. Women, however, often report enjoying being sexually admired by men. Given this paradox, it is unclear whether such enjoyment represents an authentic empowerment of women's sexuality or is related to traditional feminine norms and sexist beliefs. In Studies 1 and 2, the authors developed and tested the eight-item Enjoyment of Sexualization Scale (ESS). It had good reliability and was differentiated from related constructs including body surveillance, body shame, self-sexualizing behaviors, and appearance-contingent self-esteem. In Study 3, endorsement of traditional gender norms, endorsement of benevolent sexism, and endorsement of hostile sexism were all positively related to the ESS. Moreover, women who both enjoyed sexualization and engaged in self-objectification reported more negative eating attitudes. Overall, there was little support for positive effects of enjoying sexualization. The extent to which enjoying sexualization actually empowers women or contributes to their oppression is discussed.
Department of Psychology, University of Mary Washington, 1301 College Avenue, Fredericksburg, VA 22401-5300, USA. mliss@umw.edu
Miriam
M
Liss
Mindy J
MJ
Erchull
Laura R
LR
Ramsey
D000293:Adolescent; D001828:Body Image; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006240:Happiness; D020010:Heterosexuality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008571:Men / Q000523:psychology; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D011209:Power, Psychological; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011287:Prejudice; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012649:Self Concept; D012752:Shame; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult