Objectification Theory: Toward Understanding Women's Lived Experiences and Mental Health Risks

1997 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara L. Fredrickson ◽  
Tomi-Ann Roberts

This article offers objectification theory as a framework for understanding the experiential consequences of being female in a culture that sexually objectifies the female body. Objectification theory posits that girls and women are typically acculturated to internalize an observer's perspective as a primary view of their physical selves. This perspective on self can lead to habitual body monitoring, which, in turn, can increase women's opportunities for shame and anxiety, reduce opportunities for peak motivational states, and diminish awareness of internal bodily states. Accumulations of such experiences may help account for an array of mental health risks that disproportionately affect women: unipolar depression, sexual dysfunction, and eating disorders. Objectification theory also illuminates why changes in these mental health risks appear to occur in step with life-course changes in the female body.

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adediran Daniel Ikuomola

Often overemphasised, in most sexuality studies, is that persons with disability, especially women, face experiences of asexualization rather than sexualisation. Similarly overemphasised is the faulty monolithic assumption that economic deprivation is the causal factor in the objectification of persons with disability. This has unintentionally created an expectation that objectifying environments are the inevitable and immutable default to economic distress. This is often not the case within the socio-cultural space of persons with albinism (PWA) in Southern Nigeria, where their presence is obvious. As a departure, this study examined the sexual objectification of PWA in Nigeria. It was discovered that at some points in the life course of PWA, most especially among the women with the development and aging of their body, objectification added to mental health risks such as withdrawal syndrome, isolation and indolence. The study concludes that cultural attitudes not only creates and threatens PWA sexed and gendered body confidence in relationships but also for them to be labelled and misconstrued as sexually inactive.


2021 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 100-106
Author(s):  
Emily J. Follwell ◽  
Siri Chunduri ◽  
Claire Samuelson-Kiraly ◽  
Nicholas Watters ◽  
Jonathan I. Mitchell

Although there are numerous quality of care frameworks, little attention has been given to the essential concepts that encompass quality mental healthcare. HealthCare CAN and the Mental Health Commission of Canada co-lead the Quality Mental Health Care Network (QMHCN), which has developed a quality mental healthcare framework, building on existing provincial, national, and international frameworks. HealthCare CAN conducted an environmental scan, key informant interviews, and focus groups with individuals with lived experiences to develop the framework. This article outlines the findings from this scan, interviews and focus groups.


Author(s):  
Patricia Nayna Schwerdtle ◽  
Kate Baernighausen ◽  
Sayeda Karim ◽  
Tauheed Syed Raihan ◽  
Samiya Selim ◽  
...  

Background: Climate change influences patterns of human mobility and health outcomes. While much of the climate change and migration discourse is invested in quantitative predictions and debates about whether migration is adaptive or maladaptive, less attention has been paid to the voices of the people moving in the context of climate change with a focus on their health and wellbeing. This qualitative research aims to amplify the voices of migrants themselves to add nuance to dominant migration narratives and to shed light on the real-life challenges migrants face in meeting their health needs in the context of climate change. Methods: We conducted 58 semi-structured in-depth interviews with migrants purposefully selected for having moved from rural Bhola, southern Bangladesh to an urban slum in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis under the philosophical underpinnings of phenomenology. Coding was conducted using NVivo Pro 12. Findings: We identified two overarching themes in the thematic analysis: Firstly, we identified the theme “A risk exchange: Exchanging climate change and health risks at origin and destination”. Rather than describing a “net positive” or “net negative” outcome in terms of migration in the context of climate change, migrants described an exchange of hazards, exposures, and vulnerabilities at origin with those at destination, which challenged their capacity to adapt. This theme included several sub-themes—income and employment factors, changing food environment, shelter and water sanitation and hygiene (WaSH) conditions, and social capital. The second overarching theme was “A changing health and healthcare environment”. This theme also included several sub-themes—changing physical and mental health status and a changing healthcare environment encompassing quality of care and barriers to accessing healthcare. Migrants described physical and mental health concerns and connected these experiences with their new environment. These two overarching themes were prevalent across the dataset, although each participant experienced and expressed them uniquely. Conclusion: Migrants who move in the context of climate change face a range of diverse health risks at the origin, en route, and at the destination. Migrating individuals, households, and communities undertake a risk exchange when they decide to move, which has diverse positive and negative consequences for their health and wellbeing. Along with changing health determinants is a changing healthcare environment where migrants face different choices, barriers, and quality of care. A more migrant-centric perspective as described in this paper could strengthen migration, climate, and health governance. Policymakers, urban planners, city corporations, and health practitioners should integrate the risk exchange into practice and policies.


Author(s):  
Alessandro Vittori ◽  
Giuliano Marchetti ◽  
Roberto Pedone ◽  
Elisa Francia ◽  
Ilaria Mascilini ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  

2018 ◽  
Vol 69 (7) ◽  
pp. 797-803 ◽  
Author(s):  
Line Ryberg Rasmussen ◽  
Jan Mainz ◽  
Mette Jørgensen ◽  
Poul Videbech ◽  
Søren Paaske Johnsen

PLoS ONE ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. e0209242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristin Berre Ørjasæter ◽  
Larry Davidson ◽  
Marianne Hedlund ◽  
Ottar Bjerkeset ◽  
Ottar Ness

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kayla Marshall ◽  
Kerry Chamberlain ◽  
Darrin Hodgetts

Strength and femininity have in many ways been culturally constructed as two mutually exclusive phenomena. This paper considers how Instagram facilitates female body objectification and surveillance through an examination of female bodybuilders whose muscular bodies represent both resistance against and conformity to dominant cultural notions around women as fragile, weak, and subservient. We reveal how surveillance over the bodies of female bodybuilders on Instagram functions to reposition them as more (hetero)normatively feminine by encouraging them to present bodies which are ornamented, sexualized, and passive. We also reveal how female bodybuilders practise self-surveillance on Instagram by simultaneously resisting and conforming to this surveillance. In the process, these women manage to redefine femininity for themselves in ways which problematize dualistic notions around strength and femininity.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Monique Allen ◽  
Greg Campbell

The problem addressed in this phenomenological study was the lack of documentation that supported the lived experiences of crisis intervention team (CIT)-trained police officers related to their field encounters with persons with mental illnesses. The purpose of the study was to explore the lived experiences of officers among CIT-trained police officers to address the problem. The protection motivation theory was aligned closest with the teachings of CIT training as described by the study participants’ lived experiences. Participants provided the study’s collected data, which was composed of completed questionnaires and transcribed interviews. The empirical theoretical framework method of analysis used was a combination of inductive coding and theme analysis that established the results of this study. Key findings of the study identified a significant amount of frustration expressed in the lived experiences of the CIT-trained police officers. Frustration was experienced by officers who applied the protection motivation theory to ensure the well-being of persons experiencing a mental crisis. There was considerable pushback from the public mental health facilities, which added to the frustration experienced by CIT-trained police officers who attempted to navigate treatment with the limited resources available to help persons in mental crisis. The positive social change produced from this study included recommendations to police leadership and mental health advocates to encourage certain CIT-training-related practices that directly impact CIT field encounters with persons in mental crises. Specialized training may promote improved departmental outcomes such as sustainability of gains for those in crises and enable police officer accountability and reliability.


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