A Culturally Modified Application of Objectification Theory to Asian and Asian-American Women

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (7) ◽  
pp. 1048-1075
Author(s):  
Stacy Y. Ko ◽  
Meifen Wei

In the current study we sought to find support for a culturally modified application of objectification theory to Asian and Asian American women. The positive association between socialization experiences (i.e., racial teasing and appearance-focused social pressure) and the outcome variable (i.e., consideration of cosmetic surgery) was hypothesized to be mediated by self-objectification processes (i.e., internalization of beauty standards, body surveillance, and lower body esteem). Results using path analysis showed that culturally dominant (United States) and culturally specific (Asian) internalization of beauty standards, culturally dominant (United States) and culturally specific (Asian) body surveillance, and lower body esteem were significant mediators between socialization experiences and consideration of cosmetic surgery. A multiple-group analysis demonstrated equivalence of the model for Asian international and Asian American female students, showing that both dominant and culturally specific beauty standards may contribute to self-objectification processes for this population.

2002 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny K. Yi ◽  
Cielito C. Reyes-Gibby

Cancer is the leading cause of death among Asian-American women in the United States and breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among Asian-American women. Early detection through breast cancer screening has been found to improve the rate of survival for breast cancer. This study examined factors associated with breast cancer screening among 345 Vietnamese women ≥40 years old residing in a low-income Houston area. Data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire assessing socio-demographic characteristics, access to care factors, acculturation, and perceived susceptibility and severity of risks. Results showed 38 percent, 49 percent, and 33 percent of the respondents reporting having had a breast self-exam, a clinical breast exam, and a mammogram, respectively. Predictors of breast cancer screening include education, employment, ability to speak English, having lived in the United States for more than five years, and having a regular place of care. Implications of this study include the need for a culturally-relevant educational program for this understudied population.


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 460-471
Author(s):  
Brittany N. Morey ◽  
Gilbert C. Gee ◽  
Salma Shariff-Marco ◽  
Juan Yang ◽  
Laura Allen ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Asha Nadkarni

Asian American literature has capaciously explored the issues of gender, sexuality, and reproduction that have been so foundational to Asian American racial formation. It has likewise engaged, directly or indirectly, with “eugenics,” a pseudoscience by which nation states sought to improve their populations through managing reproduction. Eugenics, a term coined by Charles Darwin’s cousin Sir Francis Galton in 1883, spans the late 19th to the early 21st centuries, where it continues in the form of population control and the “new” eugenics of genetic and reproductive technologies. In some national sites eugenics was aligned with feminist movements for birth control, whereas in others, such as the United States, they were largely opposed. Nonetheless, eugenic feminists argued that women’s right reproduction was the necessary mechanism by which women should gain rights within the state; as a formation, moreover, eugenic feminism specifically targeted Asian American women as standing in the way of US feminist advance. As such, one of the key ways eugenics was practiced in the United States in relationship to Asian populations was through immigration policy. The history of Asian exclusion in the United States therefore speaks to a larger eugenic project predicated on the notion that Asian immigrants embodied a public health threat in terms of diseases and deviant sexualities of various sorts. The 1965 Immigration and Naturalization Act opened up Asian immigration to the United States and also gave rise to a new set of stereotypes, gendered and otherwise, about Asian Americans as model minorities. Asian American literature has critically mined these issues, with some Asian American literature acceding to eugenics by stressing an assimilationist politics and with other works challenging it by critiquing eugenics’ reproductive logic of purity.


2020 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 393-402
Author(s):  
Michelle I. Jongenelis ◽  
Simone Pettigrew

Self-objectification has been implicated in the development of body image disturbances and disordered eating among adults and adolescents. Empirical research exploring these associations among children is limited. Given body image and eating disturbances have been observed in a significant proportion of children, elucidating the factors associated with these disturbances among members of this population segment is important to informing prevention and intervention efforts. Accordingly, we cross-sectionally examined the association between self-objectification and body image and eating disturbances in 219 Australian 6- to 11-year-olds (57% classified as female children; average age = 8.37 years, SD = 1.42). Significant associations were observed between measures of self-objectification and body surveillance; body surveillance and both body shame and weight/shape concern; and weight/shape concern and dietary restraint. Results suggest early interventions targeting poor body image may need to address self-objectification, although further research is needed to firmly establish self-objectification as a risk factor for poor body image in children. Practitioners could utilize resources specifically developed for children, which encourage positive body esteem, build body confidence, support healthy relationships with food and exercise, and promote activities encouraging individuals to be attuned to how their bodies feel rather than how they look.


2021 ◽  
pp. 93-110
Author(s):  
Christian Dyogi Phillips

Chapter 5 underscores a key theme of this study: that understanding how one group’s opportunities are constrained requires simultaneously accounting for how those opportunities are facilitated for others. This chapter encompasses the first comprehensive analysis of the prospects for representation of Latina/os and Asian American women and men in predominantly white districts across the United States. Chapter 5 also provides an account of how partisanship interacts with race-gendered processes to create particular limits on the electoral opportunities for Asian American women and Latinas. The final section of the chapter addresses the phenomenon of the “crossover” candidate. Such a candidate is often characterized by pundits and some scholars as a Latina or Asian American woman running in a racial plurality or predominantly white district, on the basis of her presumed appeal to white voters.


2021 ◽  
pp. 036168432110262
Author(s):  
Yuhui Wang ◽  
Jasmine Fardouly ◽  
Lenny R. Vartanian ◽  
Xingchao Wang ◽  
Li Lei

People’s interest in cosmetic surgery has increased in recent years. Drawing from objectification theory, in the present study, we examined the associations of body talk on social networking sites (SNS), body surveillance, and body shame with cosmetic surgery consideration. In particular, we examined the mediating roles of body surveillance and body shame in the relationship between SNS body talk and cosmetic surgery consideration. We also examined potential gender differences in the serial mediation model. Male and female college students in China ( N = 309) completed questionnaires regarding SNS body talk, body surveillance, body shame, and cosmetic surgery consideration. Results showed that SNS body talk, body surveillance, and body shame were positively associated with cosmetic surgery consideration. Body surveillance and body shame mediated the association between SNS body talk and cosmetic surgery consideration both separately and sequentially. Gender did not moderate any of the relations in the serial mediation model. Findings of this study provide new insight into the relationship between SNS use and cosmetic surgery and highlight facets of objectification as potential targets for prevention and intervention regarding appearance concerns.


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