Measuring self-objectification and sexually objectifying media experiences in cisgender women and men

Sexual objectification is the experience of being treated as a body existing for the use and pleasure of others. When sexually objectified, individuals may experience self-objectification and other body image concerns. It is currently unclear whether existing measures of self-objectification, which are primarily designed for women, adequately capture self-objectification in cisgender heterosexual men. In addition, current measures of experiences of sexually objectifying media may not fully capture the experiences of cisgender heterosexual women and men. Six studies were conducted in this PhD to address these gaps in the literature. Studies 1 and 2 examined the psychometric properties of the Self-Objectification Questionnaire (SOQ; Noll & Fredrickson, 1998), the Objectified Body Consciousness Body Surveillance Scale (OBC-Surv; McKinley & Hyde, 1996), and the Self-Objectification Beliefs and Behaviors Scale (SOBBS; Lindner & Dunn, 2017) in cisgender heterosexual women and cisgender heterosexual men using a longitudinal study design. Studies 3a, 3b, 4, and 5 developed and evaluated two novel measures of sexually objectifying media experiences for age-representative samples of cisgender heterosexual women (Women-SOMS) and men (Men-SOMS). Studies 3a and 3b generated the initial item pools for the Women-SOMS and the Men-SOMS based on a literature review and two online surveys. Study 4 conducted Exploratory Factor Analysis for both measures. Study 5 conducted Confirmatory Factor Analysis and examined the validity and reliability of the Women-SOMS and the Men-SOMS. Studies 1 and 2 indicated that the SOBBS was the most robust measure of self-objectification for cisgender heterosexual women and men. Studies 3a, 3b, 4, and 5 demonstrated that the Women-SOMS and Men-SOMS are generally psychometrical sounds for measuring experiences of sexual objectification in the media. Future research should continue to investigate the validity of the SOBBS, Women-SOMS and Men-SOMS in women and men.