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Sex Objects, Athletes, and Sexy Athletes

How Media Representations of Women Athletes Can Impact Adolescent Girls and College Women

University of California, Los Angeles, daniels.psychology{at}gmail.com

In contrast to the large body of research examining the negative effects of idealized media images on girls' and women's body image, little research has investigated whether media images can positively impact body concept among females. Using a between-participants experimental design, this study examined how images of performance athletes, sexualized athletes, sexualized models, and nonsexualized models impacted adolescent girls' and college women's tendency to self-objectify. Participants were 350 adolescent girls and 225 college women who completed a measure of body objectification after viewing photographs. As expected, performance athlete images prompted less self-objectification, suggesting the need for more of this imagery in mainstream media.

Key Words: media • objectification • body image • women athletes • sports • physical activity

This version was published on July 1, 2009

Journal of Adolescent Research, Vol. 24, No. 4, 399-422 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0743558409336748


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