Female Objectification and Media Influence on Women’s Physical Ideals: A Qualitative Feminist Analysis of Female Beauty and Body Image Identity

• In Event: Objectification, Negotiated Identities and Constitutive Subjectivities

Abstract

The mass media enjoy widespread popularity among diverse audiences. Technological advances in production evoke sensory images, creating a plethora of widespread messages about female beauty and body image ideals. This analysis explores focus group responses from diverse college-age women to better understand how female beauty and body image are perceived and negotiated. Using feminist theories on objectification, physical representation, and beauty, salient themes culled, using the Critical Incident Technique, showcase resulting thoughts about media influence.

Author

• Amanda Martinez, Texas A&M University