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Sex is power belief and women’s mental health: The mediating roles of self‐objectification and sexual subjectivity
Author(s) -
De Wilde Matthias,
Casini Annalisa,
Wollast Robin,
Demoulin Stéphanie
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
european journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1099-0992
pISSN - 0046-2772
DOI - 10.1002/ejsp.2643
Subject(s) - objectification , psychology , subjectivity , social psychology , perception , developmental psychology , epistemology , philosophy , neuroscience
Sex is power belief (SIPB) positively relates to self‐objectification. This research aims at expanding this finding. We propose that SIPB involves an instrumental view of one’s own body (i.e., self‐objectification) that leads women to experience the negative consequences classically associated with self‐objectification. We further suggest that SIPB positively relates to sexual subjectivity—multidimensional sexual self‐perceptions and positive sexual experiences—and that such relation counterbalances some of the negative effects of SIPB. We examine the effect of SIPB on women’s negative eating attitudes and sexual satisfaction, and test the mediating roles of self‐objectification and sexual subjectivity in three studies ( N 1 = 121, N 2 = 296, N 3 = 320). Results supported our predictions that beliefs in one’s sexual power lead both to negative ( via self‐objectification) and positive ( via sexual subjectivity) consequences for women’s mental health. The discussion focuses on the potential consequences of SIPB at both individual and collective levels.