Introduction
This article is about the risk of social media and more specifically Instagram on the perception of women. Indeed, nowadays social media takes a very important place in our lives and in our judgments. Women have always been the most affected by the judgement of others and particularly their appearance and weight. This article is a literature review that aims to define the notion of objectification and self-objectification of women and also to question these notions.
- The notion of objectification
Sexual objectification occurs when a person is treated as a sexual object, rather than as a person. When sexually objectified, people are reduced to their appearance, sex appeal and sexual body parts for the use and pleasure of others (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997). When people are sexually objectified, they are dehumanized (Heflick & Goldenberg, 2009). That is, sexual objectification fundamentally changes the social perception and moral treatment of perpetrators towards sexually objectified targets. Sexual objectification also influences the ways in which the objectified, think and act. This can lead to reduced cognitive functioning, anxiety, body shame and eating disorders.
2. Self-objectification
Self-objectification is the fact of internalizing the gaze of others on oneself. Indeed, self-objectification follows from objectification. People internalize objectifying acts and from this comes a judgement of their own appearance. People come to attach more importance to observable physical aspects, for example weight and height, than to unobservable physical aspects such as health (Wollast, R., De Wilde, M., Bernard, P., & Klein, O. 2020). Self-objectification is, in other words, an evaluation, a (often negative) judgement that one makes about one’s own body, which one then considers as an object that can be judged and evaluated by others and has utility for a third person (Cléroux 2015; Rollero & De piccoli, 2017).
Self-objectifying individuals are defined by the perception and judgement of others on their external appearance (Fredrickson & Roberts 1997). Self-objectification can have negative consequences for the mental and physical health of those affected by it. Indeed, since body image is the first to be affected, it is not uncommon for a person who engages in self-objectification to develop, for example, eating disorders or anxiety.
3. Self-compassion
The various authors agree that very few studies have been able to provide solutions to considerably reduce self-objectification. Self-compassion is one of the few ways to reduce self-objectification. Self-compassion is the act of being kind and understanding towards oneself (Neff, 2003a). In his book Neff (2003a) explains that self-compassion has three elements: Self-compassion, Common humanity (understanding that everyone has negative emotions), Caring (accepting and therefore acknowledging one’s emotions without judgement). Self-compassion can be defined as the ability to hold one’s feelings of suffering with a sense of warmth, connection, and concern. Research has shown that self-compassion is associated with psychological well-being and suggests that self-compassion may be an important protective factor, promoting emotional resilience, which is the ability to cope with a difficult and/or stressful situation (see Neff, 2009, for a recent review). It has also been shown that higher levels of self-compassion are generally linked to better psychological health. Self-compassion would therefore reduce the negative effects of self-objectification.
4. Social network
The majority of studies done on social networks and objectification talk about the social network Facebook. The various research studies all agree that there is a positive correlation between social media and body image in adolescent girls (Meir & Gray, 2014). In other words, adolescent girls with high exposure to Facebook develop a disturbed body image. Specifically, adolescent girls would develop weight dissatisfaction, internalization of the thin ideal and consequently exhibit self-objectification. Studies have shown that it is the use of social networking sites that induces self-objectification because the use of Google, unlike Facebook, does not induce body image problems. Several authors have looked at the role that Instagram can play in the processes of objectification and self-objectification. It is relevant to focus on young adults as this age group is under strong social pressure related to appearance (Helfert and Warschburger 2013). Chandra Erin Feltman (2018) in her study explains that the social network Instagram by its nature (photo or video sharing) is a more problematic social network for body image. She demonstrates that the use of Instagram increases self-objectification behaviours, more specifically body surveillance. It is therefore legitimate to be interested in the consequences it may have on self-objectification behaviours. However, it also demonstrates that feminist beliefs act as a protection against Instagram-related self-objectification. Women with low levels of feminist beliefs are more likely to self-objectify and vice versa. In another study the authors showed that exposure to photos of muscular women resulted in greater negative mood and body dissatisfaction than in participants exposed to travel photos. It is relevant to ask whether, like feminist beliefs (Feltman & Szymanski, 2018), self-compassion may have a protective role on objectification and self-objectification in young women.
5. Conclusion
To conclude, we have seen that many authors have questioned the power of social networks and what this means for young women’s perceptions. It would be interesting to continue this research and ask whether there is a correlation between exposure to the social network Instagram and the rate of objectification and self-objectification in young women. Does self-compassion have a protective role against self-objectification due to the social network Instagram?
References :
Cléroux, G. (2015). Les associations entre les pressions sociales, l’auto-objectification, le concept de soi, la motivation sexuelle et le bien-être sexuel (Doctoral dissertation, Université du Québec en Outaouais).
Feltman, C. E., & Szymanski, D. M. (2018). Instagram use and self-objectification: The roles of internalization, comparison, appearance commentary, and feminism. Sex Roles, 78(5-6), 311-324.
Fredrickson, BL et Roberts, TA (1997). Théorie de l’objectivation: vers la compréhension des expériences vécues par les femmes et des risques pour la santé mentale. Psychologie des femmes trimestrielle , 21 (2), 173-206.
Heflick, N. A., & Goldenberg, J. L. (2009). Objectifying S. Palin: Evidence that objectivation causes women to be perceived as less competent and less fully human. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45(3), 598-601. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2009.02.008
Helfert, S., & Warschburger, P. (2013). The face of appearance-related social pressure: gender, age and body mass variations in peer and parental pressure during adolescence. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, 7(1), 1-11.
Neff, K. D. (2003). The development and validation of a scale to measure self-compassion. Self and identity, 2(3), 223-250.
Neff, K. D. (2009). The role of self-compassion in development: A healthier way to relate to oneself. Human development, 52(4), 211.
Wollast, R., De Wilde, M., Bernard, P., & Klein, O. (2020). Percevoir son corps à travers le regard d’autrui: Une revue de la littérature sur l’auto-objectification. LAnnee psychologique, 120(3), 321-347.