Women's self-objectification experiences and resistance strategies within the context of the body

Sexual objectification is one of the main issues of feminist theory and practice. This study focuses on Objectification Theory (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997) to investigate women's experiences of sexual objectification of the female body. According to the theory, women exposed to the objectification of the female body through the media and social life internalize this objectification and experience Self-Objectification. In the theory, certain psychological outcomes mediated by Self-Objectification and some clinical psychological pictures mediated by these outcomes are presented. The present study aimed to deal with the experience of Self-Objectification, not clinically, but with women's everyday experiences. This study, which focuses on Objectification Theory, basically has three aims. The first of the objectives, determined in line with the characteristics of the Participant Group, is to reveal the contexts in which cisgender, heterosexual, young adult and gender conscious women are exposed to the sexual objectification; The second aim is to describe the self-objectification experiences of the specified participant group, and the final aim is to investigate the strategies of resistance to the sexual objectification and self-objectification of the women in the specified participant group. The method of the research was determined as a qualitative research method, based on the teachings of Feminist Methodology. The data were analyzed with thematic analysis method. Contexts of Sexual Objectification dealt with the themes of Interpersonal Context/Media, Space, Form of Sexual Objectification. Experience of Self-Objectification were discussed under the themes Continuous Self-Surveillance – Habitual Body Monitoring, Divided Attention, Emotional and Psychological Outputs, Body Appearance Interventions, Body Dysmorphia. Counter-Strategies were revealed under the themes of Awareness and Practices. In line with the findings; It was concluded that women internalize the sexual objectification of the female body, but develop well-being and opposition strategies for this experience through their awareness areas.