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Paper 1: Study one investigates the relationship between the ages of children and young people in years 5-9 and their levels of body esteem, perceived pressure from family, friends and the media, internalisation of societal standards of attractiveness and social comparison.169 participants aged 9-14 years completed four questionnaires: the Body Esteem Scale for Children, the Perceived Sociocultural Pressure Scale, the general internalisation subscale of the Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Scale-3 and the Physical Appearance Comparison Scale. Results indicated that relationships existed between the age of participants and their scores on these questionnaires, but only for girls. For girls, a significant negative correlation was found between age in months and scores on the Body Esteem Scale for Children, and a significant positive correlation was found between age in months and scores on the Perceived Sociocultural Pressure Scale, the general internalisation subscale of the Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Scale-3 and the Physical Appearance Comparison Scale. No relationship between age in months and scores on the questionnaires were found for boys. Boys also had significantly higher body esteem than girls and there were significant correlations between scores on the Perceived Sociocultural Pressure Scale, the general internalisation subscale of the Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Scale-3, the Physical Appearance Comparison Scale and the Body Esteem Scale for Children. Results are discussed with reference to the gender differences, as well as the role of pressure, internalisation and social comparison in the development of body esteem in children and young people. Paper 2: Study two has a positive psychology focus and is a qualitative study of children and young people with positive body esteem. 10 participants from the initial sample of 169 participants from study one with the highest levels of body esteem were selected for interview. The aim of the research was to discover what children with positive body esteem say about their own appearance, exercise, the influence of family, friends and school, and also about appearance ideals. Thematic analysis revealed that children and young people with positive body esteem have a sense of global satisfaction with their appearance but did not place great importance on appearance. Appearance was rarely discussed with significant others in their lives, although many participants described receiving compliments about their appearance. Where negative comments had been received, these were dismissed as jokes or not important. When asked about appearance ideals, the children and young people in the current study discussed controllable aspects of appearance such as clothes and hairstyles; however, they often rejected appearance ideals and instead defined beauty more widely. Finally, exercise and sport were an important part of these children and young people’s lives, with a number of participants competing at a high level. Findings are discussed with particular reference to previous work with Swedish adolescents by Frisén and Holmqvist (2010) and Holmqvist and Frisén (2012).

Media is now a part of the early childhood world. In many countries, including industrialized and developing countries, children spend more time consuming various kinds of media. The impact of media on children's perception of their body images has been and continues to be a concern of parents and early childhood professionals. This research examined the influence of Disney movies on Thai kindergarten girls' body images and self-esteem. Thai kindergarten girls completed three measures of body self-image: the Body Figure Preference Scale, the Body Esteem Scale, and the Self-Esteem Scale. The girl participants were randomly assigned to two groups: focused on a female theme (FFT) and focused on a non-human theme (FNT). The experimental group viewed "female" Disney movie themes, while the control group viewed "animal" Disney movie themes. Girls in the experimental group expressed greater body image dissatisfaction scores after watching Disney movies, which was an expected finding. Results from the present study suggest that girls in both groups become concerned about their body esteem after video exposure. However, there was no significant difference in self-esteem between girls in FFT and FNT. In summary, the findings of this study support the belief that Disney movies influence young girls' perceptions of their body image, and they have an awareness of their body size. It can be concluded that Disney movies have an influence on Thai girls' body image dissatisfaction and body esteem. The results also indicated that Thai girls are not totally aware of the influence of Disney media on their self-esteem. Understanding how Disney movies, in particular, and other media, in general, influence young children, especially girls, can encourage parents and educators to identify risk factors associated with children's body image dissatisfaction and low self-esteem.

A THESIS Submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, 2014 / Introduction: An increase in the prevalence of eating disorders, body image dissatisfaction, low self-esteem and unhealthy weight control behaviors have been reported among adolescents worldwide, and are a public health concern with physical and psychological consequences. Although underweight and stunting still persists in South Africa, overweight and obesity is increasing in all ages, gender, and ethnic groups. Obesity is a biological risk factor for body dissatisfaction, low self-esteem and eating disorders among adolescents, all of which have been found to be associated with various weight change behaviors and strategies. South Africa being a culturally diverse country is undergoing rapid political, socioeconomic, nutrition and epidemiological transitions, and therefore offers a unique opportunity to investigate this area of research. Study design: There are two study components: (1) A cross-sectional study to determine gender and ethnic (black and white) differences in eating attitudes, self-esteem and body satisfaction in 13, 15 and 17 year-old boys (n=391) and girls (n=340) living in urban Johannesburg; (2) A longitudinal survey of the Birth-to-Twenty (Bt20) cohort at ages 13 and 17 years (n=1435) to compare eating attitudes, body-esteem and weight control behaviors between black and mixed ancestry adolescents, to examine the changes over time in these variables, and to investigate ethnic differences in the male and female perceptions of female body silhouettes at age 17 years. These ages were selected to provide a diverse sample of adolescents (early, mid and late adolescence). Methods: Anthropometric measurements were performed on all participants. Overweight and obesity were determined using age-gender specific cut-offs for BMI for children aged up to 17 years. Eating attitudes test-26 (EAT-26) scores were used to determine an increased risk of developing an eating disorder. The total EAT-26 score is the sum of the 26 items and scores range from 0 to 78. Participants who score more than 20 are considered to be at greater risk of developing an eating disorder, and represent more unhealthy attitudes towards food, body weight and eating. Body-esteem was measured using a body esteem scale. It consists of a set of 21 questions which measure 1) global feelings about one’s body e.g. “I like what I see when I look in the mirror”, 2) satisfaction with one’s weight e.g. “I really like what I weigh” and 3) positive evaluations about one’s body and appearance e.g. “People my own age like my looks”. The body-esteem assessment uses a 5-point scale ranging from “never” (1) to “always” (5) and the higher the score the more satisfied the participant is with their body. Total scores are divided into three categories; low body esteem (score 1 to 21), average body-esteem (score 22 to 42), and high body esteem (score > 43). The Rosenberg self-esteem tool was used to measure general self-esteem of the participants. Body image satisfaction tool was used to rate participants satisfaction with different parts of their body whereas, the body esteem scale was used to assess participant’s attitudes and feelings about their body and appearance. A series of randomly placed female silhouettes were used to assess participants association with different attributes. They were also asked to associate a series of randomly placed female silhouettes, with specific words or phrases including clumsy, happy, worst, strong, happiest, best, less respect, more respect, unhappy. All participants were asked a number of questions about their attempts to change their weight. Girls and boys were asked the following questions: “During the past year have you done anything to try to lose weight?”, “During the past year have you done anything to try to gain muscle?” If participants answered positively they were asked to give reasons, which included; health and cosmetic reasons e.g. to look better, clothes too tight, too fat, unhappy with self, and want to be a model. They were further asked about the methods they used to lose weight, and their responses were categorized into three groups: (i) healthy weight control behaviors (e.g. to exercise, eat more fruits and vegetables, and to eat less high fat foods and less sweets) [20] unhealthy weight control behaviors (e.g. fasting, eating very little food, skipping meals, cigarette smoking and use of food substitutes (iii) extreme weight control behaviors (e.g. use of diet pills, self-induced vomiting, use of laxatives and diuretics). Descriptive analyses were completed and stratified according to gender and ethnicity. For normally distributed data we used t-tests and ANOVAs, and for data that was not normally distributed Wilcoxon rank test was done to determine significant difference. Chi-square tests were used to determine differences between categorical data. Pearson correlation test was done to determine linear associations. A p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: In the non-cohort sample, the prevalence of overweight and obesity was higher in the white girls and boys compared to their black peers, significantly more black than white adolescents of both genders reported an EAT-26 score ≥20 (predisposition to an eating disorder). Although the prevalence of low self-esteem was greater in the white compared to black girls, in the study of the male adolescents, the low self-esteem was more prevalent in the black compared to the white boys. Significantly more black than white girls had high body image dissatisfaction (38.8 vs. 16.7%). There were significant differences between the male and female ethnic groups in their perception of female silhouettes, and the majority of the white girls (65.4%) wanted to be thinner compared to only 38.8% of the black girls. BMI was positively associated with self- esteem and negatively with dieting behavior in white boys , and with lower EAT-26 bulimic and oral control scores in black boys. In the Birth to Twenty cohort, black African females had a higher BMI (p<0.001) and an increased risk of developing eating disorders as well as significant increase in the prevalence of weight loss practices between the ages 13 and 17 years. At age 17 years both mixed ancestry adolescents had lower body-esteem compared to black adolescents. The prevalence of possible eating disorders was 11% and 13.1% in early and late adolescents respectively. Males and females shared similar opinions on normal silhouettes being the 'best', 'getting respect' and being the 'happiest', while the obese silhouette was associated with the 'worst' and the 'unhappiest', and the underweight silhouette with the "weakest". Conclusions: Black African urban teenagers seem to be embracing Western norms to fit in with the demands of Western culture, however there is still evidence of traditional influences in both boys and girls with regard to perceptions of female silhouettes. Our findings suggest ethnicity and gender play a major role in psychosocial disorders. Ethnicity and gender were found to be associated with an increased risk of future eating disorders, as well as weight loss and muscle gain practices. These findings are highly relevant for all African countries undergoing transition, and are important in planning the development of interventions to optimize adolescent health prior to adulthood.

The cosmetic surgery industry has rapidly expanded and Professional Associations for surgery in the UK and USA have expressed concern over the ways in which surgery is portrayed in the media. This thesis aimed to investigate how different portrayals of cosmetic surgery in the media impact women and adolescent girls' body image and attitudes towards surgery. Moreover, it examined a number of moderating variables which may affect responses to such media. The first three studies examined the impact of different aspects of cosmetic surgery advertising on adult women using experimental designs. Study 1 (N=161) looked at the effect of including discount incentives or risk information on women's attitudes towards surgery and body image. Study 2 (N=151) examined the effect of different images in cosmetic surgery advertising (female models, locations, scalpels or control images) on the same outcomes. Study 3 (N=145) was a replication of Study 1, looking at whether discount incentives and risk information have a similar impact in Switzerland, a country with less exposure to cosmetic surgery. The final two studies focused on adolescent girls aged 15-18 using mixed methods. Study 4 was a qualitative focus-group investigation of girls' (N=17) attitudes towards surgery. Study 5 experimentally examined the impact of different information provided in cosmetic surgery reality television (risks associated with surgery versus no risks) on girl's (N=99) body image and attitudes towards cosmetic surgery. Results from these studies consistently showed cosmetic surgery advertising and television shows have a negative impact on women and girls' body image. Attitudes towards cosmetic surgery varied as a result of different content of advertising. Moreover, materialistic values moderated how women and girls responded to cosmetic surgery advertising or reality shows across all studies, whereas restrained eating, body dissatisfaction and basing one's self-worth on appearance played a less consistent role in responses.

Exercise can have very beneficial effects on health and body satisfaction, but sometimes a negative body image gets in the way of exercising. Modern society holds certain beauty ideals in high regard, and these standards are often unattainable and unrealistic. These outside pressures to look a certain way can have a very negative effect on an individual’s body image, or the way that a person perceives his or her own appearance. There have been many studies done that have attempted to define the relationship between body image with exercise behaviors (Burger and Diony 2002, Hall and Pearson 2013). Some studies have shown that a negative body image is related with higher prevalence of exercise, while others have shown that a negative body image is a major barrier to participation in exercise at all (Berry, McHugh, and Pankratow 2013, Burger and Diony 2002, Gammage and Lamarche 2012, Hall and Pearson 2013). While the data from these studies has shown different relationships, there is an abundance of research on the topic. There is a lack of information, however, on the relationship between body image and exercise type. This study focused on this relationship in an attempt to determine if body image, positive or negative, had any effect on what type of exercise activities an individual chose to participate in. A total of 70 undergraduate college students were surveyed using a 9 question health and exercise questionnaire and a 6 question body image survey, written and published by Thomas Cash and previously utilized in other body image survey studies (Cash, et al. 2002). The data collected was analyzed using chi-square tests and a significant correlation between body image and exercise type, as well as body image and gender. Participants with a negative body image reported a preference for aerobic exercise while those with a positive body image preferred anaerobic exercise. The analysis also found that females were more likely to have a negative body image than males, which supports previous research trends (Burger and Diony 2002). This study only surveyed 70 individuals, and so the results can not necessarily be generalized to the entire population. Further research could include a larger sample size so as to find a more generalizable relationship between body image and exercise type.

Abstract not available

Early menopause has been constructed by discourses of biological determinism as an untimely, but natural, failure of the female body. Medical discourses in particular have interpreted early menopause as a congenital irregularity and a rare anomaly of menopause at midlife. In this thesis I challenge the notion that early menopause is an innate imperfection related only to women’s age. I propose that early menopause is dependent upon the cultural interpretations of individual women and is constituted through the mercurial and multiple discourses of women who have this embodied experience. Moreover, I reveal that early menopause is a contemporary condition and that its location in history is inextricably bound to discourses of risk, naturalism and the self. Further I make the assumption that having an early menopause both affects and is an effect of women’s fertility, sexuality and subjectivity. I have drawn upon a broad range of sources to provide a sociological analysis of early menopause. Literature on early menopause is dominated by positivist discourses, yet many alternate discourses negotiate these influential constructions. I suggest here that the perception of early menopause as a natural fault is merely a construction by medical discourses and does not incorporate the dynamic discourses of early-menopausal women. Moreover, the restriction of early menopause to a genetic female failure excludes the majority of women who have an early menopause through iatrogenisis. This omission occurs through the failure of positivist discourses to accommodate diversity in discourses. Recent sociological and feminist studies have vindicated menopausal women. They have reconstructed menopause through notions of embodiment and have removed the veil of negativity used by the medical sciences to contain menopausal women (Komesaroff, Rothfield and Daly 1997). The visibility of menopausal women, however, remains connected to age. Menopause has been created as a predictable consequence of aging and as such has come to be synonymous with middle age. Nowadays, even men are said to experience menopause at midlife (Carruthers 1996). But early menopause is constituted within the discourses of women who have this experience. Medico-scientific discourses, based upon theories of genetic inevitability, disregard this perspective. Consequently early menopause is subsumed by naturalistic discourses that relate menopause to midlife. Such restraint reflects the unease created by menopause that does not coincide with prescribed life stages. Women's experiences of their changing bodies are largely unheard. Thus, women who have an early menopause are faced with a chasm of ‘cultural non-recognition’ (Fraser 1997). Conjointly with this discursive repression early-menopausal women face social imbalances that are transacted as both cause and consequence of early menopause. In particular the contemporary creation of early menopause is bound to the social and historical location of women as a group. Women are exploited by the institution of medicine, ‘exposure to environmental toxicity’ (Fraser 1997: 11) and commercialization as causes of early menopause. Yet the corporeal effects of practices of risk avoidance (Beck 1993), social practices (Shilling 1993) and Western consumerism (Lupton 1994) fail to be recognized. I address these problematics through a poststructural and feminist critique that assumes moments of commonality among women, while at the same time recognizes shifting and multiple differences (Nicholson 1999). I suggest here that early menopause falls into cultural misrecognition in Fraser's (1997) terms and argue that it is united concurrently with the gender injustice of androcentrism (Fraser 1997: 21). Fraser (1997: 16) suggests that it is only by relating these dual problematics that we are able to make sense of current dilemmas. Thus I have critiqued early menopause through a connection between individual embodied experiences of early menopause and early menopause as a modern phenomenon that is specific to women. I have attempted to unravel these arguments that simultaneously call to ‘... abolish gender differentiation and to valorize gender specificity’ (Fraser 1997: 21) while at the same time acknowledging their interconnectedness. An approach of merely combining women’s discourses with overarching social issues would be inadequate as not only do these problematics intersect but they also can be opposed. As Fraser (1997: 25) notes with her theory, redressing one aspect of cultural or social analysis can further imbalance another. For instance making visible the diversity and uniqueness of individual experiences of early menopause could detract from acknowledging the contemporary construction of early menopause through social inequality. Crucial to this understanding is a destabilizing of the binary construction of differences between the sexes that makes way for a reconstruction of early menopause through ‘sexual slippage’ (Matus 1995). In this thesis I look for a subtlety between the particular and the collective that views early menopause as concurrently a singular and changeable experience as well as imbedded in social practice. I suggest that these concepts are entwined as interactive effects of early menopause. Thus I have analyzed the bivalent problematics of the embodiment and social location of early menopause as imbricated, dynamic and unending discourses. From this perspective I reviewed the literature that was available on early menopause. In Chapter One I look to descriptions of early menopause and note that it has disappeared into a conglomeration of disparate, mostly medical, discourses that are contradictory. Nevertheless medical discourses offer ‘conclusive’ definitions of early menopause that are based on naturalistic views of the body (Shilling 1994). The determinants used are inconsistent and do not include women's discourses of early menopause. Thus, dominant medical discourses obscure women’s embodied experiences of early menopause and ignore the contemporary causes of early menopause. In Chapter Two I examine the causes of early menopause as a way of explaining the disparity between medical discourses and my anecdotal observations of early menopause as a fairly common contemporary occurrence. The relatively recent escalation in gynaecological surgery, especially hysterectomy, appears to account almost single-handedly for early menopause as a current phenomenon. Moreover, the extraordinary number of women who have their uterus removed at hysterectomy can be interpreted as a modern implementation of ancient anxieties. Women's sexuality has been constructed throughout history as problematic and this unease has been translated through women's bodies as dangerous and in need of control (Greer 1992). Thus social concerns which have evolved historically have emerged through the representation of a woman's uterus as an unseen, dark and mysterious risk (Beck 1993). Medical discourses define this risk and are able to negate the so-called dangers of women's sexuality through the surgical removal of their organs. Widespread negotiation of medical discourses is apparent, as hysterectomy in the modern Western world is the most common of all surgical operations (Hufnagel 1989). It is overwhelmingly the most common cause of early menopause as well. I examine also the historical condemnation of infertile women and how this anxiety has been transposed to the modern world through the commercialization of reproduction. Transactions of this social unease can cause early menopause. For instance the medical technology of in-vitro fertilization (I.V.F.) has been offered as a panacea for the infertility of early menopause but, paradoxically, can cause early menopause as well. Conception through technology has been normalized as a viable option for women who are unable to conceive and understandings of I.V.F. have moved into everyday discourse. Medical discourses have constructed fertility as a saleable item and infertile women expect that they can purchase this merchandise. Human eggs have become lucrative commodities that now are available in the market place. Egg ‘donation’ for I.V.F. programs can hasten the attrition rate of eggs and can cause early menopause in some pre-menopausal women (Rowland 1992: 24). Even the recycling of a woman’s uterus supposedly has become a possibility through the transferring of this ‘used’ organ at hysterectomy to a recipient woman who can use the other woman’s uterus as a ‘gestational garage’ (Rogers 1998). In this way women have been disembodied as mechanical systems with inter-changeable body parts and the potentially detrimental consequences of these commercial transactions are ignored. In addition I show how early menopause can be caused by the connection between the self and the social structure. Women's subjectivity is constituted through the cultural discourses available to them and these discourses affect social behaviour (Lupton 1995). For instance smoking and dieting have been identified as causes of early menopause. These activities have been related to the creation of women’s bodies as hetero-sexually desirable and are endemic to young women (Evans-Young 1995). This suggests that cultural causes of early menopause are transactions of sexual politics. Yet there is a paucity of literature that acknowledges the relationship between women’s subjectivity and early menopause. Thus the second chapter exposes a link between sexual politics and causes of early menopause through women's relationships with risk, naturalism and the self. In Chapter Three I deconstruct early menopause through theoretical considerations. I rely on an overarching poststructuralism that embraces the concept of fragmented plural discourses and the subjectivity of menopausal women as a continuous process (Komesaroff 1997: 61). I have woven these variables through broad feminist critiques (Leonard 1997). Through this eclectic approach I hoped to find some loose alignment between the corporeal, ontological and embodied dimensions of early menopause. The recurring themes of sexuality, fertility and subjectivity emerge through deconstructing discourses of sexual difference as immutable and non-negotiable; exposing ‘premature ovarian failure’ as a discursive construction that censures early-menopausal women; and acknowledging the discourses of individual women as unique, diverse and dynamic. I looked to a method of exposing some of these individual discourses and in Chapter Four I describe a critical research process aimed at understanding early menopause as a lived experience. In the remaining chapters I align these ontological arguments with an analysis of the discourses of women who had experienced or were experiencing an early menopause. This section partly relieves the ‘cultural non-recognition’ of the discourses of early-menopausal women. I recorded the narratives of fifty early-menopausal women through in-depth interviews and used this empirical data to direct the study. This data provides the opportunity to understand early menopause as an assortment of embodied experiences. For instance women’s experiences of age at commencement of menopause spanned over three and half decades. They did not reflect the age specifications prescribed by medical discourses. Rather women interpreted their experiences within their own discourses and determined their menopause as early based upon the expectations of their cultural context. Many of the women experienced changes attributed to menopause at midlife. It was not these changes that were significant to early-menopausal women it was how each woman translated these changes that provided meanings of early menopause. In Chapter Five I introduce the women through a table that connects the varying experiences of each woman. This profile shows that, in the main, the women’s experiences of early menopause were unexpected. I suggest that this is due to the disparity between early-menopausal women’s experiences and the current age and social norms of menopause. By bracketing the women into cohorts patterns emerged displaying differences between women who had menopause in their teens, twenties, thirties and forties. Adolescent women had intense feelings of abnormality and despair. Women who were in their twenties were less devastated by menopause than the younger women but described their sexuality and self-identity as changing. And although some women in their thirties were shocked or dismayed to have an early menopause others were ambivalent or happy. These women also described their sexuality and self-identity through changing discourses. A number of the women who were in their forties said that they were ‘too young for the menopause’ but were far less despondent than the younger women. It seemed that the greater the distance between age norms and social norms the more negatively women responded. Age norms that determine the social norms of women's lives through a ‘biological clock’ are constructed to reflect social values. But age is a social construction that changes over time. Thus it would appear that women’s changing bodies and changing discourses of early menopause are in the process of recreating age and social norms around menopause. In Chapter Six I draw upon women’s narratives that describe a connection between early menopause and sexuality. Yet the respondents were not unified in their constructions of sexuality. For instance a number of the women rejected the containment of their sexuality as absolute and defined in terms of bi-lateral hetero-sexual opposition. The discourses of these women constructed their sexuality as continuously flexible. Some early-menopausal women described this sexual mobility as an equivocal relationship between their sexuality, reproductive capacity and female organs. Other women articulated their sexuality as vacillating, ambiguous and unrepresentative of the so-called ‘true woman’. Several felt that they were not meant to have female reproductive organs at all. Nearly one third of the women had had their uterus removed at hysterectomy and the reproductive organs of two women were rudimentary. Women’s narratives showed that the social value of fertility influences constructions of early menopause. In Chapter Seven I record the contrast between the poignant responses of women who wished to have a baby of their own and other women who resisted discourses that entwine reproductivity with being a woman. For instance some women negotiated fertility through economic discourses of consumerism with the expectation that they could purchase conception as a commodity. Other women welcomed their early menopause as freedom from contraceptive concerns and others had no interest in reproduction at all. Thus discord arose through discourses that problematize early-menopausal women as non-reproductive and discourses that value variability. In addition many of the women’s accounts constructed their subjectivity as mobile, challenging the notion that discourses of the self are immutable. Chapter Eight presents narratives which suggest that the subjectivity of many women was altered continuously by early menopause. Yet some of the women rejected the construction of their subjectivity as unfluctuating. These contradictions reflect the uncertainties of the contemporary world. Nevertheless most respondents found that the tethering of menopause to constructions of midlife was incongruous with their own experiences. Many women refused to accept the label of social redundancy attached to middle-aged women. They moved their subjectivity beyond the reproductive body to a shifting and tractable identity of the self. This thesis demonstrates that the medical construction of early menopause as a rare and natural female flaw varies from women's experiences which suggest that early menopause is common and discursively constructed. This disparity has occurred through the privilege placed upon the construction of bodies as immutable and sexually static. This privileging has obscured the multi-dimensional causes of early menopause and given preference to a mono-causal theory. By exposing the variety of causes of early menopause the medical construction of women through a universal and unalterable body of reproduction is challenged. Moreover, women's discourses of early menopause demonstrate that the medical reduction of early menopause to a spontaneous bio-chemical malfunction has ignored the volatility of women’s embodied experiences. Women experience early menopause variously and through mercurial discourses. I suggest here that women's discourses of their experiences of early menopause reflect recurring and restructuring philosophical quandaries of fertility, sexuality and subjectivity. While there can be no representative claims made from this thesis it contributes to an understanding of the embodied experiences of early menopause. It provides an understanding of the creation of early menopause through social practices and goes part way to redressing the problematics of what Fraser terms ‘cultural non-recognition’. But, more importantly, it acknowledges early menopause as a variety of experiences where women interpret their changing bodies through changing discourses.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the validity of a sociocultural theory of objectification with a population of older women. Specifically, the study sought to determine if level of self-objectification influenced psychological well-being, disordered eating, and sexual dysfunction. Additional goals of this study included determining if older women self-objectify like their younger counterparts and if level of selfobjectification was influenced by one’s feminist identity. Participants were 128 randomly selected women living in a small city in the southwest recruited through a local seniors fair and organizations. Participants completed a take-home survey which included a demographic questionnaire, the Feminist Identity Development Scale, the Objectified Body Consciousness Scale, the Scales of Psychological Well-Being Short Form, the Eating Attitudes Test, and the Brief Index of Sexual Functioning for Women. Participants returned surveys in postage pre-paid envelopes. The data was analyzed using structural equation modeling methods and the final model fit the data well. Results indicate that older women do self-objectify but this level of self-objectification is not influenced by their level of feminist identity. In addition, level of self-objectification is negatively related to psychological well-being and positively related to disordered eating; however, no relationship exists between self-objectification and sexual dysfunction. Implications for clinical practice and further research are discussed.

Thesis PlanA (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.