Thesis (M.A.)--Georgia State University, 2006. / Title from title screen. Layli Phillips, committee chair; Amira Jarmakani, Cassandra White, committee members. Electronic text (125 p.) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed May 2, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 109-118).

Thesis (MTech (Informatics and design))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2007 / Magazines are highly specialised forms ofmass media communication. Across cultures, women's magazines and advertisements systematically promote an ideal of feminine beauty that is embedded primarily in body-image. Mass advertised messages targeted at women promote dominant mainstream cultural and global standards regarding body-image. They al~ promote the use of various products and lifestyle patterns that are intended to enable women to achieve the desired 'look' of the moment. The influence of these advertised messages manifests iD real-life consequences, which are either positive or negative, and which, in turn, influence women's role in society. Seen in this light, certain manipulative practices present in the print media have been identified, which are used extensively to influence women, to shape their perceptions of the world around them, and to coach them into embracing a consumerist lifestyle, with the ultimate aim of generating revenue. In this regard, this study focuses on the ways in which advertising design in women's magazines and the content ofthe South African and Polish EUe and Cosmopolitan, as well as the South African Fairlady and the Polish Twoj Styl represent the image ofcontemporary women in South Africa and Poland.

Retirement from elite sport can be highly distressing for athletes, and many athletes report elevated depression and anxiety or body dissatisfaction when going through this transition. Factors that may be important in determining a higher level of adjustment in retirement include feeling in control of when and how retirement occurs, planning occupationally for after sport, and having achieved sport goals. Thus, we examined how such factors related to former female collegiate athletes (N = 218) satisfaction with life, depression, and body satisfaction. Two to six years post retirement, athletes completed an online questionnaire that measured their satisfaction with life, depressive symptomatology, and body satisfaction; retirement factors were measured by the 12-items from the BALANCE scale. Through regression analyses, we examined the extent to which each of the 12 retirement factors is related to life satisfaction, depression, and body satisfaction; time since retirement was unrelated to these outcomes. Future research might address the transition immediately following retirement utilizing these factors that appear most influential.

This dissertation is about the influence of body image on classical vocal performance in collegiate women singers. Those trained in classical singing are familiar with the phrase, “your body is your instrument.” A focus on the physical body is apparent in the vocal pedagogical literature, as is attention to singers’ mental and emotional states. But the intersection of emotions and the body—how one thinks and feels about their body, or body image—is largely absent from the vocal pedagogical literature. As voice teachers continue to necessarily address their students’ instruments (bodies), the field has not adequately considered how each singer’s relationship with their instrument (their body) might affect them, as singers and as people. This initial foray sought answers to just two of the myriad unanswered questions surrounding this topic: Does a singer’s body image influence her singing? If so, when and how? It employed a feminist methodological framework that would provide for consciousness-raising as both a method and aim of the study. Four collegiate women singers served as co-researchers, and data collection took place in three parts: a focus group, audio diaries, and interviews. The focus group was specifically geared towards consciousness-raising in order to provide co-researchers with the awareness necessary for examining their body image. Co-researchers then recorded semi-structured audio diaries for one month after practice sessions, voice lessons, and performances. One-on-one interviews concluded data collection and provided a situation of co-analysis wherein the researcher and co-researcher could deeply examine data from the focus group and diaries. The major discovery of this research is a pervasive sense of separation between a woman singer’s “everyday body” and her singer’s body. Self-objectification served as a barrier to a conscious recognition of embodied experience and effectively split the singer in two. The various states of the relationship between these two seemingly separate entities resulted in specific outcomes for singing, including restriction, unawareness, inconsistency, and focus. The discussion concludes with a consideration of how a positive body image may encourage effective and artistic vocal performance and how voice teachers might help foster a positive experience of one’s body.

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The purpose of this study was to test a new theoretical model that integrates self-objectification, objectification of others, and social comparison as contributors to the development and maintenance of body image disturbance and disordered eating behavior. Within the new theoretical model, self-objectification, objectification of others, and social comparison are conceptualized as a self-perpetuating cycle, rather than as processes that occur independently of one another. Four hundred fifty-nine female college students between the ages of 18 and 32 completed measures of self-objectification, objectification of others, social comparison, body shame, body dissatisfaction, and eating disorder symptomatology. Structural equation modeling with nested model comparisons was used to examine the fit of the new theoretical model relative to less complex models which contain only relationships which have received previous attention in the research literature (e.g., the relationship between self-objectification and body shame). Results indicated that the new theoretical model demonstrates good fit for the data and that the fit of this model is significantly better than the original model suggested by the literature. Hierarchical multiple regression and mediational analyses also provided support for the interplay between objectification and social comparison. Implications for clinical work as well as theory and measurement will be discussed

The purpose of this study was to contribute to women’s healthy aging across the adult lifespan by empirically examining potential protective factors (e.g., empowerment and feminist attitudes) in maintaining positive body image, healthy eating behavior, and aging satisfaction. Objectification Theory (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997) provided a theoretical framework for understanding the connections between sexual-objectification experiences, media influences, and self-objectification, and the resulting negative psychological consequences for women in Western society. This study was the first to examine empowerment in relation to Objectification Theory. Additionally, a developmental perspective was gained by using a diverse sample of young, middle-aged, and older women in the investigation of the impact of self-objectification on aging satisfaction. Results indicated that women of all ages were just as likely to report either body image satisfaction or body image dissatisfaction after accounting for BMI. However, younger women were more likely than older women to view their bodies as objects. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was performed utilizing Objectification Theory as a framework for predicting body image, eating behaviors, and aging satisfaction. Empowerment and feminist attitudes were not protective factors in promoting healthy eating behavior and positive thoughts related to body image and aging. The final structural model did, however, provide support for Objectification Theory and its proposed relationships between sexual-objectification experiences and the development of self-objectification and the negative consequences of self-objectification on a variety of health-related constructs. Long-term implications include incorporating this knowledge into empirically supported prevention and intervention programs aimed at reducing body image and eating disturbance and promoting healthy aging across the adult lifespan.

Retirement from sport can be difficult for athletes. Physically, retirement is associated with challenges such as weight gain, muscle loss, and degradation of physical skills. Psychologically, retirement has been linked to increased identity confusion, depression, body dissatisfaction, and disordered eating. Research shows that exercise is a way athletes cope with stressors such as psychosocial pressure and retirement. However, exercise is positively correlated with psychological well-being for some individuals, whereas for others exercise is associated with increased levels of depression, anxiety, and body dissatisfaction. Reasons for exercise behavior, as well as the type of exercise in which someone engages, may explain the contrasting psychological outcomes of exercise. I examined perceived societal pressures, exercise, and reasons for exercise in relation to the psychological well-being (i.e., depression, satisfaction with life, body satisfaction) of 218 college female athletes who had been retired from 2-6 years. Through regression analysis, I examined the extent to which the predictors were related to each measure of psychological well-being, controlling for BMI and years since retirement. For life satisfaction (Adj. R2 = .08), exercising to meet potential romantic partner was significant (β = -.158). Higher levels of depressive symptoms (Adj. R2 = .15) were predicted by exercising to improve appearance (β = .198) and feeling pressure to exercise (β = .212). For body satisfaction (Adj. R2 = .42), exercising to prevent illness/injury (β = .197) and to prepare to compete in sport competitions (β = .141) were associated with the increased body satisfaction, whereas a higher BMI (β = -.193) and exercising to improve appearance (β = -.167) were related to decreased body satisfaction. Future research might address psychological predictors immediately post retirement, as this is when retirement may be more stressful.

In the Maoist era, the quest for beauty was regarded as decadent Western bourgeois culture. However, more and more Chinese women have been shopping for a youthful and beautiful appearance by undergoing cosmetic surgery in recent decades. Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Beijing, China, in 2006--2007, this study examines the phenomenon of the rapidly growing popularity of cosmetic surgery among Chinese women and considers the relationships between the remaking of female body image through cosmetic surgery, the reconstruction of self identity, and the reconfiguration of state power and market forces with the expansion of global consumerism in post-Mao China. The thesis suggests that the alteration of female body features through cosmetic surgery reflects in microcosm the transition of China from a Maoist socialist regime to a post-Maoist consumer society within a few decades, following its own "Chinese characteristics." Therefore, Chinese women's involvement in cosmetic surgery must be understood within the broader historical and socio-political context of China, and also must be seen both as the empowerment of Chinese women and also their ongoing subjugation to men, markets, and the state. / Wen, Hua. / Adviser: Gordon Matthews. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 72-04, Section: A, page: . / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 392-421). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract and glossary also in Chinese.

This study tests the hypotheses that both women's internal beliefs regarding their bodies and their condoning of benevolent sexist beliefs will influence their silencing-the-self views.