Body concealment, Objectification, and Well-Being: A Cross-Cultural Study of Women’s Experiences

Sexual objectification has been linked to negative mental health outcomes in Western cultures, but less is known about its effects across diverse cultural and religious contexts. This study investigated how experiences of sexual objectification and women’s body concealment practices relate to their well-being across a variety of cultural and residential backgrounds, using Objectification Theory as a framework. A total of 118 women aged 18-46 participated in our online survey, which consists of four scales. The participants completed measures of self-objectification (SOBBS), interpersonal objectification (ISOS), body concealment (Body Concealment and Exposure Scale), and well-being (Personal Wellbeing Index). Our findings suggest that self-objectification as a result of internalising the observer’s perspective, interpersonal objectification experiences such as sexual advancements and body evaluation by others were negatively correlated with personal well-being of women. Furthermore, it was observed that body exposure positively predicts well-being when controlled for the given variables. Additionally, self-objectification from internalising the observer’s perspective was shown to be a significant predictor of both body concealment and body exposure in women. These results suggest that women across other countries share similar experiences related to objectification as Western women. On the other hand, potential differences imply the importance of considering women’s cultural background in research and clinical practice.