Experiencing Sexism and Young Women's Body Esteem

Abstract

This two-study investigation examined the relationship between sexist attitudes and experiences with young women's body esteem. Specifically, we examined whether young women's body esteem was related to their own and their parents' endorsements of benevolent and hostile sexist beliefs and also whether women's body esteem was related to their actual everyday experiences with benevolent and hostile sexism. In Study 1, fathers' endorsement of benevolently sexist beliefs was positively correlated with daughters' weight-related and physical condition body esteem. No similar evidence was found for mothers or for either parent's endorsements of hostile sexist beliefs. In Study 2, young women's body esteem was positively related to their benevolently sexist experiences and negatively related to their hostile sexist experiences. These findings are consistent with ambivalent sexism theory. The results are discussed for their clinical and theoretical implications.