The Role of Body Images with Social Anxiety in Women Who have Experienced Catcalling

Abstract

Social anxiety is a phenomenon that many women experienced, especially those who have experienced verbal sexual harassment or catcalling. Lately, catcalling is become more familiar in mass media. Women who have been catcalled became more anxious, worried, and uncomfortable when interacting with others, worried about unsavoury comments because they perceive their body would invite the opposite sex’s attention. This research aims to understand the role of body image on the social anxiety of women who have been catcalled before. This research is conducted quantitatively, and the total subjects were 94 women, selected using accidental sampling method. Two scales were utilised to collect data from subjects; Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (SAS-A) and Multidimensional Body Self Questionnaire-Appearance Scale (MBSRQ-AS). The result revealed that body image influences social anxiety in women who have been experiencing catcalling (F = 5.498 dengan P = 0.021 [P < 0.05]), whereas the contribution of body image to social anxiety is 5.6%. Positive thinking about body image could reduce the anxiety of negative evaluations from others.
 Keywords: body image, catcalling, social anxiety, women