Women and the Experience of Serious Mental Illness and Sexual Objectification: Multicultural Feminist Theoretical Frameworks and Therapy Recommendations

Abstract

As Objectification Theory (Frederickson & Roberts, 1997 Frederickson, B. L., & Roberts, T. (1997). Objectification theory: Toward understanding women's lived experiences and mental health risks. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 21, 17–206. doi: 10.1111/j.1471-6402.1997.tb00108.x.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) has advanced, the implications of the experience of sexual objectification of women have increasingly been identified. Objectification Theory provides a feminist theoretical framework for understanding the unique experiences of women who live in a culture that objectifies and sexualizes their bodies. This theory has now been linked to mental health problems such as depression, eating disorders, body shame, substance abuse, and sexual dysfunction (for a review, see Moradi & Huang, 2008 Moradi, B., & Huang, Y. (2008). Objectification theory and psychology of women: A decade of advances and future directions. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 32, 377–398. doi: 10.1111/j.1471-6402.2008.00452.x.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). However, the intersections of sexual objectification and serious mental illness among women have not been sufficiently researched. This article will explore the intersections of the experience of sexual objectification and serious mental illness among women from a Multicultural Feminist Therapy framework, offering implications and recommendations for the therapeutic context.