Research examining the tenets of objectification theory has given little attention to increasing scholars’ understanding of specific environments and subcultures, such as beauty pageants, cheerleading, and cocktail waitressing, that exist within U.S. culture where sexual objectification of women is encouraged, promoted, and socially sanctioned. The purpose of this qualitative study was to provide an in-depth, descriptive contextual understanding of the experiences of 11 women who work in a sexually objectifying restaurant environment. Data classification via the constant comparative method resulted in nine themes: reasons for involvement, ambivalence, counterfeit intimacy, sexual objectification, resistance strategies, power, negative relationships with women, changes over time, and judgment. Corresponding subthemes are also described, and interpretation is provided in light of the relevant literature.
Abrams, K. ( 1998). From autonomy to agency: Feminist perspectives on self direction. William and Mary Law Review, 40, 805-846.
2.
Amick, A.E., & Calhoun, K.S. ( 1987). Resistance to sexual aggression: Personality, attitudinal, and situational factors. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 16, 153-163.
3.
Andreoni, J., & Petrie, R. ( 2008). Beauty, gender, and stereotypes: Evidence from laboratory experiments. Journal of Economic Psychology, 29, 73-93.
4.
Asakawa, G., & Rucker, L. ( 1992). The toy book. New York, NY: Knopf.
5.
Aubrey, J.S. ( 2006). Exposure to sexually objectifying media and body self-perceptions among college women: An examination of the selective exposure hypothesis and the role of moderating variables. Sex Roles, 55, 159-172.
6.
Avalos, L.C., & Tylka, T.L. ( 2006). Exploring a model of intuitive eating with college women . Journal of Counseling Psychology, 53, 486-497.
7.
Barton, B. ( 2002). Dancing on the Mobius Strip: Challenging the sex war paradigm. Gender & Society, 16, 585-602.
8.
Bem, D.J. ( 1967). Self-perception: An alternative interpretation of cognitive dissonance phenomena. Psychological Review, 74, 183-200.
9.
Berdahl, J. ( 2007). Harassment based on sex: Protecting social status in the context of gender hierarchy. Academy of Management Review , 32, 641-658.
10.
Bjorkqvist, K. ( 1994). Sex differences in physical, verbal, and indirect aggression . Sex Roles, 30, 177-188.
11.
Bogdan, R., & Biklen, S.K. ( 2007). Qualitative research for education. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
12.
Campbell, A. ( 2004). Female competition: Causes, constraints, content, and contexts. Journal of Sex Research, 41, 16-26.
13.
Costanzo, P.R. ( 1992). External socialization and the development of adaptive individuation and social connection. In D. N. Ruble, P. R. Costanzo, & M. E. Oliveri (Eds.), The social psychology of mental health (pp. 55-80). New York, NY: Guilford .
14.
Creswell, J.W. ( 2007). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
15.
de Beauvoir, S. ( 1953). The second sex. New York, NY: Knopf.
16.
Fairchild, K., & Rudman, L.A. ( 2008). Everyday stranger harassment and women’s objectification . Social Justice Research, 21, 338-357.
17.
Fassinger, R.E. ( 2002). Hitting the ceiling: Gendered barriers to occupational entry, advancement and achievement. In L. Diamant & J. Lee (Eds.), The psychology of sex, gender, and jobs: Issues and solutions (pp. 21-46). Westport, CT: Greenwood.
18.
Fea, C.J., & Brannon, L.A. ( 2006). Self-objectification and compliment type: Effects on negative mood. Body Image, 3, 183-188.
19.
Festinger, L. ( 1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
20.
Foote, N.N. ( 1954). Sex as play. Social Problems, 1, 159-163.
21.
Forbes, G.B., Jobe, R.L., & Revak, J.A. ( 2006). Relationships between dissatisfaction with specific body characteristics and the Sociocultural Attitudes toward Appearance Questionnaire-3 and Objectified Body Consciousness Scale. Body Image, 3, 295-300.
22.
Fredrickson, B.L., & Roberts, T. ( 1997). Objectification theory: Toward understanding women’s lived experiences and mental health risks. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 21, 173-206.
23.
Fredrickson, B.L., Roberts, T., Noll, S.M., Quinn, D.M., & Twenge, J.M. ( 1998). That swimsuit becomes you: Sex differences in self-objectification, restrained eating, and math performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 269-284.
24.
Grindstaff, L., & West, E. ( 2006). Cheerleading and the gendered politics of sport. Social Problems, 53, 500-518.
25.
Hamermesh, D., & Biddle, J.E. ( 1994). Beauty and the labor market. American Economy Review, 84, 1174-1194.
26.
Hatch, J.A. ( 2002). Doing qualitative research in educational settings. Albany: State University of New York Press.
27.
Heinberg, L.J., & Thompson, J.K. (1992). The effects of figure size feedback (positive vs. negative) and target comparison group (particularlistic vs. universalistic) on body image disturbance. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 12, 441-448.
28.
Henderson-King, D., & Henderson-King, E. (2005). Acceptance of cosmetic surgery: Scale development and validation. Body Image, 2, 137-149.
29.
Johnson, A. ( 2005). The gender knot: Unraveling our patriarchal legacy. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
30.
Koss, M.P., Bailey, J.A., Yan, N.P., Herrera, V.M., & Lichter, E.L. ( 2003). Depression and PTSD in survivors of male violence: Research and training initiatives to facilitate recovery. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 27, 130-142.
31.
Kozee, H.B., Tylka, T.L., Augustus-Horvath, C.L., & Denchik, A. ( 2007). Development and psychometric evaluation of the Interpersonal Sexual Objectification Scale. Psychology of Women Quarterly , 31, 176-189.
MacKinnon, C. ( 1983). Feminism, Marxism, method, and the state: Toward feminist jurisprudence. Signs, 6, 635-658.
34.
Magley, V. ( 2002). Coping with sexual harassment: Reconceptualizing women’s resistance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 930-945.
35.
Merriam, S.B. ( 1988). Case study research in education: A qualitative approach . San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass .
36.
Moradi, B., & Huang, Y. ( 2008). Objectification theory and psychology of women: A decade of advances and future directions. Psychology of Women Quarterly , 32, 277-398.
37.
Morrow, S.L. ( 2005). Quality and trustworthiness in qualitative research in counseling psychology. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 52, 250-260.
38.
Murphy, A.G. ( 2003). The dialectical gaze: Exploring the subject-object tension in women who strip. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 32, 305-335.
39.
Norris, J., Nurius, P.S., & Dimeff, L.A. ( 1996). Through her eyes: Factors affecting women’s perception of and resistance to acquaintance sexual aggression threat. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 20, 123-145.
40.
O’Neill, J. ( 2003). The gender gap in wages, circa 2000. American Economic Review, 93, 309-314.
41.
Parsons, E.M., & Betz, N.E. ( 2001). The relationship of participation in sports and physical activity to body objectification, instrumentality, and locus of control among young women. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 25, 209-222.
42.
Pasko, L. ( 2002). Naked power: The practice of stripping as a confidence game. Sexualities, 5, 49-66.
43.
Ronai, C., & Cross, R. ( 1998). Dancing with identity: Narrative resistance strategies of male and female stripteasers. Deviant Behavior, 19, 99-119.
44.
Ronai, C., & Ellis, C. ( 1989). Turn-ons for money: Interactional strategies of the table dancer. Contemporary Journal of Ethnography, 17, 271-298.
45.
Rubin, L.R., Nemeroff, C.J., & Russo, N.F. ( 2004). Exploring feminist women’s body consciousness. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 28, 27-37.
46.
Stombler, M., & Padavic, I. ( 1997). Sister acts: Resisting men’s domination in Black and White fraternity little sister programs. Social Problems , 44, 257-275.
47.
Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. ( 1998). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
48.
Sweet, N., & Tewksbury, R. ( 2000). "What’s a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?" Pathways to a career in stripping. Sociological Spectrum , 20, 325-344.
49.
Szymanski, D.M., Moffitt, L.B., & Carr, E.R. ( 2011). Sexual objectification of women: Advances to theory and research. The Counseling Psychologist , 39, 6-38.
50.
Triandis, H.C. ( 1995). Individualism and collectivism. Boulder, CO: Westview.
51.
Unger, R.K. ( 1979). Female and male. New York, NY: Harper & Row.
