Experimentation with alcohol and sexuality is a normative aspect of adolescent development. Yet, both present distinct risks to adolescent females and are especially problematic when they intersect. Although youth are often cautioned about the dangers associated with having sex and using alcohol, popular entertainment media frequently depict the…

In this article, the author writes a commentary about an article that she wrote with Marcia McCoy (Muehlenhard & McCoy, 1991). In that article, they "tested the hypothesis that the sexual double standard, which gives more sexual freedom to men than to women, might in some situations make women reluctant to acknowledge their desire for sexual…

The purpose of our study was to examine the role that child sexual abuse may play in body surveillance and sexual risk behaviors among undergraduate women. First, a measured variable path analysis was conducted, which assessed the relations among a history of child sexual abuse, body surveillance, and sexual risk behaviors. Furthermore, body…

Although research continues to highlight significant gender differences in first coital experiences, developmental approaches suggest that some of these patterns may be age-related. Therefore, this study investigated both gender and age differences in first intercourse experiences. Open-ended responses regarding reasons for, and descriptions of,…

Reductionistic, misogynistic, and heterosexist views of women's bodies have been often expressed and widely shared, and psychology has not been immune to those views. Second-wave feminist psychologists had plenty of work to do to normalize and destigmatize women's bodies and to point out that cultural pressures, social constructions, and…

The current study examined whether adding emancipatory sexuality education, which encourages the exploration of women's own sexual values and desires, to a sexual assault resistance program would improve women's resistance to sexual assault by known men. The participants were 214 first-year university students. A randomized experimental design…

This research examined the effects of the objectifying gaze on math performance, interaction motivation, body surveillance, body shame, and body dissatisfaction. In an experiment, undergraduate participants (67 women and 83 men) received an objectifying gaze during an interaction with a trained confederate of the other sex. As hypothesized, the…

There has been a shift in the depiction of women in advertising from objectifying representations of women as passive sex objects to agentic sexual representations where the women appear powerful and in control (Gill, 2007a, 2008), and there is substantial evidence that these representations have a negative impact on women's body image. However,…

This experiment examined the effects of alcohol on women's sexual decision making during a laboratory social interaction with a potential dating partner. Participants completed an assessment of sex-related alcohol expectancies, were randomly assigned to consume alcohol, no alcohol, or a placebo, and then interacted with a male confederate.…

Sexual assault is associated with a number of health risk behaviors in women. It has been hypothesized that these risk behaviors, such as hazardous drinking, may represent women's attempts to cope with psychological distress, such as symptoms of depression and anxiety. However, extant research has failed to evaluate these relationships among…

The purpose of our study was to investigate African American women's experiences with sexual objectification. Utilizing grounded theory methodology as well as Black feminist thought and objectification theory as the research lenses, the results of this study uncovered how racist, sexist, and classist ideologies contributed to sexual…

In a five-year longitudinal study, we investigated the role of body objectification in shaping girls' self-esteem and depressive symptoms over the course of adolescence. Multivariate Latent Growth Curve Modeling (MLGM) was used to test the association between body objectification and both self-esteem and depressive symptoms with data from 587…

We examined whether men, but not women, would be distracted by a female sales representative's exposed cleavage, leading to greater perceived efficacy for a weak, but not for a strong product. A community sample of 88 men and 97 women viewed a video of a female pharmaceutical sales representative who (a) had exposed cleavage or dressed modestly…

This study used qualitative research methods to investigate the sexual socialization experiences of young Asian American women, a group often overlooked in psychological research on sexuality. Focus group interviews were conducted with 30 ethnically diverse young Asian American women to explore their perceptions and interpretations of the direct…

Theoretical models to date have fallen short of accounting for the alarming worldwide rates of HIV infection in women through heterosexual contact. In this article, social dominance theory and the four bases of gendered power--force, resource control, social obligations, and consensual ideologies--are used to organize and explain international…