FROM SEXUALLY OBJECTIFYING MEDIA EXPOSURE TO WOMEN'S SEXUAL FUNCTIONING PROBLEMS

purely physical phenomenon, but instead is influenced by the psychological, relational, and sociocultural context in which sexual activity occurs. One account that adopts a wider sociocultural perspective on women’s sexual functioning problems (SFP) is provided by objectification theory (OT), according to which one important consequence of being a woman in a culture that sexually objectifies the female body (through the mass media and male gaze) is that women gradually internalize an observer’s perspective of their self (“selfobjectification”). This way of thinking is manifested as habitual constant monitoring of the body’s appearance (“self-surveillance”) and leads to SFP through body shame and appearance anxiety. Recent research indicated that self-consciousness during sexual activity a) are predicted by body-related feeling and b) strongly predicts SFP, suggesting that the relationships between SFP, body shame and appearance anxiety, would be mediated by the level of self-consciousness that a woman experiences during sexual activity. The current study extends prior research by incorporating self-consciousness during sexual activity into the OT model, and by testing a more comprehensive model of women’s SFP (i.e., lacking interest in sex, inability to achieve orgasm, trouble achieving or maintaining an adequate lubrication). Methods: Data were analysed from 773 sexually active Italian heterosexual college women (M age = 23.9), who completed validated selfreport measures using latent variable structural equation modeling approach. Results: Sexually objectifying media exposure led to self-surveillance, which was related to body shame and appearance anxiety. The latter were related to self-consciousness during sexual activity, which in turn strongly predicts women’s SFP (i.e., it accounted for 68% of the variance). Conclusion: The study highlights the role of body-image attitudes and feeling in SFP, and suggests that OT provides a useful framework to identify predictors of women’s SFP.