Bisexual Women's Sexual Health: A Test of Objectification Theory

Public Significance Statement This study tested an expanded objectification theory model to examine factors associated with bisexual women's sexual risk behaviors. Findings revealed that bisexual women's experiences of marginalization were linked with both body image concerns and sexual risk behaviors. Bisexual women are at elevated risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections and HIV relative to other groups of women, which may be linked with their engagement in sexual risk behaviors. Though a sizable body of research has used objectification theory to test predictors of women's disordered eating, few studies have considered women's sexual risk behaviors. This study tested interrelations of objectification theory constructs (i.e., sexual objectification, internalization of sociocultural standards of attractiveness [internalization], body shame, body surveillance, appearance anxiety during sexual activity) and antibisexual discrimination with sexual risk behaviors in a sample of 352 bisexual women (age range = 18-59). Latent variable structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. Inspection of alternative measurement models indicated that fit would improve if sexual objectification and antibisexual discrimination were predicted by a higher-order "marginalization" variable. Results indicated that marginalization yielded significant direct positive relations with internalization and sexual risk behaviors. Internalization yielded significant direct positive links with body shame and body surveillance. Body surveillance yielded a significant direct positive relation with body shame, which yielded a significant unique positive link with appearance anxiety during sexual activity. Marginalization yielded significant indirect positive links with body surveillance and body shame. Thus, interventions that combat the marginalization of bisexual women may improve aspects of their mental and sexual health.