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Are Feminist Women Protected from Body Image Problems? A Meta-analytic

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Sex Roles (2009) 60:186–197
DOI 10.1007/s11199-008-9523-2
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Are Feminist Women Protected from Body Image Problems?
A Meta-analytic Review of Relevant Research
Sarah K. Murnen & Linda Smolak
Published online: 7 August 2008
# Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2008
Abstract It was hypothesized that feminist women would
experience positive body image due to a heightened ability
to critique cultural pressures related to thinness. Samples
from 26 studies (almost all North American) were compiled
for a meta-analysis to examine the association between
feminist identity and measures related to body image and
eating problems. The largest number of effect sizes found
addressed the association between feminist identity and
body attitudes (k=28), and it was found that there was a
positive, significant association that was strongest when
older women participants were tested and when a more
purposeful sample (e.g., women studies students) was
questioned. There were also significant negative associa-
tions between feminist identity and other measures related
to eating problems.
Keywords Feminist identity . Body image . Eating disorders
Introduction
Various theorists have proposed that the acquisition of a
feminist identity should help protect women from negative
feelings about their bodies in that feminist women learn to
recognize and resist oppressive cultural messages about the
importance of thinness. Researchers have empirically
examined the association between feminist identity and
measures related to the body including measures of body
dissatisfaction. Most of this research has been conducted in
North America. Studies have yielded conflicting results.
S. K. Murnen (*) : L. Smolak
Department of Psychology, Kenyon College,
Gambier, OH 43022, USA
e-mail: Murnen@kenyon.edu
The purpose of the present study was to examine the
strength of the association between the variables across the
available studies using the technique of meta-analysis.
Meta-analysis yields a quantitative index of the size of the
association between variables as well as procedures to
determine whether variability in the size of that relationship
across samples is associated with study characteristics in a
predicted manner.
Other meta-analytic research reviews support the idea
that the cultural experiences of girls and women can
encourage body image dissatisfaction and eating disordered
attitudes. For example, mass media exposure (Groesz et al.
2002; Murnen et al. 2007), sexual abuse (Smolak and
Murnen 2002), and agreement with traditional notions of
femininity (Murnen and Smolak 1997) have all been linked
to body image dissatisfaction and/or eating disorders across
a number of studies. Body image dissatisfaction is so
common among women and girls in North America that it
is considered normative and its presence is linked to the
development of eating disordered attitudes and behaviors
(e.g., Thompson et al. 1999).
The existence of high levels of body dissatisfaction and
disordered eating attitudes in girls and women in Western
cultures can be explained by a feminist framework which
incorporates objectification theory. Many feminists have
argued that in a patriarchal culture women are subjected to
various means of subordination including the objectifica-
tion and degradation of their bodies (e.g., Bordo 1993;
Kilbourne 1999; Wolf 1991). Women are often defined as
their bodies; and their bodies are treated as objects that exist
for the sexual pleasure of men. In Western cultures this
objectification of women occurs through a variety of means
including media portrayals and the sexual gaze of men
(Fredrickson and Roberts 1997). Ward (1995) found that
the most common theme among television shows popular
Sex Roles (2009) 60:186–197
among North American adolescents is that women attract
men through their physical appearance. In a recent review
of the data she concluded that women were objectified in
the media to a greater extent than men (Ward 2003).
Further, the ideal woman currently portrayed in North
American media is unrealistically thin (e.g., Engeln-
Maddox 2006) which can lead women to waste energy
striving towards an impossible goal.
According to objectification theory, cultural objectifica-
tion encourages self-objectification where women learn to
monitor their own bodies; this in turn can lead to body
shame, and is proposed to put women at risk for the
development of eating disorders, depression, and/or sexual
problems (Fredrickson and Roberts 1997; McKinley and
Hyde 1996). Correlational and experimental research
supports a link between self-objectification and body image
dissatisfaction in adolescent girls and women (Smolak and
Murnen 2007). In addition to self-objectification, women
experience other disembodying experiences in a patriarchal
culture such as sexual harassment, sexual abuse, and rape.
Piran and Cormier (2005) wrote about the “disrupted
connection” that many women experience with their bodies
in a patriarchal culture. They argued that a focus on how
the body looks rather than feels can lead women to
disconnect from their bodies and treat them in self-injurious
ways through such means as smoking, cutting, and
improper feeding.
If a feminist perspective can help explain the data it can
also be used to try to help prevent body dissatisfaction and
related problems. Various researchers have explored this
idea (e.g., Peterson et al. 2006). Although there are a
variety of definitions of a feminist, common to many (e.g.,
Reid and Purcell 2004) is that a feminist recognizes that
discrimination against women exists, experiences a sense of
shared fate with women as a group, and wants to work with
others to improve women’s status. There are several reasons
why a feminist perspective might prevent women from
developing body-related problems. A feminist perspective
might allow women to see that objectification and the thin
ideal are sources of women’s oppression that should be
resisted. For example, feminist women should be more
critical of media portrayals of women and might seek ways
to avoid exposure to unhealthy or unrealistic depictions of
women. If feminist women experience sexist discrimination
in other ways they might not personalize the experience,
but instead search for a cultural explanation which might
prevent internalization of blame. Further, feminist women
should generally question traditional feminine roles that are
associated with appearance and thinness (Mahalik et al.
2005); and might instead develop self-definitions based on
other attributes such as intelligence or creativity that are
more empowering. Feminist women might possess stronger
voices to speak their minds and to the extent that they do
187
not “self-silence” they should receive protection from
eating problems (e.g., Smolak and Munstertieger 2002).
Rubin and colleagues found some support for these ideas
in a recent qualitative study of self-proclaimed feminists
(Rubin et al. 2004). They held focus groups with 25
feminist and/or womanist North American college women
who were willing to discuss cultural beauty ideals. The
women agreed that feminists were more likely to celebrate
bodily diversity among women and that a feminist
perspective should lead to a conscious awareness of cultural
messages as well as the development of strategies to resist
cultural pressure. They believed that feminism promoted
ways to reclaim the body from the objectifying gaze
through “emancipatory resistance” which might occur
through athletics, dance, “taking up space,” “moving with
confidence,” and redefining beauty. Despite an awareness
of what a feminist perspective could offer women to help
protect against the development of body image dissatisfac-
tion in an objectifying culture, the women felt that they
were still susceptible to cultural messages about thinness.
Researchers have also studied this topic using quantita-
tive techniques. While some studies find a moderate
association between feminist identity and measures associ-
ated with body image (e.g., Tiggemann and Stevens 1999),
others find small or no relationships (e.g., Cash et al. 1997).
The purpose of the present study was to conduct a meta-
analysis of the correlational data that relate feminist identity
to measures related to body concerns. For example, many
researchers have examined how feminist identity relates to
body dissatisfaction, which is one index of body image. In
the present data set there were several types of scales used
that measured body attitudes. These included scales assess-
ing satisfaction with specific body parts, including items not
related to weight and shape, such as the Multidimensional
Self-Relations Body Questionnaire—Body Area Satisfaction
Scale (MSRBQ-BASS, Brown et al. 1990); surveys that
focused on weight and shape dissatisfaction such as the
Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ, Cooper et al. 1987); and
the Body Shame scale of the Objectified Body Conscious-
ness Scale (McKinley and Hyde 1996) that includes
measures of the integration of body dissatisfaction and self.
Body dissatisfaction is closely related to the internaliza-
tion of the thin ideal. Internalization of the thin ideal may
be considered a risk factor for the development of body
dissatisfaction (Thompson and Stice 2001). Similarly, both
body dissatisfaction and internalization of the thin ideal
may be risk factors for disordered eating and eating
disorders (Stice 2002). Thus, these constructs can be
conceptualized to exist on a continuum, moving from thin
ideal internalization to body dissatisfaction to disordered
eating attitudes and behaviors (e.g., Levine and Smolak
2006). Data addressing the relationship between feminist
identity and “drive for thinness” scores measured by the
188
Eating Disorders Inventory (Garner et al. 1983); and scores
on the Eating Attitude Test (EAT) (Garner and Garfinkel,
1982) which measures eating disordered attitudes were
available for analysis. Finally, feminist attitudes have been
related to internalization of the thin media ideal measured
by the Sociocultural Attitudes towards Appearance Ques-
tionnaire (SATAQ; Heinberg et al. 1995).
Thus, several sets of effects were examined in the
present study. The following hypotheses were proposed:
1. Feminist identity should be associated with positive
attitudes about the body. Measures of body dissatisfac-
tion, esteem, and shame represented the operationaliza-
tion of body attitudes.
2. Feminist identity should be negatively related to “drive for
thinness” as measured by the EDI drive for thinness scale.
3. Feminist identity should be negatively associated with
eating disordered attitudes.
4. Feminist identity will be negatively associated with
internalization of the thin media ideal. This association
might be the strongest one found in the data set as
theorists have proposed that feminist attitudes should
lead to a critical evaluation of external forces that
threaten women’s body satisfaction.
It was expected that there would be variation in the size
of the effect across studies, and that various factors would
predict variation. The age of the participants was examined
as a possible source of variation as at least one study found
differences due to age (Tiggemann and Stevens 1999). It is
possible that possession of a feminist identity is a stronger
predictor among women older than college age in that it
might take time for a feminist identity to help women
develop resistance strategies and a strong sense of self that
can help protect against societally based body disruption.
The ethnicity of the sample was examined as well. In a
meta-analytic review of the data on ethnicity and body
dissatisfaction Grabe and Hyde (2006) found a small
difference between white and black women in body
dissatisfaction with black women experiencing more satis-
faction. It is possible that the larger the percent of white
women in a sample the larger the effect size. There was
little diversity in the country of origin of the studies given
that most were conducted in North America, so no
differences by country of sample could be examined. About
half of the studies in the analysis were dissertations, so it
was possible to examine whether effect size varied with
publication; it might be expected that there would be a
publication bias toward publishing significant results. There
was also variability in the sampling methods used across
studies. In some cases purposeful samples of lesbian
women or women specifically interested in the topic of
body image were chosen, which could lead to stronger
effect sizes due to more variability on feminist identity
Sex Roles (2009) 60:186–197
measures. Finally, there are several measures of feminist
identity as well as of body image attitudes. Thus, variation
due to measurement was examined to see if it affected the
size of the relationship. It was expected that feminist
identity measures that required people to self-identify as a
feminist would yield more variability and thus stronger
relationships than measures that did not require self-
identification. While many people indicate that they agree
with feminist attitudes, fewer proclaim themselves to be
feminists (e.g., Zucker 2004). No specific predictions about
how various body attitude measures (body parts dissatis-
faction, overall weight dissatisfaction, body shame) would
relate to the size of the effect were proposed.
Method
Study Retrieval
Psychinfo, ERIC, and Dissertation Abstracts databases were
searched with the term “feminist” to cast a large net over the
entire body of research related to feminism. Titles and
abstracts were examined to see if the article contained any
measure of feminist identity linked to an aspect of body image
or eating problems. Further, Social Science Citation Index was
used to examine all studies that cited the articles that described
the development of all of the commonly used measures of
feminist identity. The abstracts of all of the articles citing at
least one of these scales were examined closely to see if
relevant data could be obtained. Specific Psychinfo author
searches were also conducted of various authors who seemed
to have empirical or theoretical interest in this topic. The
abstracts of all of the studies associated with the following
authors were examined for possible data: Fischer, Henley,
Hyde, Liss, Moradi, Piran, Szymanski, Tiggemann, Tolman,
and Wittig. Finally, the reference pages of all articles and
chapters were examined for additional references.
Selection criteria did not include country of origin,
ethnicity, or age. However, the studies represented exclu-
sively Western nations. Twenty-one of the studies were
conducted with participants from the United States; two
studies were conducted with Canadian citizens (Affleck
2000; Dionne et al. 1995); two studies questioned both US
and Canadian participants (Legatt 2004; Ojerholm and
Rothblum 1999); and one study was conducted in Australia
(Tiggemann and Stevens 1999). Furthermore, in most
studies a large percentage of the participants (at least
75%) were Caucasian, with the exception of Affleck
(2000); Brooks (2002); Cash et al. (1997); and Linnebach
(2005). The samples used in the analyses were almost
equally divided between those with women in their 20s and
those with women older than their 20s. There were no
available data from girls younger than college age.
Sex Roles (2009) 60:186–197
Analysis
Because both variables under study were typically contin-
uous rather than one being categorical, effect sizes were
calculated as r rather than d values, using procedures
suggested by Shadish and Haddock (1994) in which the
Fisher z transformation of r is used as an unbiased estimate
of the population effect size. Each r value is weighted by
the sample size of the study. The statistical significance of
the overall effect size is tested by calculating a z score
value. Cohen’s (1977) guidelines were used to evaluate the
size of the r value with values of r=.10 indicating a small
effect, values of r=.30 indicating a moderate effect, and
values of r=.50 indicating a large effect. If the r is
statistically significant, the homogeneity of r is calculated
and its significance determined by a statistic that approx-
imates a chi-square value. If there is significant heteroge-
neity in r across studies, the variability in r can be
examined to determine if it systematically associated with
various study characteristics using procedures analogous to
analysis of variance.
Predictor Variable: Measurement of Feminist Identity
Feminist identity, the predictor variable, was operational-
ized in various ways across the studies found. The most
typical way was to use one of the three “stage scale”
measures of feminist identity. These measures are based on
a model proposed by Downing and Roush (1985), patterned
after Cross’ (1971) model of racial identity development. In
the Downing and Roush (1985) model of feminist identity,
it is proposed that women pass through five stages of
development. At first women exhibit “passive acceptance”
(PA) of traditional gender roles, believing that they are
advantageous to women. If women are led to question
traditional roles, perhaps through consciousness-raising or
the experience of a “crisis,” they might move into the
“revelation” phase (REV) where they realize the presence
of discrimination against women. Women in this stage are
often very emotional and might experience guilt for their
participation in a sexist culture, and they exhibit dualistic
thinking in which all men are seen as “the enemy.” In the
third stage, labeled Embeddedness/Emanation (EE), women
recognize the value of women’s contributions to society and
might want to associate mostly with other women. Women
then might move into the Synthesis (SYN) stage where
feminist identity becomes integrated, and women no longer
engage in dualistic thinking. Finally, Active Commitment
(AC) is the stage that is associated with engaging in actions
that support the feminist movement. Rickard (1989)
developed the Feminist Identity Scale (FIS) which measures
the first four proposed stages of development, leaving out
AC. Bargad and Hyde (1991) developed the feminist
189
identity development scale (FIDS) to capture all five stages
of development. Fischer and colleagues developed the
Feminist Identity Composite (FIC), which combines items
from the FIS and FIDS and is argued to have better
psychometric properties (Fischer et al. 2000). All three scales
have been used in research to link feminist identity to body
image attitudes and eating disordered attitudes, and most
authors included all of the stage score values in their results.
It was expected that the higher stages of feminist identity
would be most correlated with body-related variables. Thus,
the synthesis score and/or the active commitment score was
used in the analysis. In some studies only one score was
available, and in one study a combined score was used.
A couple of researchers used Morgan’s (1996) Liberal
Feminist Ideology Scale (LFIS) which measures agreement
with feminist goals and feminist ideologies. Some studies
used Henley et al. (1998) Feminist Perspectives Scale (FPS)
which measures agreement with a variety of feminist
perspectives including conservative, liberal, radical, social-
ist, and cultural feminist; and women of color (Henley et al.
1998). A total score across these perspectives was used.
Fassinger’s (1994) scale was used in one study as was that
of Smith et al. (1975) which each measure agreement with
feminist attitudes. Finally, some researchers used self-
identification as a feminist as their measure of feminist
identity, sometimes measured on a one-item Likert scale.
Feminist identity scales vary in terms of whether or not
one has to self-identify as a feminist to respond to the scale.
On Morgan’s (1996) scale, the scale of Henley et al. (1998),
and all of the scales designed to measure stage of feminist
identity development, the word “feminist” does not appear
on the scale. Thus, one does not have to self-identify as a
feminist to agree with attitudes on the scale. In contrast,
scales measuring agreement with feminist attitudes and
questions asking one to self-identify as a feminist make it
clear that the scale concerns feminist identity. Respondents
must think about whether or not they are feminists in
responding to these scales. This is important because
although many people agree with egalitarian attitudes (e.g.,
Williams and Wittig 1997), fewer will label themselves a
feminist or evaluate the term “feminist” positively. About
one-quarter to one-third of Americans would proclaim
themselves to be feminists (Huddy et al. 2000); and in
college women these rates have ranged from 5% among
introductory psychology students at a Northeastern univer-
sity (Liss et al. 2004), to 15% among University of
Connecticut psychology students (Liss et al. 2001), to as
high as 67% of a small group of students from a liberal arts
college (Liss et al. 2000). There are negative connotations
associated with feminists, and those who adopt a feminist
self-label have been found to have different attitudes than
those who merely agree with egalitarian beliefs. For
example, Zucker (2004) found that self-identified feminists
190 Sex Roles (2009) 60:186–197

were more likely to report experience with suffering from
sexism, and to report more activist behavior than those who
were egalitarian but not feminist. Thus, we expected that
women who self labeled as feminists would have more
positive body attitudes and less disordered eating than
would those who simply agreed with egalitarian principles.
Criterion Variables
The largest number of effect sizes was found relating
feminist identity to a measure of attitudes about the body.
There were three different types of body attitude measures
including measures of satisfaction with body parts (e.g.,
EDI body dissatisfaction subscale, Garner et al. 1983; the
Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire—
Appearance Evaluation, MBSRQ-AE, and MBSRQ-BASS,
Brown et al. 1990); measures of weight dissatisfaction (e.g.,
BSQ, Cooper et al. 1987; and the Body Esteem Scale,
Mendelson and White 1982); and the Body Shame scale on
the OBC (McKinley and Hyde 1996) which measures
extreme dissatisfaction with the body that is believed to
result from internalization of the thin ideal. For all of these
scales the effect size was coded so that a higher r meant a
positive association between feminist identity and positive
attitude toward the body.
There were also sufficient data to examine the association
between feminist identity and “drive for thinness,” measured
by the EDI scale (Garner et al. 1983); eating disordered
attitudes measured by the EAT (Garner and Garfinkel 1982);
and internalization of the thin media ideal measured by the
SATAQ (Heinberg et al. 1995). For all of these measures
data were coded so that a higher score indicated a healthier
response; e.g., lower drive for thinness, lower eating
pathology, and less internalization of the media ideal.

Table 1 Effect sizes related to feminist identity and body dissatisfaction.

Authors, year Pub Age Min Fem Samp Att Number Attr Dthinr EATr SATAQr

Affleck 2000 N Y M NF Y BPD 447 .002 .002 −.03 –

Beamer 1999 N Y N NF N BPD 181 .01 – – .25
Brooks 2002 N Y M NF N BPD 89 −.02 – −.01 –
Calandra 2001 N O N NF Y BPD 93 .04 – – –
Callow 2005 N O N NF Y BPD 202 −.01 – – –
Cash et al. 1997 Y Y M NF N BPD 122 .02 −.09 – –
Cogan 1999 Y O N F Y BPD 173 .22 .29 .143 –
Dionne et al. 1995 Y Y N NF N BPD 200 .15 – – –
Eisele 2007 N Y N NF N BPD 397 .05 – – –
Fingerat and Gleaves 2004 Y Y N NF Y BPD 202 .07 .19 – .05
Garner 1997 Y O N F Y WTD 3452 .17 – – –
Gorman 1999 N Y N NF N BPD 100 −.001 −.03 −.09 –
Guille and Chrisler 1999 Y O N NF Y n.a. 105 – – .20 –
Haines et al. 2008 Y O N F Y SHA 126 −.06 – – –
Hurt et al. 2007 N O N F Y SHA 282 .24 – .10 –
Leggatt 2004 N Y N F Y SHA 163 .29 – .20 .41
Myers and Crowther 2007 N Y N NF N WTD 195 −.04 – – .04
Linnebach 2005 N Y N NF N WTD 116 −.05 – – .03
Linnebach 2005 N Y M NF N WTD 95 .35 – – .23
Noffsinger-Frazier 2004 N O N NF Y SHA 345 .24 – .22 .25
Ojerholm and Rothblum 1999 Y Y N F Y WTD 409 .06 – – –
Rockwern and Murnen 2008 N Y N NF N SHA 61 .22 – .06 –
Sabik and Tylka 2006 Y Y N NF N WTD 256 .09 – .11 –
Slaviero 2006 N O N NF Y SHA 241 −.04 – −.08 .00
Snyder and Hasbrouck 1996 Y Y N NF N SHA 71 −.01 −.10 – .13
Tiggemann and Stevens 1999 Y Y N F N WTD 41 −.11 – – –
Tiggemann and Stevens 1999 Y O N F N WTD 69 .24 – – –
Tiggemann and Stevens 1999 Y O N F N WTD 46 .31 – – –
Tiggemann and Stevens 1999 Y O N F N WTD 23 −.27 – – –
Welsh 2007 N O N NF Y n.a. 80 – – −.10 –

Pub Whether study was published, y yes, n no; age refers to age of participants with Y younger and O older; Min indicates minority status of
sample with M significant proportion minority participants, N no significant proportion; FEM indicates whether feminist self-identification was
part of the scale with F feminist self-identification and NF no feminist self-identification; Sam indicates whether the sample was purposeful (Y
yes) or not (N no); Attr refers r values for body attitude scales with BPD body parts dissatisfaction, WTD weight dissatisfaction; and SHA body
shame; Dthinr r values for Drive for Thinness; EATr r values for EAT; and SATAQr r values for internalization of the media
Sex Roles (2009) 60:186–197 191

Analysis of Heterogeneity
There were sufficient data in the body attitudes data set to
conduct analyses of the sources of heterogeneity of the
effect size. Several variables from the studies were coded to
allow for an analysis of heterogeneity. The age of the
sample was coded such that samples of women in their 20s
were compared to samples containing women who were
older than 20. The presence of minority women in the
sample was examined such that samples where the
proportion of non-minority participants was greater than
75% were compared to samples where the proportion was
less than or equal to 75%. Published studies were compared
to non-published studies. Some samples were purposely
chosen because the women had a particular interest in the
topic or were particularly likely to be feminist such as
women’s studies students or lesbians. These samples were
compared to convenience samples that usually consisted of
students from introductory psychology courses. Studies
where the word “feminist” was incorporated into the scale
were compared to those where this was not the case.
Finally, the measurement of body attitude used was
examined such that studies that measured dissatisfaction
with body parts were compared to studies of weight
dissatisfaction and to studies of body shame.
Results
There were 26 studies used in the analysis. All but two
studies contained data concerning the relationship between
feminist identity and body attitudes, and two studies had
more than one sample, so there were a total of 28 effects
sizes aggregated for the relationship between feminist
identity and body satisfaction. There was a smaller number
of effect sizes relating feminist identity to drive for thinness
(k=6); to scores on eating disorders inventories (k=12); and
to scores on the SATAQ (k=9). All of the effect sizes
associated with the 26 studies are listed in Table 1.
Body Attitudes: Hypothesis 1
There were 28 effect sizes from 24 studies that assessed the
association between feminist identity and attitudes towards
the body. For those studies that used a feminist identity
stage scale measure (the FIDS, FIS, or the FIC), a choice
needed to be made about which subscale best captured
feminist identity. There were seven studies in which either a
synthesis subscale or active commitment subscale could be
used as the measure of feminist identity. In the first set of
analyses the relationship of the synthesis subscale to body
attitudes was examined. In this analysis, the overall effect
size was r=.123 which was statistically significant, z=
11.04, p<.001, and heterogeneous across studies, X2 (27)=
79.82, p<.001. There was one study with a very large
sample size in the data set, the Garner (1997) Psychology
Today study, for which readers were surveyed and asked
whether they self-identified as a feminist, and whether they
were “extremely dissatisfied” with their weight. The size of
the r value for this study was r=.172, and this effect had a
large weighting factor in the analysis with N=3,452. Thus,
another analysis was done excluding this study and the
effect size found was smaller, but still significant. These
data are summarized in Table 2. A second set of analyses
was done substituting the active commitment subscale for
the synthesis subscale for the seven studies where this was
possible. The effect size was smaller, but still significant.
With the Garner (1997) study included it was r=.115, and
with it excluded it was r=.072. Table 2 displays these
values and their statistical significance.

Table 2 Summary of r values.

Feminist identity correlated with… k Number r d z score Heterogeneity

Synthesis with body attitudes 28 8,197 .123 .247 11.04* 79.82*

Syn w/ Body Att excluding Garner 27 4,745 .085 .171 5.76* 64.46*
Active commitment with Body Att 28 8,197 .115 .232 10.36* 69.98*
AC w/ Body Att excluding Garner 27 4,745 .072 .144 4.87* 49.65*
Synthesis with drive for thinness 6 1,116 .072 .145 2.29* 18.98*
Synthesis with EAT scores 12 2,419 .082 .164 3.91* 24.82*
Synthesis with SATAQ internalization 9 1,660 .149 .301 6.06* 35.35*
BodyAtt w/ SATAQ group of studies 9 1,660 .084 .169 3.40* 21.21*

Positive r values indicate a positive association between variables such that the more feminist, the more positive the attitudes about the body, the
lower the drive for thinness, the lower the score on an eating disordered inventory, etc. Synthesis indicates that feminist identity was measured by
the synthesis scale on the FIS, FIDS, and FIC, when available. In another analysis, active commitment scores were used instead of synthesis
scores in these studies (k=5). In some analyses the Garner study was excluded since it had a large influence on the analysis, given a sample size of
3,452. In a subset of studies SATAQ scores measuring internalization of the media were available. The r value relating to feminist identity and
SATAQ was examined, as well as the r value between feminist identity and body satisfaction for this subset of studies.
*p<.05, statistically significant
192 Sex Roles (2009) 60:186–197

An analysis of the heterogeneity in the effect sizes using
the synthesis data set was conducted (due to the larger r
value than the active commitment data set). These data are
displayed in Table 3. In the first three sets of contrasts the
Garner study was excluded since it was not believed to be
relevant to the domains that were examined, thus it was not
desirable for this study to exert undue influence. Samples in
which the participants were in their 20s were compared to
samples in which the participants were older than 20. There
was a significant difference in the effect size such that it was
smaller for younger participants compared to older partic-
ipants. There was not a significant difference between studies
with a larger proportion of minority participants compared to
studies with a smaller proportion. Similarly, there was no
significant difference in the size of r in published studies
compared to those that were not published.
For the next three sets of analyses, the Garner study was
included because it was believed to be relevant to the
domains that were examined. It was found that the effect
size was significantly larger when the word feminist was
part of the measurement of the predictor, compared to when
it was not. Also, when a purposeful sample was chosen the
effect size was significantly larger than when a convenience
sample was selected. Finally, when body parts satisfaction
was measured the effect size was smaller, compared to
dissatisfaction with weight, and especially compared to
body shame.
Chi-square analyses were conducted to ensure that the
values of the coded variables (feminist identity measure,
age of participants, minority status of participants, nature of
publication, nature of sample, and body attitude measure)
were not associated with one another. There was a small
association found between feminist identification measure
used and whether or not the study was published X2 (1)=
5.04, p=.025 such that the explicitly feminist measures
were over-represented among published studies compared
to unpublished studies. There was also a small association
between age of participants and how purposeful the sample
was such that older participants were over-represented in
the more purposeful samples compared to the more general
samples, X2(1)=4.86, p=.026.
Other Measures: Hypotheses 2–4
With respect to the other body-related measures, there was
a small but significant association between feminist identity
and drive for thinness scores, r=.072, z=2.29, p<.05; and
between feminist identity and scores on eating disorder
inventories, r=.082, z=3.91, p<.01. There was significant
heterogeneity in both of these data sets but an insufficient
number of values (6 and 12, respectively) to analyze the
variability in more detail.
There was a set of nine studies that used the SATAQ
(Heinberg et al. 1995) along with a feminist identity scale.
In these studies the association between feminist identity
and internalization of the media ideal was significant, with
r=.149, z=6.06, p<.01. Across these same studies the
relationship between feminist identity and body attitudes
was smaller, r=.084, z=3.40, p<.05. There was significant
heterogeneity in these two sets of effect sizes. All of these
data are summarized in Table 2.
Discussion
The effect sizes yielded in the study were small, but
statistically significant. The largest number of effect sizes
was found for the relationship between feminist identity

Table 3 Examination of variability in r values associated with feminist identity (synthesis) and body attitudes.

Contrast r k Number heterogeneity between

Participants age 20sa .057 17 2,945 9.46*

Participants older than 20s .113 10 1,800
Minority sample >75%a .092 4 753 1.26
Minority sample ≤75% .047 23 3,992
Not publisheda .062 15 2,851 3.49
Published .118 12 1,894
Other feminist scale .063 17 3,232 18.08*
Feminist label scale .161 11 4,965
Unusual sample .136 12 6,135 11.09*
Convenience sample .066 16 2,062
Dissatisfaction body parts .039 13 2,062 27.14*
Weight dissatisfaction .147 10 4,702
Body shame .214 5 977

*p<.05, statistically significant

a
Contrasts did not include Garner (1997) study
Sex Roles (2009) 60:186–197
and body attitudes. In this analysis there was significant
variability in the effect size across studies. The r values
were significantly larger when body shame was the
measure of body attitudes, when feminist self-identification
was incorporated into the measurement of feminist identity;
when the sample was not a convenience sample of
introductory psychology students but instead a more
purposeful sample such as those interested in the topic,
lesbian women, and/or women’s studies students; and when
the sample was of women older than college age. It is
proposed that a consolidated feminist identity that likely
exists among those who proclaim themselves to be
feminists, and who have had a significant amount of
experience with their feminist identity, helps protect against
extreme dissatisfaction with the body that can result when
one internalizes unrealistic cultural ideals (as in the case of
body shame).
It was also found that feminist identity was associated
with a lower drive for thinness, and with lower scores on
eating disorder inventories. There were not sufficient data
to examine variables that might be associated with the
variability in these effect sizes. There were nine studies
where the SATAQ-internalization scale was administered
along with a body satisfaction scale. These data are
interesting because they show that the relationship between
feminist identity and internalization of the media is stronger
than that between feminist identity and body attitudes. It is
likely the case that feminist women are more resistant to
media images that glorify slenderness, but this does not
completely parallel higher body satisfaction rates.
Thus most of the data show only weak relationships
between feminist identity and feelings and thoughts related
to the body. For example, the relationship between feminist
attitudes and satisfaction with body parts, weight satisfac-
tion, drive for thinness, and eating disordered attitudes were
all small effect sizes. Perhaps there is not a strong
association between developing a feminist identity and a
sense of self independent of cultural pressures about the
body. After all, these pressures are very strong. Body image
dissatisfaction is so common among women and girls in
Western cultures to be considered normative, and females
experience more body dissatisfaction than males (Feingold
and Mazzella 1998; Ricciardelli and McCabe 2004).
Feminists might not be immune to these pressures. Rubin
and colleagues’ (Rubin et al. 2004) qualitative data are
consistent with this idea in that college-age feminist women
reported that they could not completely resist socio-cultural
pressures about thinness.
On the other hand, the patterns of data revealed in this
analysis suggest that there are validity issues in the research
that has been conducted. The fact that body attitude effect
sizes were larger in more purposeful samples, in samples of
older women, and in studies where the feminist identity
193
measure explicitly made reference to the word “feminism”
suggests that many of the samples likely had a restricted
number of women with strong feminist identities. With a
larger group of feminists a stronger association might be
uncovered.
In addition, it is important to recognize the likely
complexity of the relationship between feminist identity,
body attitudes, and eating disordered attitudes and behav-
iors. Recent research has revealed some of this complexity.
For example, Hurt et al. (2007) found that feminist self-
identification did not directly relate to lower eating
pathology, but instead was mediated by self-surveillance
measured by the OBC and adherence to various feminine
role norms. Sabik and Tylka (2006) found that feminist
identity moderated the relationship between perceived
recent and lifetime sexist events and disordered eating.
Two sets of effect sizes—the relationship between
feminist identity and body shame, and between feminist
identity and internalization of the media—were a bit
stronger than other effects (although still small). These data
are consistent with feminist theory. Although the body
shame data were originally grouped with measures of body
attitudes, there are distinct differences in this scale
compared to measures of body and weight dissatisfaction.
The scale measures the extent to which women have so
internalized cultural messages about thinness that it affects
their conception of the self (McKinley and Hyde 1996).
Women who report body shame are believed to have
internalized the cultural messages that they should be thin,
that they should be able to control their weight, and that
they are not worthy individuals otherwise. Feminist identity
seems to provide some protection against this internaliza-
tion. Similarly, feminist identity was negatively related to
internalizing the thin media ideal as measured by the
SATAQ (Heinberg et al. 1995). It is likely that feminism
helps women critically evaluate and perhaps avoid harmful
cultural messages. There is still a lot we need to know
about feminist identity development in general (e.g., Hyde
2002). Indeed, none of the studies used in this meta-
analysis included adolescent or younger girls. Feminist
identity development could be fruitfully studied along with
other variables such as body attitudes and critical thought.
In a study of grade school girls it was found that some girls
could reject comparing themselves to sexually objectified
images of women and that this rejection was associated
with positive body esteem (Murnen et al. 2003).
The interpretation of these meta-analytic findings are
limited by several aspects of the studies included. The
samples were narrow in terms of age of participants, their
country of origin, and ethnicity. Body image (Anderson-
Fye 2008; Becker and Fay 2006) shows considerable
variability across cultures in terms of the definition and
meaning of attractiveness. Investment in gender equality,
194
which may signal acceptability of feminism and feminist
identity, similarly differs substantially (Eagly and Woods
1999). Thus, it is reasonable to argue that the relationship
between body image and feminist identity may also vary
cross-culturally. It will be important to develop culturally
sensitive measures of feminist identity. In addition,
although the present analysis did not indicate differences
in the feminist identity–body image relationships by
ethnicity, much work remains to be done in this area. Body
image and the meaning of feminism may vary within US
ethnic groups (e.g., Grabe and Hyde 2006). In the USA,
African-American women continue to demonstrate lower
levels of body dissatisfaction than do other ethnic groups.
More generally, it is important to test the applicability of
objectification theory in non-Western cultures. The present
data suggest that feminist attitudes might help prevent
internalization of cultural sources of objectification such as
exposure to the thin media ideal. A feminist orientation
might interrupt the process of self-objectification in that
feminists might contextualize cultural experiences rather
than personalize them. Although it is likely that objectifi-
cation of women exists in all patriarchal cultures given that
this is believed to be an important source of women’s
subjugation (Schur 1983), the nature of the objectification
might differ. In the most patriarchal cultures where women
have little control over financial resources and other aspects
of their lives, objectification might be manifested in very
direct, personal ways such as control over women’s
sexuality. The relevance of self-objectification, feminist
attitudes, and body image dissatisfaction to understanding
such experiences is unclear. It is likely that the issue of
personal control is very relevant to coping with direct
objectification experiences, but the control would not come
from the development of a feminist identity if that was not
an available cultural construct.
Despite the limitations of the samples in the data set, the
findings offer some testable ideas about the developmental
nature of the association between feminist identity and
body-related constructs. There are at least three components
of feminism that might serve as protective factors. First,
feminist identity should lead to an elevation of critical
thought. According to the Downing and Roush (1985)
model, the early stages of feminist identity involve
“revelation” of the existence and effects of sexism. In this
early stage women are likely to experience intense feelings
including guilt and shame, but also the beginnings of
critical thought. In later stages when affect has leavened the
critical thought processes should be effective in preventing
internalization of oppressive cultural messages. There is
some support for the idea that early stages of feminist
identity are associated with distress. Fischer and Good
(2004) found that “revelation” scores measured by the
Feminist Identity Composite (Fischer et al. 2000) were
Sex Roles (2009) 60:186–197
correlated with anger which was associated with negative
psychological functioning. More advanced stages of iden-
tity should lead to the best outcomes. Thus, it would be
useful to study the development of feminist identity along
with variables such as body attitudes and critical thought.
We should be careful to continue to develop scales that can
capture the process of feminist identity in a valid manner.
There is still a lot we need to know about feminist identity
development in general (e.g., Hyde 2002), and the most
valid and reliable forms of measurement. In terms of other
constructs, Engeln-Maddox and Miller (2008) recently
developed a scale that measures critical evaluation of media
that could be used to measure the critical thought processes,
along with the SATAQ (Heinberg et al. 1995).
In addition to cultural analysis, a second potentially
important aspect of feminism is its emphasis on collective
action. If one can recognize oppression and act against it, a
number of sexist barriers can be recognized and resisted.
For example, feminism might help one to deal effectively
with sexist discrimination so that women can realize career
goals. Being successful in a career might help one
experience a strong identity that is fairly independent from
appearance concerns. Similarly, if one has developed a
strong voice through their collective action, it should
promote self-reliance rather than reliance on culturally
defined definitions of femininity. Klonoff and colleagues
(Klonoff and Landrine 1995; Klonoff et al. 2000) have
proposed a model of the positive effects of feminism and
found support for the idea that feminist attitudes helped
buffer women from the negative effects of sexist discrim-
ination. Zucker (2004) found that self-proclaimed feminist
women were more likely to report that they had experi-
enced problems associated with sexism, and that they
engaged in more activist behavior than those who held
egalitarian attitudes but did not call themselves feminists.
Third, feminism may empower women to act more in
their own self interest than to blindly follow the dictates of
society that women should focus much attention on their
bodies. Worell and colleagues (Worell 2001, 2006; Johnson
et al. 2005) have argued that interventions should go
beyond symptom treatment and should facilitate women’s
positive, healthy development through empowerment. Their
construct of empowerment is multi-faceted and includes
valuing women’s perspectives and focusing on context as
the source of psychological problems. Desired outcomes of
empowerment-oriented intervention include greater decision-
making and problem solving skills, confidence in one’s own
ability to gain support and love from others, self-nurturance,
and personal choice in life circumstances. These skills might
decrease the likelihood that women would development body
image and eating problems. Indeed, Johnson et al. (2005)
reported that empowerment was associated with overall well-
being and less symptom severity.
Sex Roles (2009) 60:186–197
In sum, in the search for variables that might predict
body satisfaction and help prevent eating disorders,
feminist identity is worthy of further exploration. Compared
to other meta-analytic findings, the association between
feminist identity and body shame is one of the strongest
“protective” effects we have found in our meta-analyses;
for example, it is larger than that of participating in sports
that don’t emphasize leanness and eating disorder scores
(Smolak et al. 2000). On the other side of the equation, the
effects associated with media use and body dissatisfaction
(Groesz et al. 2002; Murnen et al. 2007) and with sexual
abuse and eating disorders (Smolak and Murnen 2002) are
similar in size. These data suggest that there are disruptive
societal factors that threaten to harm girls’ and women’s
connections to their bodies. It is proposed that the
development of a feminist consciousness can help girls
and women develop critical consciousness to resist and/or
reinterpret sexist experiences. On a larger level, feminism
can encourage people to join together in collective action to
expose and eradicate forces that threaten to disrupt body
satisfaction and healthy eating.
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