Sexual Objectification in Family of Origin, Self-Objectification, Sexual Agency, and Young Adult College Women's Orgasm

In this cross-sectional study, we examined if and how experiences of sexual objectification in one's family of origin are associated with sex-related outcomes among 700 young adult college women who completed an online survey. We found that sexual objectification in one's family of origin was directly and indirectly related to both body image self-consciousness during sex and sexual refusal through more self-objectification. In addition, sexual objectification in one's family of origin was indirectly related to less sexual communication via more self-objectification. Among the subsample of participants who had engaged in recent sexual activity, sexual objectification in one's family of origin was indirectly related to less orgasm via four pathways (a) more self-objectification, (b) less sexual refusal, (c) the serial link from more self-objectification to less sexual refusal, and (d) the serial link from more self-objectification to less sexual communication. Our findings suggest that sexual objectification in one's family of origin influences young adult college women's sexual experiences and sexual agency through more self-objectification and women's sexual functioning through more self-objectification and less sexual agency. That is, more experiences of sexual objectification in one's family of origin may lead a woman to internalize those messages and begin to treat herself as an object. This self-objectification, in turn, may make it more difficult for her to communicate her sexual desires and refuse sex when she does not want it, which may ultimately affect her satisfaction with and ability to orgasm during sex.