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To Be Seen and Not Heard: Femininity Ideology and Adolescent Girls’ Sexual Health

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This study used a feminist developmental framework to test the hypothesis that internalizing conventional ideas about femininity in two domains—inauthenticity in relationships and body objectification—is associated with diminished sexual health among adolescent girls. In this study, sexual health was conceptualized as feelings of sexual self-efficacy (i.e., a girl's conviction that she can act upon her own sexual needs in a relationship) and protection behavior (i.e., from both STIs and unwanted pregnancy). A total of 116 girls (aged 16–19) completed measures of femininity ideology, sexual self-efficacy, sexual experiences, and protection behavior. Results revealed that inauthenticity in relationships and body objectification were associated with poorer sexual self-efficacy and sexual self-efficacy, in turn, predicted less sexual experience and less use of protection. Further, the two components of femininity ideology were associated with different forms of protection. The importance of a feminist developmental framework for identifying and understanding salient dimensions of sexual health for female adolescents is discussed.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This research was supported by postdoctoral fellowships awarded to Emily A. Impett and Deborah Schooler from the Center for Research on Gender and Sexuality and by grants from the National Institute of Child Health and Development (Grant No. R29 HD33281-02) and the Ford Foundation awarded to Deborah L. Tolman. The authors would like to thank Celeste Hirschman, Janna Kim, Alice Michael, and Lynn Sorsoli for helpful comments on an earlier draft.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Research on Gender and Sexuality, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, California, USA

    Emily A. Impett Ph.D., Deborah Schooler Ph.D. & Deborah L. Tolman Ed.D.

  2. Center for Research on Gender and Sexuality, San Francisco State University, 2017 Mission Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94110, USA

    Emily A. Impett Ph.D.

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  1. Emily A. Impett Ph.D.
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  2. Deborah Schooler Ph.D.
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  3. Deborah L. Tolman Ed.D.
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Impett, E.A., Schooler, D. & Tolman, D.L. To Be Seen and Not Heard: Femininity Ideology and Adolescent Girls’ Sexual Health. Arch Sex Behav 35, 129–142 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-005-9016-0

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