Objectified Body Consciousness Scale, OBC

Test scores

Report

Higher scores represent higher endorsement of each of the constructs.

The scale contains three subscales:

• Surveillance – viewing the body as an outside observer.

• Body shame – feeling shame when the body does not conform.

• Control – appearance control beliefs.

Body Surveillance

The central tenet of OBC is that the feminine body is constructed as an object of male desire and so exists to receive the gaze of the male «other». Constant self-surveillance, seeing themselves as others see them, is necessary to ensure that women comply with cultural body standards and avoid negative judgments. Women's relationship to their bodies becomes that of object and external onlooker; they exist as objects to themselves. Women learn to associate body surveillance with self-love, health, and individual achievement. But constant self-surveillance has negative implications for women. Psychological research has demonstrated that when we focus our attention on ourselves and we are aware of standards for behavior, we compare ourselves to that standard and try to reduce any discrepancy. If we cannot reduce the discrepancy, we feel bad. Experimental data also indicate that self-focus can make us more susceptible to influence by other people and reduces our capacity to focus on the outside world.

Internalization of Cultural Standards and Body Shame

Cultural body standards provide the ideal to which a woman compares herself when she watches her body. Internalization of cultural body standards makes it appear as though these standards come from within the individual woman and makes the achievement of these standards appear to be a personal choice rather than a product of social pressure. Women themselves want to be «beautiful». When this desire is constructed as a personal choice, women are more willing to conform than when they believe the standards were externally imposed. However, there are considerable economic and interpersonal pressures on women to achieve a certain body type. Because cultural standards for the feminine body are virtually impossible to realize fully, women who internalize them, connecting achievement of those standards with their identity, may feel shame when they do not measure up. Shame may be a common emotion women feel in relation to their bodies. This shame is not simply negative feelings about the body, but about the self.

Responsibility for Appearance: Control Beliefs

OBC relies on an underlying assumption that women are responsible for how their bodies look and can, given enough effort, control their appearance and comply with cultural standards. Convincing women that they are responsible for how they look is necessary to make them accept attractiveness as a reasonable standard by which to judge themselves. Constructing the achievement of cultural body standards as a choice encourages the belief that appearance can be controlled. Even though many aspects of appearance cannot be controlled, there are some benefits to women in believing they can control their appearance. The illusion of control both helps people handle extremely stressful situations and makes them persistent in pursuing their goals. Therefore, believing they can control their appearance may relieve some of the stress for women that accompanies body surveillance and the internalization of cultural body standards and may provide more positive psychological outcomes. Unfortunately, control beliefs may also encourage negative behaviors, such as restricted eating.

OBC and Women's Body Experience

Objectified body consciousness, then, creates a situation in which a woman has a contradictory relationship to her body. On the one hand, we have seen behaviors such as loving the self through surveillance, «choosing» cultural body standards, and acquiring appearance controlling skills can appear to be positive, empowering experiences for women. On the other hand, each of these behaviors also has negative consequences for how a woman feels about her body and about herself. Without an understanding of OBC, we cannot fully understand women's complex and contradictory feelings toward their bodies, nor can we begin to speculate on how negative body experience can be changed.