CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

It has been seen that more women than men harbor feelings of frustration towards

their physical appearances. Women are often in conflict because of the double standards

imposed by the seemingly-equal society, wherein women are taken merely to be subjects

of superficial evaluation that largely relies on their external appearance (Holmes, 2015).

Frederickson and Roberts (1997) explained that in Western cultures, it is frequently the

females who are pressured to focus more on their superficial attributes. These women

often perceive themselves to be always evaluated by people they come across with. Due

to this, women are more likely to grow anxious of how they will appear to other people.

Women in pre-colonial Philippine society were venerated, held high positions,

were acknowledged for their skills and were at equal footing with men prior to the arrival

of the Spaniards (Aguja, 2013). It was when the Philippines was colonized that the value

of womanhood held meaning at a different light. Filipina women became hispanized and

were expected to be meek, obedient and chaste. Santos (1991) also pointed out that

womanhood during the Spanish Colonization, became tied to childbearing and marriage,

as being a wife and maintaining the household became their ultimate concern. It was only

during the drafting of the 1987 Constitution that the state acknowledged the role of

women and guaranteed equality before the law for both genders (Article 11, Section 14).

Given so, however, objectifying customs remained to plague the Filipino culture; the

most common, is the practice of street harassment. The Philippines is just one country out
 2

of many, according to UN Women (SAFECITIES HACKATHON, 2016), that still has

existing gender disparities. In a survey conducted by the Social Weather Station (SWS) in

Quezon City, Philippines regarding sexual harassment in public places, as contained in an

article published by Rappler (2016), results have revealed that 88% of the respondents,

with ages ranging from 18-24, experienced it at least once. It has also been seen that

across all ages, wolf whistling and catcalling are the most common form. Catcalling,

according to Calogero, Tantleff-Dunn and Thompson (2011), is a means of

objectification. The results also show an alarming rate in the occurrence of public

harassment. As such, 1 out of 7 women in the survey reported to have experienced sexual

harassment at least once every week in the past year. Seventy percent of these surveyed

women also reported to have been sexually harassed by total strangers and seventy

percent of the cases happened in broad daylight.

Individuals who are objectified often develop a fixation on the assessment of an

outside perspective over one’s body which may often lead the individual to compare

themselves with what is the standard in society. This process is called self-objectification.

Self-objectification occurs when women internalize the belief that society must evaluate

their bodies aesthetically (McKay, 2013) and view their body primarily by what the

society can see and how it can be used rather than appreciate what they have to offer. In a

study conducted by Agbisit & Corpuz (2015), Filipino women who have experienced

being objectified, reported feelings of hurt which extended to them doubting and

questioning themselves, and harboring feelings of anger; henceforth, when their worth is

threatened by such experiences, they reported to have tendencies to reassess themselves

 3

by putting into consideration the perspective of the people around them. Alarmingly so,

the effects of self-objectification have become adverse.

As it is, decades of research in Western countries have tapped on the

objectification of women and the self-objectification that follows. However, only a few

researches in line with this have been made in connection to the Asian culture. This study

aims to look into the extent of the occurrence of objectification and the self-

objectification that follows, in the Asian culture, particularly among Filipino women.

Objectives of the Study

This study was conducted to determine the existence of self-objectification among

female students in a private school in Iloilo City. Specifically, the study aimed to:

1) determine the objectifying experiences of the participants

2) determine if self-objectification is present in the participants’ lives

Theoretical Framework

The Objectification Theory of Frederickson and Roberts (1997) “provides a

framework for understanding the experience of being female in a sociocultural context

that sexually objectifies the female body” (Szymanski, Moffitt, & Carr, 2011). Several

studies have shown that being objectified by an external perspective leads to a high

probability of self-objectification, wherein the individual views the body as an object that

should be primarily evaluated for its appearance and usage. Strelan and Hargreaves

(2005) argued that women, who are primarily the subjects of being objectified by men,

often end up objectifying themselves. Furthermore, individuals who objectify themselves

 4

develop a habit of monitoring their appearance so they may meet society’s standards.

This habit could later on characterize anxiety, negative evaluative ratings of body image

and feelings of body shame, which in turn, could affect the self-esteem of a person.

Operational Definition of Variables

 Objectification – This refers to the various acts received by the female, from an

outside perspective, with regards to her body like gazing, sexist remarks, wolf-

whistling and sometimes even lead to harassment.

 Self-objectification – This refers to the act of objectifying one’s self as prompted

by the objectifying experiences a woman had. This is measured using the

Objectified Body Consciousness Scale which is composed of three subcategories:

surveillance, body shame and controlled belief. The presence of self-

objectification in one’s life is manifested in the scores reflected in the OBC Scale.

Significance of the Study

The study aimed to investigate the existence of objectification and self-

objectification in the Asian Culture, especially among Filipino women. At present, the

Philippines is still one of the countries wherein women still haven’t fully achieved equal

social status with men.

School Administrator/s

This study could also be beneficial to schools especially as aids in creating

guidance programs and in maintaining an academic environment where objectification

could be lessened, if not avoided

 5

Parents

The result of this study may be used by parents as a guide in further educating

their children about the importance of respect for them to treat every person they meet as

a human being not as something that they can objectify.

Young Women

This study may provide an insight about how objectification and self-

objectification are affecting their lives. Furthermore, this study will open the

consciousness of other women that such phenomena actually exist. Further, this study

will give women the insight on how prevalent self-objectification is among women.

Men

This may be a source of awareness for young men and educate them on how their

objectifying actions may impact the lives of the women they deal with. This may also

strengthen their knowledge that any form of objectification is not acceptable even if it is a

sort of compliment for them since it may have a different effect from the subject of

objectification.

Future Researchers

Only few researches have been made in connection with feminism; this study

would promulgate the existence of previous studies, made in the Philippines, relating to

women. This may also be a fundamental addition to the currently existing gender studies.
 6

Scope and Delimitation of the Study

This study aimed to determine the objectifying experiences of the selected female

campus figures in Central Philippine University. These participants were determined

through purposive sampling. Since the study is only focused on the objectifying

experiences and the self-objectification that follows only on Filipino college women, it

failed to capture the entirety of how objectification may affect the lives of Filipino

women. The number of participants provided did not fully generalize for Filipino women.

This study was conducted in the first semester of the school year 2017-2018. To

determine the objectifying experiences of the participants, interview with open-ended

questions were conducted. Further, to determine if self-objectification is present among

the participants, the Objectified Body Consciousness Scale was used. Data gathered in

the interview were analyzed using thematic analysis and the data gathered the OBC Scale

were tallied and computed using the Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS).

Lastly, this study ensured the confidentiality of the identity of the participants involved.