Reproductive Shame: Self-Objectification and Young Women's Attitudes Toward Their Reproductive Functioning

The purpose of this study was to measure and compare women's attitudes toward menstruation and breastfeeding and to determine whether self-objectification was associated with negative attitudes toward these events. We hypothesized that women who viewed menstruation as shameful would also report high levels of shame about breastfeeding and that women with greater self-objectification tendencies would have more negative or shameful attitudes toward both menstruation and breastfeeding. One hundred and seventy-six undergraduate women completed questionnaires measuring self-objectification, as well as attitudes toward menstruation and breastfeeding. As predicted, women who viewed menstruation as shameful also reported shameful attitudes toward breastfeeding. Women who reported higher levels of Body Shame and Self-Surveillance had significantly more shameful attitudes toward these reproductive functions than women with lower scores on these measures of self-objectification. Health care providers may be able to reduce women's feelings of shame about reproduction or minimize its negative impact on women's health behavior.