Amid increased concerns about mental health, sexual violence, and substance use among college students, college campuses are looking toward developing targeted programming to help counteract these concerning trends. This practitioner paper highlights the development and impacts of a program at a Canadian institution, which focuses on healthy…

Background: College sexual violence (CSV) victimization is associated with mental health issues with more recent research showing that victimization also has a negative impact on academic outcomes. While many universities offer a wide range of both advocacy and supportive services for survivors that can help address the negative impacts of CSV,…

In this grounded theory study I examined asexual college students' identity development within collegiate environments. Asexual students' experiences provided the emergent pathways for understanding their processes of identifying within the asexual spectrum. The resulting theory was constructed from and rooted in asexual students' stories and…

In this article, a teacher educator and a New York City elementary public school teacher share insights from a yearlong collaboration whereby they worked together to interrupt normative pedagogical practices regarding gender, sexuality, and interrelated identities within the context of a second-grade classroom. Bridging the typical disconnect…

Sexually objectifying messages about girls and women are common in U.S. popular culture. As a consequence of exposure to such messages, girls may develop "internalized sexualization," or internalization of the belief that sexual attractiveness to males is an important aspect of their identity. We hypothesized that internalized…

Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (ID/DD) experience multiple barriers that may prevent them from understanding and exploring their own sexuality. These barriers prevent them from achieving the same autonomy and quality of life as their peers. This research synthesis focuses on 13 articles published between 2000 and 2013…

There has been growing interest in the mental health benefits of self-compassion. This study was designed to establish norms on the Self-Compassion Scale-Short Form, a popular measure of self-compassion for individuals seeking counseling, and to examine group differences in self-compassion based on gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation,…

This thinkpiece arises from personal reflection on researching "sexualisation", on the individuals and issues encountered and on elements that were unspoken or more rarely voiced. It suggests that the discourse on sexualisation tends to construct an "other" from which speakers distance themselves, variously defined as "bad" mothers, sexualized…

This lesson plan is designed to stimulate awareness and reflection on personal attitudes toward gender expression and sexual orientation. Participants are guided to identify and analyze how external influences from various socialization agents shape gender and sexual orientation norms and, consequently, personal attitudes about gender expression…

Menarche is a significant milestone for young women, representing an important juncture between girlhood and maturation. The limited literature that exists suggests that a mother's reaction to her daughter's first periods can shape her experiences and perceptions of menstruation which, in turn, may impact on her self-image and, consequently,…

The current study examines the role of mental illness-related stigma on romantic or sexual relationships and sexual behavior among youth with mental illness (MI), including youths' experiences of stigma, the internalization of these experiences, and the behavior associated with managing stigma within romantic and sexual relationships. We conducted…

This article elaborates on three themes related to Szymanski, Moffitt, and Carr's major contribution aims. First, the article describes the promise of objectification theory as a grounding framework in research and practice, outlining how this theory integrates key aspects of several other important theoretical models. Second, this article…

This article focuses on the implications of theory and empirical research on the sexual objectification of women. Drawing largely from the American Psychological Association's 2007 "Guidelines for Psychological Practice With Girls and Women," the 2007 "Report of the American Psychological Association's Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls,"…

Adolescence is a time of growth, change, and confusion for young women. During this transition from childhood to adulthood, sex and gender roles become more important. Meanwhile, depictions of females--from the hyper-sexualized girls of music videos to the chaste repression of Purity Balls--send mixed messages to young women about their bodies…

The size, shape and physical attractiveness of a woman's body are linked to her sexuality. As women age, changes occur to their bodies that may cause them anxiety over the socially constructed body image norms that are promoted within this society. Researchers posit that the standard of our culture seems to create more problems for women as they…