Ours is the second study, after Strelan et al.
(2003), to report that self-objectifying individuals
who exercise to enhance their appearance are more
likely to experience reduced body esteem. We have
confirmed that the mediating effect of exercising for
appearance-related reasons applies even for young
women whose primary form of exercise is jogging or
brisk walking (in contrast to Strelan et al.’s sampleof dedicated young female fitness center attendees),
and have produced some preliminary evidence to
suggest that the effect may also occur among men.
In light of these congruent findings, future
researchers are encouraged to examine the relationships
in greater depth, to identify why it is
that self-objectifiers who exercise to improve their
appearance experience decreased body esteem.
Future researchers might consider the following
possibilities. One is that exercise is unlikely to
produce the desired improvements in appearance
if a person’s expectations about the outcomes of
their exercise are unrealistic (Polivy & Herman,
2002a). Failure to meet expectations might lead to
increased dissatisfaction with one’s current state;
this may be particularly the case with appearance
enhancement, which is amenable to tangible and
measurable results, for example, weight loss and
improved body tone, but which requires much time
and energy to achieve. A second possibility relates
to the notion that changing one’s outer appearance
does not necessarily lead to changed body image.
For example, the dieting literature (e.g., Polivy &
Herman, 2002b) indicates that overweight people
who lose weight do not always show a corresponding
improvement in their body satisfaction. The latter
thought gets, perhaps, to the heart of the matter: as
this study and many others have shown, a desire to
look good does not necessarily translate into feeling
good. It appears that, for both men and women,
exercising as a specific response to objectification
may only exacerbate the problem.