ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the relationship between embodied sexuality, disordered eating, and embodiment. It describes the possibility for women to experience their bodies as sources of pain as well as of joy and freedom. The chapter begins with objectification theory as a framework for understanding sociocultural factors that impact women's health and embodiment. It discusses contributing factors and consequences of sexual objectification. The chapter provides a discussion of sexual embodiment and reclaiming one's body as a source of agency, pleasure, joy, and freedom. Women's corporeality, size, appearance, and sexuality have been sites of oppression for many women. Pornography, another form of media, creates, illuminates, and perpetuates dominant cultural narratives about bodies, power, and sexuality. M. Tiggemann and E. Williams found that sexual functioning, depression, and disordered eating are significantly intercorrelated among women. Sexual agency and embodiment appear as avenues for reclaiming one's body-self unity as a source of agency and pleasure.
