Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Body Image. 2022 Dec;43:474-485. doi: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2022.10.003. Epub 2022 Nov 5.
Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples refer to the traditional owners of Australia and have the oldest continuing culture in the world. Body image has scarcely been investigated among adult Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander (Indigenous) women, despite evidence that racism and colourism broadly contribute to adverse psychological outcomes for this population. Therefore, we conducted a qualitative study investigating Indigenous womens' body image with specific focus on racism, colourism, and cultural identity. Sixteen Indigenous women completed individual interviews or took part in group yarns - a culturally sanctioned method of information sharing. A reflexive thematic analysis generated three themes: (i) Dominant beauty ideals in Australia exclude Indigenous women and are informed by colonisation and stereotypes of what Indigenous women "should" look like, (ii) Variations in Indigenous women's identities and appearances influences the types of discrimination that they receive and impacts their sense of belonging, and (iii) A change journey occurs over time towards body acceptance which is informed by changes in understandings of body image and cultural identity. Broadly, participants described racism and colourism as negatively impacting their body image. Importantly, developing a strong cultural identity mitigated these impacts by facilitating both a sense of belonging and body acceptance - highlighting a potential protective factor.
原住民和/或托雷斯海峡岛民是指澳大利亚的传统所有者，拥有世界上最古老的持续文化。尽管有证据表明种族主义和肤色主义广泛导致了该人群的不良心理后果，但针对成年原住民和/或托雷斯海峡岛民（土著）妇女的身体意象几乎没有进行过调查。因此，我们进行了一项定性研究，调查了土著妇女的身体意象，特别关注种族主义、肤色主义和文化认同。16 名土著妇女完成了个人访谈或参加了小组 yarns——一种文化认可的信息共享方法。反思性主题分析产生了三个主题：(i) 澳大利亚主流的美丽理想排斥土著妇女，并受到殖民化和对土著妇女“应该”长相的刻板印象的影响，(ii) 土著妇女身份和外貌的变化影响她们所受到的歧视类型，并影响她们的归属感，以及 (iii) 随着时间的推移，身体接受度的变化过程是由对身体意象和文化认同的理解的变化所决定的。总的来说，参与者描述了种族主义和肤色主义对他们的身体意象产生了负面影响。重要的是，通过促进归属感和身体接受度，发展强烈的文化认同感减轻了这些影响——突出了一个潜在的保护因素。
