Body Dissatisfaction Among Gay Men: The Roles of Sexual Objectification, Gay Community Involvement, and Psychological Sense of Community Christopher M. Davids, Laurel B. Watson, Johanna E. Nilsson, and Jacob M. Marszalek University of Missouri–Kansas City Despite conjecture that involvement in the gay community exposes gay men to more experiences of sexual objectification, to our knowledge, no research to date has directly examined this relationship. We propose that gay community involvement may be related to more sexual objectification experiences, which in turn may relate to greater body dissatisfaction among gay men. Moreover, the literature examining the direct relationship between body dissatisfaction of gay men and gay community involve- ment is inconsistent in terms of whether more community involvement is related to more body dissatisfaction. These inconsistencies may be because gay community involvement and psychological sense of community have been conflated. The present study examined the relationship between sexual objectification experiences, gay community involvement, psychological sense of community, and body dissatisfaction among a sample of 233 gay men. Results of a path analysis suggested that sexual objectification experiences fully mediated the relationship between gay community involvement and body dissatisfaction. Psychological sense of community was unrelated to body dissatisfaction. Keywords: body dissatisfaction, gay community, objectification, psychological sense of community Body dissatisfaction is conceptualized as discontentment re- garding one’s perceived appearance and body shape (Smolak, 2006). Although body dissatisfaction is considered a concern that predominantly affects women, men experience body image and disordered eating concerns as well (Goldfield, Blouin, & Wood- side, 2006; Leit, Pope, & Gray, 2001). The ideal masculine body is mesomorphic, characterized by broad, muscular shoulders and a slender waistline (Barlett, Vowels, & Saucier, 2008; Hargreaves & Tiggemann, 2009; Pope et al., 2000). Exposure to these ideals is associated with greater body image concerns among gay men (Duggan & McCreary, 2004). Appearance ideals are often communicated via sexual objecti- fication experiences (i.e., acts that reduce an individual to their body and sexual functioning; Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997). Sex- ually objectifying experiences may include media images, as well as evaluative appearance-related comments, sexualized comments and gazes, inappropriate touching and fondling, and so forth. Rohlinger (2002) observed an increase in the objectified media images of the male body, and sexual objectification experiences are an important sociocultural correlate of gay men’s body image concerns (Watson & Dispenza, 2015; Wiseman & Moradi, 2010). Scholars have asserted that appearance pressures in the gay com- munity may perpetuate images of the ideal male body (Herzog, Newman, & Warshaw, 1991; Kousari-Rad & McLaren, 2013; Siever, 1994). 1 Given the centrality of physical appearance that tends to occur in the larger gay community (Siever, 1994), greater involvement with the gay community may expose men to more appearance pressures and sexual objectification experiences. Gay community involvement is represented by behavioral participation in LGBT spaces and activities (e.g., attending a pride event or involvement with a LGBT resource center; Frost & Meyer, 2012). However, researchers often conflate gay community involvement with com- munity connection (i.e., a psychological sense of belonging to a community; Frost & Meyer, 2012; Levesque & Vichesky, 2006), which likely has produced conflicting findings in relation to gay men’s body dissatisfaction (Beren, Hayden, Wilfley, & Grilo, 1996; Levesque & Vichesky, 2006; Tiggemann, Martins, & Kirk- bride, 2007). This study seeks to explore the relationships among gay community involvement, sexual objectification experiences, and body dissatisfaction in a sample of gay men. Objectification Theory and Body Dissatisfaction Among Gay Men Objectification theory was originally developed to explain how common psychological concerns (e.g., depression, disordered eat- ing, and decreased psychosexual functioning) experienced among 1 It is important to note that some groups within the gay community (e.g., “bears”) reject traditional and rigid mesomorphic body types (Mos- kowitz, Turrubiates, Lozano, & Hajek, 2013). This article was published Online First August 17, 2015. Christopher M. Davids, Laurel B. Watson, Johanna E. Nilsson, and Jacob M. Marszalek, Counseling & Educational Psychology, University of Missouri–Kansas City. Christopher M. Davids is now at Department of Psychology, Westmin- ster College. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Christo- pher M. Davids, Department of Psychology, Westminster College, 1840 1300 East, Salt Lake City, UT 84105. E-mail: christopher.m.davids@ gmail.com This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers. This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity © 2015 American Psychological Association 2015, Vol. 2, No. 4, 376 –385 2329-0382/15/$12.00 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/sgd0000127 376