Newswise — Despite being suitable for both lounging on the couch and exercising in the gym, activewear's appeal to women largely stems from its association with a dynamic lifestyle, promoting positive wellbeing, and fostering overall good health.
Surprisingly, two recent studies conducted by Edith Cowan University (ECU) indicate that online shopping for activewear could have negative implications for women's body image.
The sales of "Athleisure," a blend of athletic clothing designed for everyday wear, have experienced a significant surge since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is projected to surpass a global value of $548 billion by the year 2024.
Dr. Ross Hollett, a psychology researcher from Edith Cowan University (ECU), spearheads the groundbreaking studies that employ eye-tracking experiments to investigate the psychological effects of online activewear shopping. These studies mark the first of their kind in this domain.
In laboratory sessions, female participants were assigned at random to explore a website specializing in activewear, casualwear, or home decor. They had approximately 15-20 minutes to browse through the chosen website.
Following this online activity, the researchers assessed the participants' body image and self-esteem levels using a combination of self-reporting and reaction time measures.
Subsequent to the shopping activity, the researchers utilized eye-tracking technology to gauge the women's eye gaze behavior towards a fresh set of female images. The objective was to determine if the websites they browsed had an impact on their attention focus.
In both studies, it was discovered that women felt less positive about their appearance and reported lower levels of self-esteem after browsing an activewear website. Conversely, exploring websites for casual clothing or homewares did not result in negative body image or diminished self-esteem.
According to Dr. Hollett, activewear retailers intentionally employ body-focused marketing strategies to endorse their products, which typically involve tight, form-fitting, or revealing clothing.
He stated, "Activewear marketers frequently use images of well-toned athletic models, zoomed in on specific body parts, such as buttocks or breasts."
Dr. Hollett further explained that this type of imagery can pose a significant threat to women's body image, as it perpetuates an idealized and challenging-to-achieve physique standard.
Clues from gaze behaviour
During the first experiment, Dr. Hollett emphasized an intriguing attention pattern observed when researchers monitored the women's eye movements towards a new set of female images following the activewear shopping session.
He clarified, "Women who participated in activewear browsing showed a considerable decrease in body gaze, indicating a preference for focusing on faces, unlike women who browsed for casualwear."
"One possible explanation for this discovery is that women who engaged in activewear browsing may have felt their body image was under threat due to the body-focused imagery used by the activewear website," Dr. Hollett suggested.
"When women experience a sense of threat to their body image, they might become less inclined to gaze at other women's bodies after browsing for activewear, as they may feel more uncomfortable," he elaborated.
Choose websites wisely to protect your self-esteem
Nearly all the women participating in Dr. Hollett's study, around 100 percent, had experience shopping for clothes online at some point in their lives, with approximately 80 percent having done so in the past month.
On average, these women spent around 90 to 100 minutes per week browsing for clothes on the internet. Among various clothing categories, activewear stood out as one of the most popular choices, second only to casualwear.
"In one of our studies, we observed a significant decrease in negative mood across all the shopping websites, indicating that online shopping might serve as a means for women to alleviate negative emotions by providing a distraction from daily stressors," Dr. Hollett explained.
However, Dr. Hollett pointed out that the choice of website is crucial if women use online shopping to improve their mood.
"Browsing certain apparel websites could potentially expose women to negative self-concepts as they compare themselves to well-toned models in tight-fitting clothing, which might lead to long-term issues like body shame and depression," he warned.
Dr. Hollett acknowledged that clothing retailers are facing mounting pressure to adopt ethically responsible practices, including reducing environmental impact and avoiding exploitative labor.
Nonetheless, he emphasized that it is also their responsibility to minimize the negative impact of retail imagery on the psychological wellbeing of consumers.
"We have obtained some of the initial experimental evidence demonstrating that the use of sexually objectifying imagery by certain online apparel retailers poses a threat to women's overall wellbeing," he asserted.
"These findings highlight the need to explore alternative marketing strategies that can fulfill the retailer's objectives while mitigating potential threats to consumers' self-worth."
The study titled 'Gaze behavior, body image in women and online apparel shopping' was published in the International Journal of Consumer Studies, while the study 'Experimental evidence that browsing for activewear lowers explicit body image attitudes and implicit self-esteem in women' was published in the Journal Body Image.
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