Feeling Like a Woman: Interoception and the Objectified Body.
Brain sciences April 30, 2026 Tomi-Ann Roberts, James W Pennebaker, Benita Jackson
Interoception—the sense of the body's internal state—is not a simple matter of detecting biological signals accurately. Instead, it is an active psychological process shaped by physiological signals, context, and social and cultural experiences, such as the chronic evaluation of women's bodies. Self-objectification, the experience of living in a body that is constantly judged, redirects attention toward the body and can alter how internal sensations are perceived and interpreted. This framework explains paradoxes in the literature, including women's lower accuracy at detecting heartbeats yet higher reporting of symptoms, and mismatches between subjective and physiological reports of menopausal hot flashes. The account has implications for women's health, including reproductive health, ACL injury risk, and chronic pain.