Feminists Resist Unrealistic Beauty Standards but Are Not Invulnerable to Their Negative Consequences

ABSTRACT Unrealistic beauty standards have negative effects on women's well‐being. Feminism can act as a protective barrier against these effects by promoting broader beauty standards and resistance to social/gender norms. However, such work often assumes that all feminists are alike. In contrast, a recent multiple identity perspective suggests that resistance to social norms in feminists is further qualified by their identification with women. In consequence, we explored how feminist identification and identification with women interact to predict reactions to idealised (vs. non‐idealised) beauty imagery. Participants ( N = 433) were shown idealised or non‐idealised beauty imagery and completed different body image measures (resistance, beliefs about beauty, body enhancement, etc.). In partial support of the multiple identity perspective, only ‘distinctive feminists’ (high feminist identification and low identification with women) adopted broader conceptualisations of beauty in reaction to idealised imagery. Additionally, feminist identification (regardless of identification with women) was predictive of participants' reactions to idealised images, such as emotional responses and motivation to challenge women's portrayals. However, we found no direct or qualified links between feminism and body image outcomes and body enhancement behaviours, suggesting that feminists' body image is affected by unrealistic beauty standards in the same way as non‐feminists'.