Does social media empower women who breastfeed or does it simply reinforce dominant ideologies and stereotypes that exist within society?

Pillay_Laura_A1

Abstract

The sharing of breastfeeding images, commonly referred to as ‘brelfies’, on social media is becoming increasingly commonplace in today’s society as mothers actively engage with and participate in the online environment. Such platforms afford users various opportunities to belong and participate in online communities. Breastfeeding communities are increasingly common; many women and mothers belong to such communities who are involved in the active promotion of breastfeeding with the aim of de-stigmatising the practice whilst also empowering women who breastfeed. However, this paper will demonstrate that this is not necessarily achieved in practice. Rather, such communities are marred by various dominant ideologies that exist within society and serve to reproduce and legitimise such ideologies. In particular, the capitalist and consumerist ideology seem to be at play in the virtual breastfeeding communities on Facebook and Instagram. Furthermore, these communities often advance and popularise certain beauty ideals placing pressure on mothers to conform to such ideals.

Introduction

Digital technologies and “the smartphone revolution” influences and impacts significantly on daily life (Johnson, 2014, para. 1). The ubiquitous nature of social media has changed various aspects of daily life from the way we communicate and interact with others to the way we interact with the world in general. As observed by Tomfohrde and Reinke (2016), computational and digital technologies have become “increasingly salient in our culture” (p. 556) forming a vital part of our lives. Social Networking Sites (SNS) and mobile applications offer users a plethora of opportunities to create and belong to a virtual community whilst also facilitating the creation of social movements.

As Economos et al. (2009) state, a social movement is “collective action” on a continuous basis to “promote or resist change” within society (p. 40). Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram which are “widely used among many demographic groups” including parents (Tomfohrde and Reinke, 2016, p. 556). As Ibrahim (2010) identifies, in the context of breastfeeding, such platforms are occupied by supporters and activists who wish to promote breastfeeding and fight for women’s rights to breastfeed in public places (p. 17). Furthermore, such technologies are transforming the way motherhood is viewed and practiced within society. Indeed, Johnson (2014) observes that social media and apps serve to “organise parenting practice” and offer users potentially “new experiences” of motherhood (p. 331). Breastfeeding communities on social media platforms Facebook and Instagram allow mothers to share content and to be part of a community with common beliefs and values; such platforms, centered around the notion of online communities, have expanded the “social support networks” that parents have access to (p. 342). In such communities, the main aim appears to be the de-stigmatisation of breastfeeding within society through the promotion of breastfeeding content and practices on such platforms.

Various researchers have studied parents’ use of social media, more specifically social media behaviours of mothers. The large majority of research on the subject seems to conclude that the practice of sharing breastfeeding selfies in an online environment is empowering for women and allows them to participate and feel a sense of solidarity and belonging in a virtual community. However, an analysis of existing literature and examples from Facebook and Instagram reveal that such studies overlook the fact that the widespread sharing of ‘brelfies’ serves to reinforce stereotypes that exist within society as well as dominant ideologies, namely stereotypes of mothers and women and the ideologies of patriarchy, capitalism and consumerism.

Social Media and breastfeeding

Social media platforms Facebook and Instagram are perhaps the most widely used social networking sites (SNS) in contemporary society. Facebook is a platform that can be accessed both via the Facebook application or the mobile site (Johnson, 2014,p. 342). The “high-traffic” platform has numerous uses including the sharing and dissemination of content, “social connection”, opportunities to join interest groups with shared interests as well as “people watching and social surveillance” (p. 342). As noted by Statista (as cited in Tomfohrde and Reinke, 2016), a significant proportion of the 2 billion Facebook users are of “childbearing and childrearing age”, aged between 18-44 (p. 557). Facebook has thousands of pages devoted to breastfeeding communities and breastfeeding practices in general.

Similarly to Facebook, Instagram is a social media platform and a mobile application which allows users to take and modify photographs, through the use of filters, and allows them to share these photographs and short segments of video content to it’s site (Zappavinga, 2016, p. 271). Instagram is the most popular photo sharing platform with over “600 million users worldwide” as of December 2016 (Locatelli, 2017, p. 2). Characteristic Instagram practices include the sharing of ‘selfies’, “digital self-portraits” that serves to communicate a message or simply as a “representation of something” (p. 2). Lim (2016) views selfies as the “cultural marker of the current generation” stating its popularity not only amongst public figures such as politicians and celebrities but also amongst the general public (p. 1774). He notes that selfies represent “an avenue for self-expression” (p. 1774), “social feedback” and “social calibration” (p. 1775).

Selfies depicting breastfeeding on Facebook and Instagram are labelled as “brelfies” obviously by fusing breastfeeding and selfies (p. 4). By sharing breastfeeding selfies, social media users “construct their identities and simultaneously express their belonging” to the breastfeeding community (Locatelli, 2017, p. 2).

Figure 1: Breastfeeding selfie, commonly referred to as ‘brelfie’ on Instagram

 

‘Brelfies’, Social Media and Society

According to Tiidenberg and Gomez-Cruz (2015) images have a central function in how we experience, understand and shape the world (p.79). The notion and the concept of the body “are socially constructed” (Featherstone, as cited in Tiidenberg and Gomez-Cruz, p. 81) and defined by cultural and social beliefs, norms and values (Crisp, as cited in Tiidenberg and Gomez-Cruz, 2015, p. 81). Therefore, it could be argued that the various ideologies that exist with larger society also impact on the notion of the body. For instance, Tiidenberg and Gomez-Cruz (2015) elaborate on Featherstone’s (as cited in Tiidenberg and Gomez-Cruz, 2015, p. 81) theory of consumerism to conclude that the “consumerist culture makes us all responsible for our body” leading to the commodification of the female body by emphasising the perfect beauty ideal and stressing the importance of the body as a form of social and cultural capital (p. 81).

Within the digital media landscape, Lasen and Gomez-Cruz (2009) argue that selfies and self-portraits are re-shaping the “knowing of the self” and “relation to our own body” (p. 206). They state that the three important aspects to selfies; representation, “presentation and embodiment” of the self do not simply represent and existing entity but rather they contribute to the “configuration and transfiguration of bodies and selves” (p. 213). Images depicting breastfeeding on social media form part of the ‘’visual economy” and impact on users who belong to the breastfeeding community whilst also communicating the cultural and social elements of society (p.79). The “contemporary visual economy” remains ageist and “heteronormative” leading women to “feel inadequate and dissatisfied with themselves” (p. 79). Furthermore, the modern visual culture is overtly “sexualised” and “pornified” (p. 79). Tiidenberg and Gomez-Cruz (2015) acknowledge the relationship between bodies and sexuality stating that “bodies are intertwined with sexuality” (p. 79) and as Boon and Pentney (as cited in Locatelli, 2017) argue, the boundaries between motherhood and sexuality are troubled; “breasts disrupt conventional understandings of public and private, self and other, subject and object” (p. 2). Asides from the sexualised and pornified views of women’s bodies, Johnson (2014) highlights how women’s bodies are traditionally viewed as “leaky, uncontrollable, open and permeable” (p. 343).

Brelfies, Celebrities and Commodification

According to Marwick and boyd (2011), the internet, Web 2.0 and its social media affordances has changed celebrity culture from a “highly controlled and regulated institutional model” (p. 139) to a ‘culture’ and practice that can be performed and accessed by anyone with access to the internet and social media (p. 140). “Networked media” which involves blogs, fan sites, social media sites and gossip websites have created opportunities for “the circulation and creation of celebrities” (p. 40). Celebrity, a status given to a “famous” person is a complex social and “cultural construct” characterised by “performative practice” (p. 140). Celebrity culture involves the “construction of a consumable persona”, “performed intimacy” and authenticity (p. 140). Individuals who are classified as ‘celebrity’ can be equated to a “commodity” of media industries (p. 140); celebrity culture serves the interests of the media, an institution of power within society. Indeed, Turner (as cited in Marwick and boyd, 2011) defines celebrity as “a process by which a person is turned into a commodity” (p. 140).

Analysing the practices of public figures and celebrities on social media platform Twitter, Marwick and boyd (2011) conclude that such practices serve to reinforce and legitimise “unequal power differentials” (p. 144). Performing and maintaining celebrity status is dependent on fans, followers and ‘non-celebrities’ recognising the “asymmetrical status” and the “imbalance between practitioner and fan” (p. 144). The power structure is maintained by intimacy practices including the sharing of personal images (p. 148) to create a sense of “familiarity” (p. 147) between the celebrity and fans as well as through the process of affiliation. Affiliation is the “process of publicly performing a connection” with fans through the use of cultural symbols, norms and conventions and language (p. 147). Marwick and boyd’s (2011) conclusions suggest that celebrity practices of sharing ‘brelfies’ is reduced to a “co-performance” (p. 155) to maintain the existing hierarchy and power structure. By sharing photographs and images of breastfeeding, celebrities engage in familiarity and affiliation practices to connect with fans who belong to the breastfeeding community. Consequently, such “co-performances” (p. 155) reinforce the power disparity as “fans show deference” (p. 144) therefore reproducing the power imbalance between celebrities and them.

Celebrity Alyssa Milano shares a ‘brelfie’ on Instagram

 

Indeed, Duvall (2015) remarks how celebrity images depicting breastfeeding are reliant upon and reinforce stereotypical beauty ideals and notions of what constitutes ideal motherhood behaviours and practices. In mainstream and traditional media celebrity breasts are represented as central to the female sexuality intended to be consumed by audiences as “sexualised objects of desire” (p. 324).

Duvall (2015) argues that media discourses surrounding celebrity maternity and motherhood “police boundaries of ideal beauty and motherhood” (p. 327). Photographs and selfies of celebrities revolving around motherhood reinforce ideal and normalised beauty ideals as they are often edited or manipulated with perfect lighting and dominant representations of glamour (p. 327). Similarly, Ibrahim (2010) observes that images shared by celebrity mothers which are staged, “manipulated and distorted” complicate the “existing relationship between reality and representation” (p. 20). The traditional female maternal body is replaced by portrayals and representations of hyper-commodified, unrealistic and unattainable representations of the body (p. 328). This leads to the “policing” of the “celebrity breastfeeding body” which is “reprimanded, sexualised and commodified for global consumption” (p. 327). Furthermore, it highlights the double standard underscoring celebrity motherhood practices and media portrayals; Duvall (2015) advocates that “celebrity breastfeeding both disrupts and normalises existing taboos particularly because the “famous body” is a political vehicle used primarily for the dissemination of ideologies about sexuality, race, gender and class (Redmond, as cited in Holmes and Redmond, 2006, p. 124).

Celebrity Jessie James Decker breastfeeding her infant

 

The image of Jessie James Decker, a ‘brelfie’ posted on her Instagram account depicts the celebrity mother breastfeeding her infant. The image features both mother and baby laying down and both mother and baby are featured in perfect lighting. Moreover, the mother is dressed in white and is adorned by jewellery while she strikes a pose and stares into the camera rather than at her infant. The composition of this image appears to have been “painstakingly prepared” (Locatelli, 2017, p. 6) with the mother being represented as meticulous and posed. It could be argued that the pose adopted by the mother directs viewers attention towards the mother; the pose adopted by Jessie James Decker could be classified as one contrived to the male gaze and for male consumption and therefore undermines the practice of breastfeeding since the focus seems to be on her beauty. This serves to reinforce idealised images of breastfeeding as a natural practice associating breastfeeding with the notions of “nature, purity” (Locatelli, 2017,p. 6) and beauty. Moreover, it also serves to legitimise existing beauty ideals that dictate that females should be beautiful despite the stresses and burdens of motherhood. Duvall (2015) argues that such images such images reinforce the “unattainable standard” of the “super-working, super-mummy” who has the perfect balance both in her professional and domestic life whilst also conforming to the hegemonic beauty standards (para. 6). It could thus be argued celebrity breastfeeding photographs are merely political vehicles that serve the interests of ideologies such as consumerism and capitalism in the interest of maintaining the status quo and power order in society.

Brelfies and non-celebrity mothers

Stearns (1999) observes how breastfeeding, “a visual performance of mothering” places the “maternal body at centre stage” and “symbolises good mothering” (p. 309). The performance and practice of breastfeeding are “complicated by conflicting cultural beliefs” regarding women’s breasts (p. 309). Within Western societies, female breasts represent femininity and heterosexuality (p. 310). This poses a problem for “breastfeeding women and their maternal bodies” (p. 310). Furthermore, within Western societies there is a “strong cultural preference for sexualised breasts” (p. 309). This places pressure on mothers to negotiate their breastfeeding practices, although it is a natural and nurturing practice to suit the dominant and patriarchal view commonly held in society that breasts are “exclusively for the other” (p. 323). As Boon and Pentney (2015) observe, breastfeeding selfies can be both a “personal gesture” and or a “political act” (p. 1768); they represent an “ambiguous space” that reinforces “rather than undermine the status quo” since they can “re-inscribe cisgender and heteronormative frameworks” (p. 1768). Furthermore, breastfeeding selfies can be “risky” exposing nursing mums to “criticism, online harassment, or the co-opting of images for unsavory purposes” such as porn sites (p. 1760).

Conclusions

Considering the limited amount of research available regarding breastfeeding and technology, conclusions offered fail to provide an accurate and reliable account of the relationship between breastfeeding, social media and society. While the majority of existing literature seems to unfold around the ‘benefits’ of social media for breastfeeding mothers giving them a sense of belonging to a community and as a form of empowerment, it is evident that there are several underscoring mechanisms at play within the discourse. An analysis of celebrity breastfeeding practices reveals the underlying ideologies surrounding motherhood whilst also highlighting inequality within the social structures of society. Furthermore, the breastfeeding celebrity body reduces motherhood to a politicised, romanticised, sexualised and glamorised practice thus undermining the potential of ‘brelfies’ a significant social movement, a form of activism or as a vehicle for social change.

In relation to mothers who do not have celebrity status, it is evident that breastfeeding content has to be clearly negotiated; mothers are pressured to conform to societal beliefs of what constitutes good mothering practices whilst also pressurised to negotiate ‘brelfies’ so that they are not viewed as sexualised. It could thus be argued that rather than acting as a vehicle for social change, virtual breastfeeding communities simply create an illusion of empowerment for users. Rather, women who belong to such communities are faced with various challenges and are coerced and exploited to negotiate their breastfeeding practices.

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