Abstract
The purpose of the following paper is to showcase social media as a deterrent to authentic online identities for female. The link between social media and identity has been studied and its negative influences on women have been highlighted. The focus will be mostly on Facebook and Instagram for this study. Research undergone for this paper has demonstrated that social media actively influences the way women choose to represent themselves online so as to be socially accepted. The paper will explore social media as an advocate for patriarchal ideologies and unrealistic body and beauty ideals which in turn affect the female sex as they actively use their profiles. Online cultural trends and their influences will also be discussed. The conclusion will also demonstrate that social media will persist and its sexist influence on women will not subside until media channels and audiences stop the seeking post-feminist model of feminine desirability.
Introduction
For years, laymen conveyed their identity in face-to-face interaction through their body-language, way of speaking or their reaction to situations. Most people had their own individual identity which would occasionally be influenced by celebrity trends as famous personas were the ones in the public limelight. However, as web 2.0 became increasingly prevalent globally, social networks and spaces also grew exponentially giving users opportunity to put themselves online. People created and projected themselves onto these networked spaces for an audience, composed of their family, friends and a few strangers, to witness and communicate with. (Livingstone, 2008). The use of social media was, at first, essentially for occasionally communicating with one’s entourage but progressively the global technological situation bettered. Consequently, social platforms and mobile communications have stretched the array of social spaces where individuals inventively participate in their self-presentation by shaping and constructing their identity in order to fit the social norms (Arnett, 2000). Social media has helped many people reach astronomical fame and success namely, the Kardashian-Jenner clan. Kardashian is a world-renowned family, mostly famous for its involvement in numerous scandals and shocking beauty trends. Over the years, social media has mutated from being a useful tool to one with negative impact upon women and their identity.
Goffman and Identity
Firstly, Goffman’s take on identity will be explored as it will lay the foundation for the upcoming arguments involving the online persona and identity. In his book, Goffman (1956) explains the concept of impression-management as a way to shape and maintain identity. It is a process of performing, interpreting, and adjusting one’s social behaviour and identity by analysing the contextual cues during a social interaction. These indications help in defining the social situation so as for a person to then present the apt behaviour in order to control the impression that the society will have of them. Similar to social media users who display their tailored identity through the customised profiles so as to fit the preponderant social environment and culture on each specific network. (Lincoln, 2012). Additionally, by adapting their behaviour in ways they desire, people can create a new aspect of their identity. Essentially, the objective behind impression management is to create an identity which fits social conventions and expectations and which is not embarrassing.
The above further pertains to Goffman’s dramaturgical theory which explains social interaction as a theatrical performance and identity as a performance. A person will take on different roles in different situations and in front of varying audiences with the most crucial aspect being “the sense he provides them through his dealing with them of what sort of person he is behind the role he is in” (Goffman, 1974, p. 298). By extrapolation, there are two different spaces where individuals act differently; the front stage and the back stage. Both spaces are equally important in the life of a person for identity creation as the latter influences the former and vice versa. The former is the observable environment where performances are customised and adapted for demonstration which means that this identity is constructed. In the backstage space, a person’s identity is most authentic and less articulated as there are less strictures and strain on behaviour due to intimacy. In the current era, social media is considered as the front stage whereas the real and physical word has been relegated to the status of ‘backstage’. Goffman’s approach to identity will be used to make sense of females’ behaviour on social media and how their identity is affected with external influences, specially from media and celebrities.
Social Media Nowadays
Social media has become an inherent part of mostly everyone’s life. It has allowed individuals to “construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system” (Boyd and Ellison, 2007). The mass commercialisation and affordable distribution of internet as well as mobile devices has made social media highly populated and the preferred means for communication among many of its other uses. Meraz (2009) explains that social media has been ‘‘architected by design to readily support participation, peer-to-peer conversation, collaboration, and community’’ (p. 682). With a majority of 52% of users being female according to Statista (2019), Instagram is the perfect example to support Meraz’s claims relating to participatory culture. Users of both genders not only collaborate to generate activity on the platform but are mutually dependent for directing traffic to one another’s profiles or pictures through likes, shares or comments.
People using social medias are exposed to publics who carry out a critical role in the growth of people for, as Nancy Fraser (1994) states, “they are arenas for the formation and enactment of social identities”. Similar to the concept of Multi User Dungeon (MUD) in gaming, social media allows role-playing to its audiences in order for them to test out different identities due to parallel narratives. (Turkle, 1997). Thus, there is no coherence in the identity of users as they tend to perpetually switch and adapt. The publics that are users of social platform and may consist of friends, family or peer groups who are directly connected to one’s profile. Livingstone, in 2005, as cited by Boyd explains the concept of ‘publics’ as being a group of people that is unknown to each other but hold “a common understanding of the world, a shared identity, a claim to inclusiveness, a consensus regarding the collective interest” (2007, p.7). Thus, the user is not only exposed to her closed ones but can be searched and viewed by strangers as well which can be an incitement to construct a fake identity.
Moreover, Facebook has established itself as the leading and dominating social networking site since years but Instagram, founded in 2010, has also quickly risen in popularity. It is the second most famous social site with 500 million active monthly users of which 59% of online adults are aged between 18 to 29 (Pew Research Center, 2016). Instagram has facilitated the sharing of snaps of a person’s life along with following that of peers and unattainable celebrities. Hodkinson and Lincoln (2008) also explain this as a similarity between the use of bedroom spaces and social media networks whereby the lines of private territory, intimacy and personal control have been blurred. Considered as a mere leisure activity for long, social media has now become a complete and integral part of everyone’s life to be able to go to the extent of even affecting a person’s identity. Its salient place has reinforced pressure on women to conform to certain trends which have been ferociously proliferated through social media and endorsed by their famous personalities and friends.
Social Media, Feminism and Sexualisation
Peer culture, trends and normativity of practices have a strong impact during the construction of identity. In recent times, a new hybrid of celebrity has cropped up which is referred to as an ‘Instagram Star or influencer’. They gained fame and have a big following on Instagram and are handsomely paid for regularly posting. A majority of them are women and have their biggest following base within the female gender who admire them and try to replicate their posts and pictures.
In 1997, Frederickson and Roberts came up with the term ‘objectification’ which pertains to the way women are considered and treated as sexual objects which in turn influences them to present themselves as such (Vandenbosch & Eggermont, 2012). Although social networks have eased the access to women to state and control the making of their ‘self’, societal influences still exert pressure on them by actively leveraging dominant ideologies against them and also through mainstream media that still tend to be sexist. Women consciously present themselves in ways depicted by media so as to be socially accepted and to conform to ideals set by years of patriarchal reign. The act of self-objectifying to embody themselves as being marginalized further indoctrinates the hegemonic ideal of femineity (Thøgersen-Ntoumani, Ntoumanis, Cumming, Bartholomew & Pearce, 2011). As Pearson (2009) explains; social networking sites performances are easily accessible by everyone and are usually “coded with open symbology” that is; it is understood and has meaning to the targeted and any extended audience. Therefore, by presenting themselves in a manner compliant with the male gaze, women further reinforce prevailing sexist beliefs.
Two decades earlier, obtaining photographs was a lengthy and tenuous process which restricted people in their way of using images in their social relationships. (Tinkler, 2008) However, since mobile technology equipped with internet emerged, ‘selfies’ have been turned into a mainstream cultural practice. As a result, clicking intimate and seductive pictures are now very easy. Drawing from Groffman’s theory impression-management, some women use objectification on social media so as to build a feminine and female stereotypical identity of themselves. As Mascheroni, Vincent and Jiminez explain; posing in a seductive manner can be interpreted as a rebellion against peer-induced morality and is very often perceived as being “inappropriate, unsuccessful, and [a] problematic means of gaining social acceptance by conforming to a pattern of adult femininity” (2015). By commodising themselves for the public, women are viewed as an easy target to be subjected to patriarchal laws as their character and self-respect is negatively and wrongly perceived by their audience.
Beauty Standards, Body Ideals and Identity
Women have been socialised towards a post-feminist model of feminine desirability by the media which leads them to having specific standards for the ideal body which further influences the way in which they depict themselves. Sarantakos (2005) highlights that men have perpetually been in positions of authority thus having the liberty and power to dictate standards and morals for the society. Consequently, gender has been principally viewed through a conservative male gaze (Owen & Spencer, 2013). Women have always had to conform to the beauty, behaviour and academic ideals set by men.
Louis Althusser (2008) argues that identity is a cultural construction relying on the active process of people being socialised into specific social roles such as women being socialised in rigid and inflexible beauty standards and body ideal in this case. According to Cohen, Newton-John & Slater (2017), “young women are higher in thin-ideal internalisation”. This suggests that they are more prone to self-objectifying and sexualising themselves through photo activities on social media which may reinforce body image issues and concerns as they grow older. These women also follow appearance-centred accounts of celebrities or fitness influencers which further reiterate their issues with their self.
Women who do not fit in the strict characteristics of the ‘perfect women’ are often subjected to trolls who bully them. As Donath (1999) explains, trolling is a kind of identity fraud, albeit one that is carried out with the other plays agreeing to it. Similarly, on social media, trolls are individuals with fake profile who leave unpleasant comments under the pictures of other users. Dissatisfaction with one’s body usually arises from comparing with other users. Festinger (1994) devised a theory named the social comparison theory to explain how humans have an intrinsic urge to measure themselves with others in order to evaluate their own capacities and sentiments. Body issues also entail an impact on identity whereby an individual either projects a more vulnerable image seeking for constant validation on social media or they endorse an insensitive and unfazed role.
As explained above by Goffman, identity is not an intact and constant thing. It alters along as other contextual factors change (Velez, 2014). The “self” is not fixed and thus when going through body image concerns, women accordingly adapt their identity and the role they will lead in front of their audience, that is in the frontstage, while being of an entirely different perspective in the backstage which is shielded from all audiences (Van Der Nagel & Frith, 2015). They will tend to imitate other female figures who are popular and highly valued by their audiences so as to mimic their behaviour. They are inclined to portraying themselves as a hypersexualised persona online although they might not feel comfortable endorsing the same persona in real life.
Conclusion:
This paper has explored the effect of social networking sites on female identity in relation to Goffman’s theories on identity and dramaturgy. The extent in which social media, as a global connected network, has seeped into the lives of users to become an integral and indispensable part of it has also been explored in detail above so as the gravity of its impact upon women’s identity can be gauged. The paper explores how the golden beginnings of Web 2.0 as the most admirable tool for participation and collaboration has transformed into toxicity-inducing social media platforms for the female gender. The key conclusion from the paper would be that while there is a blurry boundary between the virtual world and physical world, the same cannot be stated for online and offline identity. Identity online is excessively constructed due to global influences and trends; to sometimes even be detrimental to the years of progress first started by the suffragettes. Even worse, social media exerts psychological pressure upon young women in order to fit unrealistic standards so as to be socially accepted which then leads to deep insecurities and body image issues affecting their self-worth. The need for validation and gratification and the hyper sexualisation of females have replaced meaningful relationships and interaction. Until hegemonic ideologies are abated and materialistic and superficial identity stop being admired, social media will keep negatively affecting women and the way they portray themselves.
Limitations:
It is important to note that there are a few limitations to the generalisation of this paper. Firstly, the paper has been written completely based on secondary data from other authors which limited the various perspectives in which some arguments could have been analysed had there been primary data collection. Longitudinal effects refrained from the conduction of surveys and primary data in order to write a paper focused on Mauritius and social media users here. There is possibility of cultural and gender bias in some parts of the paper as the arguments pertain to a global pool of solely female individuals.
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Hi HJulha, Thanks for your paper. I think it’s really important that issues like body-image are brought to the attention of everybody, especially social media users today. There is so much pressure to conform to the unattainable images that are heavily posed, heavily filtered or heavily photoshopped and then go viral.
I like the way you draw similarities between the role-playing aspect of MUD’s and social media. In the case of MUD’s we are intending from the outset to create a fantasy role. With social media we set out to represent ourselves honestly but often the creation becomes quite fantastical too.
I found your over-use of the word ‘female’ or ‘females’ problematic. In some of the grammatical instances you have used it, it is somewhat correct. For example, “With a majority of 52% of users being female according to Statista”. This is acceptable usage but you could also have used ‘women’ here and it would be correct, and more respectful. But, there are a lot of instances in your paper that it would be much more appropriate to use other words like women or woman. For example, you write “Goffman’s approach to identity will be used to make sense of females’ behaviour on social media and how…”. Using the word ‘womens’ here would be much more correct. The word ‘female’, when used incorrectly, is dehumanising and exclusionist and it reduces us to our reproductive capabilities when women are so much more than that. Further to this, ‘woman’ denotes a human female whereas ‘female’ can mean anything i.e. female kangaroo, female lobster etc.
Also, I like how you have highlighted the fact that the reinforcement of sexism occurs in the impression management undertaken online to align with the perceptions of the audience – in this case the men that are viewing the profiles. I look at this in my paper too (LinkedIn for Recruitment, No Thanks – Identity stream).
My favourite part of your paper is where you explain that women make a conscious decision to present themselves to be socially accepted as per the rules set out by “years of patriarchal reign”. I think this is true. Do you think, however, that purposeful objection to that is becoming more popular nowadays though? For example, the ‘big is beautiful’ campaigns by plus-size models and things of that nature?
Hello CFitzgerald. Firstly, thank you for having taken the time to read and give such an insightful comment to my paper.
Indeed, when I first came up with the topic I immediately thought about the link between body issues and social media. However, I also focused a lot on MUD and Goffman’s theory so as to provide readers with the context of dramaturgy which relates to your point about our online ‘creation becoming fantastical’. The online environment is equivalent to a front-stage in which we try to construct a social image which we think will be appealing to others rather than focusing on making our identity authentic.
Concerning your point about the use of ‘female/women’, I would like to point out that this can be justified by the effect of cultural and gender bias as I have mentioned in my limitations. First of all, as a woman, I failed to interpret that the inter-usage of these two terms in some context may be implied as being disrespectful or ‘reduce us to our reproductive capabilities’. Moreover, this failure to discern the subtleties between the two terms may also be a result of the fact that English is not my mother tongue. However, I am very grateful for your comment as it has allowed me to have a fresh perspective on my own work and writing and I will be attentive in the future.
It is true that social media has given rise to many movements like ‘big is beautiful’ and allowed women who do not fit into specific beauty standards to come into the forefront and express themselves. People are being sensitized and even the mass media is evolving so as to portray realistic images of women by promoting fitness rather than skinniness. In the past years, there have been an increasing number of plus size models who have made their place in the fashion industry namely; Ashley Graham, Tara Lynn and Robyn Lawley. However, do you think that some extremist body positivity movements through social media are fuelling obesity crisis by normalising being overweight? Does it not defeat the purpose of these movements which were essentially to advertise healthy bodies? In the end, isn’t being overweight or skinny just two sides of the same coin?
Hi HJulha, Thank you for your considered reply. Yes, I do think that extreme living either way (over/under weight) are two sides of the same coin and as you’ve highlighted in your paper it’s important that women find their own sense of identity and shape themselves as they see fit. One thing that social media and these new web 2.0 technologies have taught me about feminism is that we really do need to embrace what ever body the owner of that body wants to have. To not be bound by our society to be fat or thin but to be empowered, by our society, to make our own choices no matter how others view those choices.
I have to say that your writing is good and does not indicate English as an additional language you have, so thank you for being so gracious about my criticism.
Hi HJulha,
I definitely agree with you in regards of the negative impact that social media brings nowadays. It’s interesting how you say that social interaction is somehow seen as a theatrical performance, because people likes to show different identity to different audiences. I guess it feels nice to try out different identities sometimes, to explore yourself.
I also agree when you said that people like to post their daily stuff, it’s as if there is no more privacy. Objectification of women certainly is a problem, however, while it is true that women’s identity and self-esteem/confidences are heavily affected, I guess we should also consider how women are not the only ones using Instagram or other social media to post pictures and/or body goals. There are lots of men out there who are affected just how we are. Pictures of muscular and handsome guy might influence the way men feel about themselves as well. Personally, I feel that these pictures are not necessarily for male gaze, because many females actually enjoy looking at these kinds of posting as well, whether to look for motivation, comparison, or just to stare at it. Body issue is certainly a problem.
In the old days, people usually take pictures to save it as memories, about their life and journey, but I guess things changed now, just as you said. What was considered as inappropriate pictures last time, is now considered normal and acceptable, or sometimes, you have to have that kind of picture, THEN people will like the post or appreciate you. Which is a bit sad, if I may, because then, you start to lose your privacy and freedom, in a sense?
Hi TDelphine! Thank you for having read and taken the time to comment on my paper.
Indeed, during my research for my paper I was also very impressed by this concept of dramaturgy that Goffman came up with to present identity as being two-faceted; one for a front-stage audience and another for the back-stage.
I agree that men also undertake the same online social activities as women and are often self-objectifying themselves, usually for the same reasons as women. However, my paper is focused on women only which is why I did not explore a gendered perspective of body image and objectification on social media and why I used the term ‘male gaze’.
Your analysis is very interesting. The contrast being the way pictures were valued in the past compared to now is astounding. Before, we used to be careful before taking a shot as they were limited and costly to print them at professional studios. Pictures were taken only for special and memorable occasions. As the mass commercialisation of cameras increased, the value of pictures decreased. Having a camera started becoming more popular until every other person had one which also implied that everyone had the same pictures. The main factor which influences people to take different and unique pictures is the over-saturation of similar content in the online environment. Users want to stand out and thus they embrace all dangers or ignore all societal norms and values to get pictures that will potentially go ‘viral’. People are enslaved to the quest of seeking original and appealing content and sometimes such content implies consequent breach into one’s privacy and intimacy. For example; famous YouTubers being requested to do home tours or to share their childbirth process.
According to you, can a social media or YouTube stars maintain their popularity and satisfy their fans without compromising their privacy or freedom?
Hi Hjulha,
I think that privacy and freedom will be very hard for famous online stars to achieve. Because nowadays, I feel that fans are a bit way over the heels for the celebrities that they admired. Everywhere they go, there might be someone stalking them, and they would feel that this line of private life is almost gone because people will eventually find out what are they up to. Personally, I have watched many youtuber stars who did their own house tour and I questioned their privacy as well. I mean, is it really necessary to show your house to the fans? Meanwhile, as for freedom, I think it depends on the stars themselves. Many people now wishes to satisfy their fans and sometimes, they feel the need to do the thing that their fans wanted them to do, or to be. Hence, I feel that eventually, in order to maintain the fame that they have, they need to go along with the demands, instead of freely express themselves and do whatever content they want. I think that their fear of fans’ rejection are controlling them and their freedom.
Cheers!
Hi HJulha, I really enjoyed reading your paper and it focuses on an issue that I find extremely important and sadly very relevant when using social media.
I definitely agree that women are highly sexualised and put under significant pressure to fit the standard of an ‘ideal’ body image. I have noticed that this sexualisation results in a large number of women on social media posting photos in bikinis or lingerie to put their bodies on display in hopes for getting more likes or followers, especially from the opposite gender. However I do think it is worth noting that these issues aren’t only restricted to women but that many men also experience body image issues that are pushed on social media (they may post shirtless photos to show off their masculinity).
One thing that really does shock me is the existence of robots on Instagram – an example is the account @lilmiquela https://www.instagram.com/lilmiquela/?hl=en This account post photos of a digital character that is somehow considered an Instagram model which thousands of people look up to and attempt to be like because she demonstrates a somewhat ‘perfect’ lifestyle…but she is not even human. Do you find this weird too?
I think to further improve your paper you could have explained how body image issues can lead to even bigger risks involving damaged mental health or eating disorders – do you think there is a way to prevent the unrealistic ideas of ‘ideal’ body image that are suggested on social media?
Hello EOwen. Thank you for having taken the time to read my paper and for your nice comment and valuable suggestion.
It is true yet unfortunate that these issues attain men as well. I do believe that decades of patriarchy has reinforced the idea that women always have to look ‘good, feminine and attractive’ compared to men who are slightly less pressurized. On the contrary, some men are frowned upon for posting regular pictures of themselves for gratification as it is believed to be the adverse of masculinity.
I was oblivious to the existence of this account until your comment. Indeed, I find it very weird and while going through the comments I was flabbergasted by the way users humanize this robot with the way they address it. According to you why do you think people still look up to, humanize and idealize this robot despite it not being real?
While it is nearly impossible to prevent unrealistic ‘ideal’ body representations on social media, it is however possible to educate and inform users about its negative impact. It is important for social media to delete posts/images promoting unhealthy lifestyles such as anorexia or bulimia. For example; Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian were heavily criticised for marketing a diet pill. Their posts blatantly suggested that one may skip meals and consume this pill so as to lose weight. Strict monitoring of social media should be done. Trigger warnings should be applied based on searches made by users. Schools, work places and families should educate the younger and more gullible ones about the unrealistic standards depicted on social media. Medical help should be sought in cases of body dysmorphia, depression and self-harming among many others.
Hey HJulha!
I really like your paper; it was a great read and you used some great sources too. The issues you raise in your paper are very true and very prevalent. I feel now more than ever women are feeling more pressure to conform to what many believe are the correct beauty standards, changing their identity to fit in such a small demographic. You discuss how women usually “imitate other females who are popular and famous” which I can agree with. I think there has always been a fascination to imitate lifestyles of the rich and famous (even Insta-famous influencers) because many dream and wish for such a lifestyle. I think it feels more attainable nowadays, especially with the rise of influencers and micro-influencers. But with such a rise, I think more women are feeling like they need to look like a certain celeb and therefore change their identity greatly, forming new and in some way’s untrue identities. Do you think that with the continuous rise in insta-famous celebs more women are going to change their identities in order to conform with these “famous” people?
If you get the chance to read my paper it discusses Facebook and the health impacts it is causing among young women; https://networkconference.netstudies.org/2019Curtin/2019/05/06/facebook-and-young-women-the-social-isolation-and-the-health-risks/#comments
Thanks, BMaddison
Hello BMaddison,
Thank you very much for your comment. Indeed, it is always very enthralling to see famous instagrammers to post pictures of themselves in luxurious vacation locations as well as expensive branded clothing.
As you have said, people imitate these celebrities as they are famous. Thus, the attached meaning to their behavior is one of crowd-pleasing and overall, successful. This is why in the future even more women will be prone to following and imitating such personalities as they believe that it is the road to fame, financial abundance and the finer things in life. For example; many women have sought highly dangerous cosmetic procedures such as Brazilian butt lifts after seeing their ‘role models’ in the likes of Kim Kardashian, Cardi B or Nicki Minaj sporting very prominent and enormous posteriors.
According to you, is there any way to refrain users from being influenced by these so called ‘stars’?