ABSTRACT

The influence of social media on body image has become a significant topic of discussion in recent years.  While the commercialisation of the body positivity movement and the exclusion of certain marginalised groups have been identified as issues by critics, body image content such as body positivity and body acceptance has been shown to improve body image.  This paper explores these key themes and the importance of counterpublics in challenging dominant cultural narratives and norms surrounding body image.

 

KEYWORDS:    body image     identity    social media     counterpublics    online activism

 

The impact of social media on body image has garnered significant attention and has become a topic of considerable debate. The widespread use of social media platforms has provided individuals with access to a constant stream of images and information that can profoundly impact perception of body image. Body image relates to individuals’ feelings and beliefs about their bodies and appearance (Centre for Young Women’s Health 2019). Research has suggested potential negative consequences of online body positivity content; however, many studies show it builds positive online spaces, improves body image, and encourages people to challenge body and beauty norms. This paper explores how body image advocates like Taryn Brumfitt help create these spaces by nurturing networked counterpublics through identity performance, and using social media affordances to enact fourth-wave activism in providing an opposing narrative to hegemonic body image norms.

 

Recent research has shown that companies recognise the growing popularity of the body positivity (BoPo) movement and are beginning to leverage its imagery and messaging (Brathwaite & DeAndrea, 2022). Online environments such as Instagram include accounts run by influencers, and business-sponsored posts, which are intermingled with user posts, making self-promotion and advertising difficult to detect. Further, BoPo content has been shown to vary in its body-centeredness and how actively it encourages or rejects the commercialisation and involvement of for-profit businesses. This approach by businesses may be seen as value signalling when done without authentic commitment to the underlying values of diversity and social justice (Rodgers et al., 2022) Value or Virtue Signalling is publicly expressing opinions or sentiments to demonstrate good character or moral correctness (Berthon et al., 2023). In contrast, Chen (2013) suggests that women should view consumerism as a way to build an identity, a competitive edge, and contribute to the economic subject’s human capital. 

 

Elsewhere, body positivity advocates have criticised BoPo content for not being all-inclusive (Cwynar-Horta, 2016).  Darwin & Miller (2020) support this, contending that the amplification of certain body types over others in the BoPo movement continues to be influenced by historically rooted circumstances of power and privilege, marginalizing different communities. Furthermore, Sonya Renee Taylor, founder of the web-based community The Body is Not An Apology, frequently writes on problems that women of colour, trans individuals, women who wear hijabs, and Indigenous communities face via exclusion from mainstream body positivity (Lazuka et al., 2020). Critics suggest body positivity does not include individuals from other marginalised groups, such as individuals with disabilities or individuals (Delassandro, 2016, as cited in Lazuka et al., 2020, p. 86).  One of the recent critiques of the body positivity movement is that it has been appropriated by thin, attractive, and white women with normative body representations (Cwynar-Horta, 2016; Tiggemann, 2019); Rodgers et al. (2022) suggest that online BoPo content should be aligned with deconstructing mainstream appearance ideals and varying the visual environment. Whilst commercialism and hegemony are important areas for consideration, the benefits of body image content online are greater. 

 

 Lastly, proponents of body positivity and neutrality content suggest that this type of social media material fosters a more welcoming and empowering atmosphere where anyone may engage in the same kinds of activities regardless of size or shape (Haskins, 2015, as cited in Cohen et al., 2019). Additionally, body-positive material may lessen women’s susceptibility to body dissatisfaction. New research extends prior studies on the relationship between social media and body image. It shows that exposure to body-positive material on Instagram can improve women’s immediate mood, contentment with their bodies, and admiration. Exposure to body-positive social media content was associated with significantly increased body satisfaction compared to other online body image content (Cohen et al., 2019). Additionally, there is proof that valuing one’s body can help shield one from the damaging effects of media exposure (Andrew et al., 2019). Overall, research favours body-positive content containing images depicting appearances that deviate from appearance ideals and associates this content with higher body satisfaction and positive body image (Rodgers et al., 2022; Stevens, 2020; Tiggemann, 2019).  When considering these themes of body image content on social media networks, it becomes evident why counterpublics are important in these spaces.

 

 

Counterpublics provide a platform for individuals to challenge dominant cultural narratives and norms surrounding body image, hold businesses accountable, and support positive outcomes. Renninger (2015) defines counterpublics as publics that differ markedly from the dominant culture’s understanding of itself as a public. These counterpublics are discursive spaces where members of marginalised social groups create and circulate counterdiscourses to form alternative interpretations of their identities, interests, and needs (Warner, 2002). Kuo (2018) argues that these marginalised groups create and maintain these alternative publics to legitimise and communicate their lived realities and push the mainstream public sphere to acknowledge them. Networked technologies have made it easier for marginalised group members to form counterpublics by providing them with the tools to connect with one another and share their perspectives. In this way, counterpublics become networked and can circulate their discourses and challenge dominant narratives. Boyd (2011) defines networked publics as “publics that are restructured by networked technologies” (p. 39). The networked counterpublic sphere is an alternative arena for public discourse and political debate, less dominated by large media entities, less subject to government control, and open to wider participation. Activists like Taryn Brumfitt, utilise social media to perform their activist identities via their networked counterpublics, and to engage others in their cause.

 

Social media platforms have become an important medium for body image activists and advocates to perform their identity and share their thoughts and experiences to spread awareness of their cause and engage others in the process. Taryn Brumfitt, recently announced as 2023 Australian of the Year, has harnessed the affordances of social media to perform her identity online. Brumfitt is a body image activist, speaker, and author. She founded Body Image Movement, a global movement that began online and aims to end body dissatisfaction by promoting body acceptance (Fell, 2017). Brumfitt’s work began in 2013 when she posted a “before and after” photo on Facebook. The “before” photo showed her when she competed in a bodybuilding competition. The “after” photo showed her after she had stopped dieting and embraced her natural body shape post-childbirth. This play on traditional before and after photos was both a critique of how damaging these images can be, and provided an alternative and supportive narrative in body acceptance. Her post went viral, and Brumfitt started her Body Image Movement as a result with the following aims: Educate a global community and provide tools to promote positive body image; Celebrate body diversity in shape, size, ethnicity and ability; Promote positive physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health; and combat toxic messaging in media and advertising (Body Image Movement, 2019). Social media has enabled the redefinition and recreation of identity, such as Brumfitt’s. Identity on platforms such as Instagram also surfaces in less direct ways by showcasing diverse representations of bodies, often underrepresented in traditional mainstream media (Caldeira et al., 2020, p.2). Individuals negotiate with broader conventions and hegemonic systems, placing their images alongside a dominant visual culture and negotiating their belonging (Papacharissi, 2015). Self-representation on Instagram also has political potential, as it broadens the scope of visibility and personal experiences and interests can be politicised, shaping society (Caldeira et al., 2020; Mouffe, 2005). Brumfitt’s online identity and visibility politics aim to make marginalised identities visible by normalising their experiences and making them a familiar presence in everyday environments. Online body image activists such as Brumfitt, utilise social media affordances to perform their identity within their networked counterpublics.

 

Brumfitt’s Instagram profile has 142 thousand followers, and her Facebook account has 1.8 million followers. In creating a networked body image counterpublic, Brumfitt has created online spaces that celebrate body acceptance and challenge dominant cultural norms that value a particular look. Historically, power and privilege have amplified white, heteronormative, thin bodies;  marginalising and ‘othering’ those who do not fit within these confines (Darwin & Miller, 2020). Social justice activists such as Brumfitt “write themselves into being” (Boyd, 2008, as cited in Talbot, 2022, p.55) on social networking sites such as Instagram using affordances such as posting images via their online profiles, and through their likes, comments, “follows”, sharing links, uploading photos, and tagging those photos with words and phrases that express their inner thoughts and feelings. Different platforms have different affordances and purposes for activists and followers, depending on the message they want to portray and how they want to interact. Online advocates like Brumfitt, use their intersectionality to highlight oppression (Crenshaw et al., 2015, as cited in Talbot, 2022, p.53). This online activism, or ‘fourth wave’ of feminism, maintains second-wave ‘consciousness-raising’ ideas through sharing personal experiences, allowing previously marginalised groups to claim a voice and share their self-representations (Caldeira et al. 2020, P9). This ‘fourth wave’ has roots in historical movements. The ‘Fat Acceptance’ movement, ‘Sex Positivists’, ‘and Black Is Beautiful’ feminists emerged in the 1960s and have re-emerged since the 2000s under the label body positivity (Darwin & Miller, 2020). One of the most important affordances of social media is its ability to connect people who share common experiences, such as those who haven’t been represented. Through these connections and community (via her followers), Brumfitt shares her message and encourages others to share their stories and experiences. By creating her Body Image Movement community, Brumfitt has created a space where people can support and encourage each other, share tips and resources, and work together to promote body acceptance, all via Instagram’s affordances. 

 

Online activism, such as Brumfitt’s, spreads due to the amplification of a broader public via their networked counterpublic. Social media has provided new distribution networks for this alternative media via its affordances. Hashtagging allows content of all media types on a certain topic or addressed to a particular audience, to be easily found in one place. Networked counterpublics use these hashtags to demonstrate their needs and to gain credibility and influence. One way in which Brumfitt has fostered her networked counterpublic is through hashtags, such as her theme of #ihaveembraced, which has over fifty-one thousand posts to date. Social media affordances allow people to create and share content in various formats, such as text and images. Brumfitt has used these affordances to create a wide range of content promoting body acceptance and challenging cultural norms. She shares her message through images, captions, hashtags, and accompanying text and encourages others to share theirs through comments, likes and username tags. As a result, others can engage in body image activism and advocacy from anywhere in the world. 

 

Social media has undoubtedly played a crucial role in shaping body image perceptions. While the commercialisation of the body positivity movement and the potential exclusion of marginalised groups have been criticised, it cannot be denied that promoting body-positive and body-acceptance content has also helped improve body image in online users. This paper has explored the importance of counterpublics in challenging dominant cultural narratives and norms surrounding body image. Through the example of Taryn Brumfitt and her use of social media affordances to perform her identity, it has been illustrated that body image activists are using social media to nurture a counterpublic that provides an opposing narrative to hegemonic body image norms.

 

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