Referencias

1, J. A. (2016). The Female Body on Instagram: Is Fit the New It?. Reinvention:
An International Journal Of Undergraduate Research, 9(1), 1.

<!--Informacin adicional:

Vnculo persistente a este informe (enlace permanente):

http://recursosbiblioteca.unab.cl:2060/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=asn&AN=115322184&lang=es&site=ehost-live

Fin de la cita-->

The Female Body on Instagram: Is Fit the New It?

This article examines how the female body is represented on Instagram.

Instagram is a social media platform that allows its users to edit and share
images and videos, follow other users, like content by way of a 'double tap',
and hashtag posts by prefixing a '#' symbol to the beginning of text. Drawing
on a content analysis of 50 images of women's bodies posted to the
fitspiration hashtag page, this article considers whether representations of
the 'fit' female body on Instagram mirror and/or transgress contemporary
notions of the 'ideal' body. Consistent with the sociological and feminist
theorisations of the body and gender drawn upon (Bordo, 2003; Dworkin and
Wachs, 2009; Grogan, 2007; Young, 2005), the analysis revealed a prevalence
of slender, youthful and white bodies in gender-typical poses and clothing.
The visibility of muscle definition and strength, albeit subverted by sexualised
poses and clothing, did, however, indicate an extension upon slenderness as
the only ideal body shape criterion for women. This article thus claims that
this new type of '(f)it' body snapped and shared for 'inspiration' both
replicates and extends contemporary notions of the ideal female body.

Keywords: Instagram; ideal body; fit body; fitspiration; women's bodies; social
media.

Introduction

With the proliferation of fitness trainers, brands and bloggers on social media,
inspiration for a fit and firm body is increasingly at the fingertips of users. On
Instagram, a photo- and video-sharing social media platform with over 400
million users worldwide, the fitspiration hashtag has been established to
signify content that serves as inspiration to attain fitness goals and conquer
the body (Instagram, 2015). Cursory examination of the fitspiration hashtag
on Instagram reveals over seven million posts that mostly capture 'fit' female
bodies with motivational quotes like 'don't stop until you're proud', 'strong is
the new skinny' and 'squats are a girl's best friend'. While the fitspiration
phenomenon has been considered as a positive counterpart of hashtags used
to promote eating disorders and self-harm (e.g. #thinspiration, #probulimia
and #proanorexia), fitspiration's tendency to equate exercise with perfecting
one's body has sparked concerns regarding negative body image, exercise
compulsion and disordered eating (Adams, 2014; Mechielsen, 2013; Moore,
2013). The deputy editor-in-chief of Australia's Mamamia Women's Network,
Kate Spies (2015), has even gone so far as to describe fitspo - an
abbreviation of fitspiration - as an 'all-pervasive force' that triggers obsessive
behaviour and promotes 'another impossible body standard for women to
compare themselves to, and ultimately, fall short of'. In this context of
concern, a detailed examination of the female body in fitspiration images is
warranted. This article accordingly draws on a sample of publicly available
fitspiration images to answer the following research questions: How is the
female body[ 2] represented in fitspiration images on Instagram? Do these
representations mirror and/or transgress contemporary notions of the 'ideal'
body?

Theorising the body

Over the past three decades, the body has emerged as a core research
paradigm in the social sciences. This has largely been driven by the
publication of key texts such as Bryan Turner's The Body and Society (1984),
Mike Featherstone et al.'s The Body: Social Processes and Cultural Theory
(1991), Chris Shilling's The Body and Social Theory (1993), and Elizabeth
Grosz's Volatile Bodies (1994). This literature multiplied sociological
considerations of the body and resulted in different 'types' of bodies being
analysed. These include the 'material' and 'medicalised' body (Turner, 2001);
the 'socially constructed' and 'gendered' body (Shilling, 1993; Grosz, 1994);
the 'commodified' and 'regulated' body (Lupton, 1995); and, most relevant to
this research project, the 'ideal' and 'fit' body (Dworkin and Wachs, 2009;
Savacool, 2009). These theorisations mapped the body as both an object of
study, the subject that studies and the site of subjective experience.

The ideal female body

In contemporary western societies, the ideal female body is commonly

considered to be slender, youthful, white and feminine (Grogan, 2007; Wykes
and Gunter, 2005). While a 'plump, big-breasted and maternal' body was
perceived as a symbol of 'wealth, health and youth' from the fifteenth to the
eighteenth centuries, the mid-twentieth century saw the replacement of
shapely cultural icons with skinny fashion models such as Twiggy (Wykes and
Gunter, 2005: 36). Grogan (2007) explores this relatively recent idealisation
of slenderness in her writings on culture and body image. She explains that in
affluent western societies overweight bodies are generally linked to 'laziness,
lack of willpower, and being out of control', while slender bodies are
associated with 'happiness, success, youthfulness, and social acceptability'
(Grogan, 2007: 9). Through critically evaluating the roles of culture and
biology in promotion of the slim ideal, Grogan (2007: 16) argues that 'social
pressures to be slender are based more on cultural aesthetic preferences
than health concerns'. This preference has been supported widely in existing
research on representations of the body in the media (Dworkin and Wachs,
2009; Silverstein et al., 1986; Zhang et al., 2010).

Sociologists have also theorised the ideal female body as one that is youthful
(Featherstone and Hepworth, 2005; Gilman, 1999). Featherstone and
Hepworth (2005) describe this adulation in their writings on cultural
representations of the body. They argue that youthful bodies are idealised
based on the presumption that ageing bodies inevitably encounter a loss of
autonomy, mobility and independence (Featherstone and Hepworth, 2005).
For Featherstone and Hepworth (2005: 354), this conceptualisation drives
ageist stereotypes that render older bodies as frail, breaking down and 'on
the edge of senility and death'. Gilman (1999: 295) supports this theorisation
by describing the aged body as culturally and socially 'unaesthetic, unerotic,
and pathological'. He argues that pursuits of the 'perfect' body are tied to an
'imagined peak of youth' (Gilman, 1999: 301). As such, attempts to 'pass' as
young, even if one has aged, involve mimicking youthfulness through
practices such as dyeing one's hair, exercising, wearing make-up or
undergoing cosmetic surgery.

In addition to slenderness and youthfulness, scholars have documented the

idealisation of a white skin aesthetic (Baker, 2005; Charles, 2003; Coltrane
and Messineo, 2000). The historical and cultural constructions of this ideal
are discussed in Fanon's (1967) book Black Skin, White Masks. He explains
that skin colour is the most 'outward manifestation of race' and as such has
become a criterion by which people judge others (Fanon, 1967: 118). For
Fanon (1967: 110), the idealisation of whiteness is a result of colonisation
processes and constructions of otherness which have largely encouraged a
'white world' that silences and devalues non-white bodies. The pervasiveness
of a white skin aesthetic has since been recorded in several studies of the
body in various forms media (Baker, 2005; Coltrane and Messineo, 2000;
Dworkin and Wachs, 2009).

The ideal female body has also been conceptualised as one that possesses
emphasised femininity (Connell, 1987). According to Connell (1987: 184),
emphasised femininity is an exaggerated form of femininity defined around
'compliance and subordination' and an orientation towards confirming to the
interests and desires of others, namely men. Young (2005) addresses
historical notions of feminine body comportment, motility and spatiality in her
renowned essay Throwing Like a Girl. In this essay, Young (2005: 40)
observes feminine movement as characterised by 'timidity, immobility, and
uncertainty'. This modality of femininity, she argues, is caused by a
patriarchal society within which women are 'physically handicapped' and
come to live their bodies through practices of constraint (Young, 2005: 42).
Existing research has similarly discussed displays of emphasised femininity
through documenting the prevalence of inactive body poses (Dworkin and
Wachs, 2009; Hardin, Lynn and Walsdorf, 2005), the representation of 'just
part of a woman's body' (Kilbourne, 1999: 258), and the use of cosmetics and
clothing to 'make safe' one's femininity (Guthrie and Castelnuovo, 1992).

The fit female body

In recent times, scholars have also documented an emergence of the 'fit'

body (Bordo, 2003; Dworkin and Wachs, 2009; Savacool, 2009). The fit body
has been theorised as one that engages in bodywork practices, such as
exercise and diet control, to attain a 'lean, tight, compact body' (Dworkin and
Wachs, 2009: 1). For women, this body possesses monochromatic smooth
skin, a perfect tan, toned muscles that are not 'too big', and is often featured
wearing clothes that reveal and emphasise the abdominal muscles, cleavage
and buttocks. As argued by Savacool (2009: 183), this type of body is fast
becoming the 'body of tomorrow' as it is more difficult to attain than
slenderness and thus is a marker of discipline, determination and success. In
making this claim, Savacool (2009: 179) refers to the popular culture term
'skinny fat'. This term is used to shame individuals who are slender but lack
lean body tissue, have low levels of fitness and fail to eat healthy food
(Savacool, 2009). Savacool (2009: 180) explains that this conceptualisation of
thin bodies presents a 'frustrating double standard' whereby being
overweight is considered unhealthy and being skinny is no longer a marker of
success, or in Bourdieu's (1986) terms, a signifier of cultural capital.
According to Bordo (2003: 190), the idealisation of this 'absolutely tight,
contained, "bolted down" [and] firm' body is based on the premise that there
are 'problem' areas of one's body that require extra attention and discipline,
like the buttocks, abdominal muscles and thighs. In so doing, individuals
become 'empowered only and always through fantasies of what [they] could
be' and are rendered as 'ugly, unacceptable, [and] without a future' if they
don't whip their bodies into the culturally prescribed shape (Bordo, 1997: 58).
Bauman (1995) similarly addresses this notion in his writings on the
postmodern body. He argues that this fitness ideal is premised on self-
responsibility and a capacity to consume what consumer society has to offer.
Under this lens, the body becomes a DIY creation and a reflection of one's
ability (or inability) to consume. Bauman (1995: 121) further explains that the
goal of bodily fitness is a 'life-long siege' which can be pursued through
exercise and diet control, but never reached. As such, the fit body clutches at
a temporary existence and is constantly measured by one's ability to 'keep
fit'.

Despite the wide circulation of fitspiration images on social media, academic

literature to date has primarily focused on representations of the fit body in
print media and televised sports (Duncan, 1990; Duncan and Hasbrook, 1988;
Dworkin and Wachs, 2009). While Boepple and Thompson (2016) have
conducted a comparative study of 'messages' on fitspiration and thinspiration
websites and Tiggemann and Zaccardo (2015) have analysed the 'effect' of
fitspiration imagery on women's body image, their research questions and
designs have not centred on an analysis of the fitspiration images
themselves. Tiggemann and Zaccardo (2015: 66) suggest that 'future
research should attempt to disentangle the effects of the thinness, fitness,
pose, and setting of [fitspiration] image[s]'. This cannot be done without first
canvassing how the female body is represented in these images, which is the
purpose of this article.

Methods

Data collection

Data was collected through taking mobile phone screenshots of 50 images

posted to the fitspiration hashtag over a one-hour duration. This hashtag
page was accessed using the explore tab of the application to carry out a
'tags' search for fitspiration. While a longer data collection might have
captured more dynamics, it was not within the scope of this research to
conduct an exhaustive project accounting for a larger set of data.

Sampling

To focus centrally on how women's bodies are represented in fitspiration

images, purposive sampling was carried out. Purposive sampling involves
selecting units of a sample based on the purpose of study and researcher's
judgement (Maxfield and Babbie, 2011). This method was applied during data
collection by selectively recording images of the female body and not that of
other representations, such as that of men, text, food or exercise
environments. It is important to note here that due to frequent false profiling
practices on social media (Agger, 2015; Dijck, 2012; Kong, 2015; Syed-Abdul
et al., 2013), there is no real way of knowing or accurately determining the
demographics of Instagram users. Given that this research focuses on
representations of bodies in images rather than the identities or profiling
practices of users themselves, this was not considered problematic.

Data analysis

A content analysis of the images collected was performed. As explained by

Leeuwen and Jewitt (2001), this method facilitates the establishment of
categories that can easily be coded for their use and/or prevalence. To
analyse whether representations of the female body in fitspiration images
mirror and/or transgress contemporary notions of the ideal body, the
following categories were coded: body type, age, ethnicity and emphasised
femininity, which included body pose, body area captured and clothing worn.
These codes were based on existing literature and research which has
conceptualised the ideal female body as one that is slender (Grogan, 2007;
Wykes and Gunter, 2005), youthful (Featherstone and Hepworth, 2005;
Gilman, 1999), white (Fanon, 1967; Charles, 2003) and feminine (Connell,
1987; Guthrie and Castelnuovo, 1992). Hand placement and the exposure of
breast cleavage, abdominal muscles and the buttocks were also coded;
however, due to frequent image cropping, these categories became difficult
to code accurately and hence were not included in this research.

Ethical considerations

Instagram offers its users varying degrees of account privacy, from

completely private to completely public. As stated in Instagram's Privacy
Policy (2013), 'any information or content that [users] voluntarily disclose for
posting to the service becomes available to the public, as controlled by any
applicable privacy settings'. Hence, if a user's account is set to public then
any photos or videos posted with the fitspiration hashtag are publicly
viewable on the fitspiration hashtag page. In the interests of mitigating
ethical issues of privacy and consent often complicated by online research
(Zimmer, 2010), only images posted publicly[ 3] to the fitspiration hashtag
page were analysed. This approach adheres to the Association of Internet
Researchers (2002: 5-7) ethical recommendations which state that analysing
online content can be acceptable if the environment is public and there is a
site policy notifying users of the technical limits to privacy in specific
domains. Nevertheless, in the interests of protecting the identities of users,
all dataset images included in this article have been de-identified by
removing the username from the top and bottom of the screenshot.

Findings

Body type

The body types represented in fitspiration dataset images were coded using
Swami et al.'s (2008) Photographic Figure Rating Scale (PFRS) shown in Figure
1. The process of coding involved matching the body type shown in each of
the 50 dataset images to the closest figure on the scale. In cases where the
body type was unclear or the image was cropped to contain an
unrepresentative view of the body, the not determinable (ND) code was used.

As shown in Table 1, the majority of body types represented in this dataset

were coded as number 2 or 3 on the scale. Body types larger than 3 on the
PFRS were infrequent, with only three coded as number 4 and one coded as
number 5. This finding is consistent with existing research on representations
of women's bodies in the media and supports conceptualisations of the
contemporary ideal body as thin (Dworkin and Wachs, 2009; Silverstein et al.,
1986; Zhang et al., 2010). Qualitative comments regarding the visibility of
muscle definition also revealed that many of the images coded as number 2
and 3 on the PFRS displayed visible arm, leg, back, or abdominal muscle
definition (see for example Figure 2). Historically, muscularity has been a
bodily ideal largely attributed to men (Mansfield and McGinn, 1993).
However, the emergence of women's body-building competitions in 1970
began to challenge the 'status quo' (Mansfield and McGinn, 1993: 55). The
tendency for slender women to be shown with visible muscle definition in
fitspiration images indicates that muscularity is no longer exclusively
confined to arenas of body-building or elite sports. This finding therefore
extends upon the ideology of slenderness as the primary ideal body shape
criterion for women.

Age

The perceived ages of the women represented in fitspiration dataset images

were coded using Lauzen and Dozier's (2005) seven age cohorts: child ( 1-
12), teen ( 13-19), 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60+. As detailed in Table 2, the
majority of women captured in the dataset appeared to be in the 20s age
cohort. Numbers tapered off dramatically after this, with only eight recorded
in the 30s age cohort and zero recorded in the 40s and 50s age cohorts.
While the demographics of Instagram users and advertising practices may be
driving these effects (Bailey and Steeves, 2015; Ghaznavi and Taylor, 2015),
the near-absence of older female bodies reasserts and underpins an ideology
of youthfulness for women in the media and more generally. This finding
largely aligns with sociological conceptualisations of old age as a period of
marginalisation, devaluation and psychological and physical redundancy
(Lafontaine, 2009; Shilling, 1993). The inspirational vein within which
fitspiration images are posted and viewed, moreover, supports the neo-
individualist notion that one can have mastery over one's body and ageing
(Shilling, 2012). Aspiring to a youthful ideal is, however, 'doomed to failure'
given that ageing is a process we are unable to opt out of (Inahara, 2009:
57). Albeit, Bordo (2003) explains that 'women are not "stupid" to fall in with
these pressures, they are recognising that in the cultural milieu - or the field
of play in Bourdieu's terms - these are the rules for "winning"' (Cregan, 2006:
173). Under this lens, Instagram users are not cultural dupes or passive
victims of cultural forces, they are instead actively engaging with and
shaping cultural forces.

Ethnicity

The perceived ethnicity of female bodies represented in this study's dataset

was coded using codes adopted from Dworkin and Wachs' (2009) study of the
fit female body in magazines. These codes were: white, black/African
American, Asian, Latino/Hispanic, and other. In cases where ethnicity could
not be coded, the 'other' code was used. As shown in Table 3, 34 of the 50
images analysed captured a white female body. Despite ethnicity not being
determinable in seven cases, this finding supports the pervasiveness of white
bodies and marginalisation of non-white bodies documented in several
studies of women's representations in the media (Baker, 2005; Coltrane and
Messineo, 2000; Dworkin and Wachs, 2009). The limited presence of diverse
ethnicities in this study's dataset, moreover, displaces intersectionality
through presenting the fit body as one which is white. This leaves many
bodies out of the frame and tacitly infers that non-white bodies are unfit or
unworthy of being represented as fitspiration. Although six women in this
study's dataset were coded as black/African American, Asian or
Latino/Hispanic, their marginal inclusion arguably emphasises otherness and
inadvertently produces whiteness as the norm for all women. As explained by
Hooks (1992: 29), representations of 'a bit of the other' enhance and
normalise the 'blank landscape of whiteness'. While it is acknowledged that
ethnicity cannot always be read on the surface of one's body (Alcoff, 2000),
the predominance of whiteness in the dataset does mirror contemporary
notions of the ideal body as white. In doing so, this finding highlights how
ethnicity is implicated in representations of the female body in fitspiration
images on Instagram.

Emphasised femininity

Body pose

Existing literature on portrayals of women in the media describes a

propensity for femininity to be displayed through inactive and passive body
poses (Dworkin and Wachs, 2009; Hardin et al., 2005; Leath and Lumpkin,
1992). As shown in Table 4, the trend for women to be portrayed in inactive
body poses was also apparent in the fitspiration images. Of the 50
representations analysed, 27 were coded as inactive. These images did not
capture or imply any fitness activity and were often taken in front of a mirror
or against a background of water (see for example Figure 3). This finding is
consistent with historical notions of women as passive objects who are
encouraged to be 'on show' and unchallenging to the viewer gaze (Connell,
1987; Young, 2005). The prevalence of inactive body poses also mirrors the
findings of Goffman's (1979) study of gender in advertisements. Here,
Goffman (1979) noted that women were often depicted lying down, canting or
in a state of 'licensed withdrawal' looking away from the viewer. While no
women in the present study's fitspiration dataset were captured lying down,
there were examples of women withdrawing from the frame by looking away
(Figure 3) or covering their faces. For Goffman (1979), this type of body
posture implies that women are psychologically removed and adrift from the
social situation at large, while men are present and anchored.

Contrary to associations between femininity and passivity, this analysis also

revealed a considerable number of active body poses. These images
presented women engaging in a fitness activity, such as lifting weights
(Figure 4), performing abdominal crunches or running. For Butler (1998),
images of women performing such activities contest the limits of femininity
and question 'what we take for granted as idealized feminine morphologies'.
Butler (1998) and several other scholars do, however, suggest that active
body poses are frequently 'offset' through a focus on aesthetics and beauty
(Dworkin and Wachs, 2009; Guthrie and Castelnuovo, 1992; Hardin et al.,
2005). This phenomenon was certainly mirrored in some active
representations of women in fitspiration images where their clothing worn, or
lack of (Figure 4), emphasised their sexuality more than their fitness. There
were also a small number of action-implied body poses identified during data
analysis. Here, women were shown with their hands on a prop as if they were
about to begin or had just finished an exercise matching the prop (Figure 5).
For Hardin et al. (2005: 114-15), such body poses invite a 'preferred reading'
of fitness that serves a purely aesthetic end. They also leave room for
resistance to more traditional gender norms given they position women
participating in activities that were, until relatively recently, reserved for
men. Action-implied body poses uploaded as fitspiration could therefore be
interpreted as preserving dominant ideologies of femininity as inactive, while
also remaining porous enough to be read as empowering for women.

Body area captured

As detailed in Table 5, the findings of this analysis indicate a trend towards

total body shots, as well as highlighted body areas. This outcome is
consistent with the findings of existing research on women's portrayals in
fashion and fitness publications (Rudman and Hagiwara, 1992; Wasylkiw et
al., 2009). The near-absence of images that exclusively feature the lower
body is also symbolic of the problematic rendering of women's hips, thighs
and rear end in the fitness industry and more generally. For Lupton (1995:
143), these 'problem' areas are often considered to require extra attention if
they are 'too large and fleshy or because they are not well enough defined or
toned'. She explains that this ideology is nowhere more evident than in
fitness and body-building arenas, where specific exercises and machines are
used to 'work' these areas of the body (Lupton, 1995: 143). The fact that only
one fitspiration image in my dataset represented the lower body can thus be
interpreted as mirroring the conceptualisation of women's lower bodies as
problematic, and therefore something to be hidden.

A particularly interesting finding in my analysis was that fitspiration images

often captured women with their heads purposefully cropped out of the frame
(see for example Figure 6). While this framing may be used to provide
anonymity in a very public space, it also reflects the age-old trend of women
being represented as an unchallenging object for others (Young, 2005). In
Kilbourne's (1999: 258) writings on the objectification of women in
advertising, she notes that a common tactic used is to feature 'just a part of a
woman's body - a derriere, a headless torso'. In a comparable study of female
self-sexualisation in MySpace profile pictures, Hall et al. (2012) note that
headless representations of women are the most extreme measure of sexual
objectification. They state that this 'body-ism' works to 'eliminate all mental
capacities and intellect from the individual, truly rendering her an object'
(Hall et al., 2012: 11). It also appears that headless fitspiration shots
exclusively focus on parts of one's body that can be changed through fitness
regimes. As such, decapitated framing provides the opportunity for women to
present their hard work without being distracted by parts of their body that
are relatively fixed. The fitspiration hashtag page can therefore be considered
as a contradictory space, whereby women hope to be inspired and
empowered but are symbolically disempowered through their
dismemberment.

Women also emphasised feminine bodily ideals in fitspiration images through

the use of specific camera angles to frame and present their bodies. Holding
the camera above the body, as shown in Figure 6, was common among self-
taken images in the dataset. This angle forces the viewer 'to gaze down on
them', luring focus to the breasts and dramatically reducing the appearance
of waist size (Hardin et al., 2005: 108). For Duncan (1990), this particular
camera angle sexualises women and positions them as subordinate in
relation to the viewer. The tendency for fitspiration images to be framed in
this manner can consequently be argued to reassert idealised displays of
femininity, where the female body is an object to be 'looked at' (Young, 2005:
39). This finding in turn highlights how women are active agents in the
preservation of socially constructed gender ideologies.

Clothing

Research on women's participation in fitness, particularly body-building, has

described the use of clothing to 'make safe' women's bodies (Guthrie and
Castelnuovo, 1992). Here, to 'make safe' is to ensure that women entering a
predominantly male domain of muscularity can also be feminine. The high
number of female bodies in this dataset wearing gender-typical attire such as
bras, bikini-tops and sports bras appears to be consistent with such research.
As shown in Table 6, this type of feminised clothing was seen in 26 of the 50
images analysed (for example, Figures 2 and 5). For Schultz (2004: 185), such
portrayals of women 'homogenize and normalize ideals of femininity [] and
reproduce the traditional gender order'. As Schultz (2004: 196) further
explains, 'the sports bra, like other bras, is concerned with promoting a
sexuality that most appeals to the masculine gaze. As an object of
consumption, the sports bra plays on and reinforces hegemonic notions of
femininity'. Young's (1990) writings similarly discuss bras as an item of
clothing that normalise and objectify women's breasts. She states that bras
mould women's breasts to suit a sexualised ideal that is 'like the phallus:
high, hard, and pointy' (Young, 1990: 190). In considering these
conceptualisations of bras and sports bras it becomes apparent that the
popularity of these gender-typical and culturally promoted clothing items in
fitspiration images mirrors hegemonic ideals of attractiveness. This was made
further apparent in this dataset through the portrayal of a near-naked woman
performing a lat pulldown (Figure 4). Despite showing visible signs of a sweat-
laden workout, this woman is featured wearing no clothing on her upper body
and only tight, scanty underwear on her lower body. Her buttocks also
appears to be purposefully tilted towards the camera and rested slightly
above the equipment seat for visual enticement rather than for the purpose
of the exercise. Aside from raising significant questions about who these
images are for, portrayals like this subvert female power, strength and
subjectivity through emphasising sexualised ideals of attractiveness.

In a space which is to a certain extent controlled by users themselves, the

continued sexualisation of women in such images could be interpreted using
Gill's (2008) notion of sexual subjectification. According to Gill (2008: 40),
'compulsory sexual agency' is now a 'required feature of contemporary
postfeminist, neoliberal subjectivity'. She explains that this shift from
objectification to subjectification has emphasised empowerment and
pronounced a discourse of autonomy and choice (Gill, 2008). As a result, Gill
(2008: 42) argues that sexual subjectification presents women as 'desiring
sexual subjects who choose to present themselves in a seemingly objectified
manner because it suits their implicitly "liberated" interests to do so'. The
portrayal of women as sexual subjects in fitspiration images is, moreover,
indicative of how easily sexuality is performed and viewed in arenas
previously considered as 'non-sexual' (Cover, 2003: 67).

Conclusion

This research provides timely insight into how women's bodies are
represented on Instagram's fitspiration hashtag. Consistent with
contemporary notions of the ideal female body, the analysis revealed a
prevalence of slender, youthful and white bodies in gender-typical poses and
clothing. The visibility of arm, leg, back and abdominal muscle definition on
slender body shapes did, however, indicate an extension upon the ideology of
slenderness as the only ideal body shape criterion for women. Despite this,
displays of muscularity and strength were often subverted by sexualised body
poses, framing and clothing. Representations of the female body in
fitspiration images thus appear to 'inspire' on the basis of specific aesthetic
ideals that both replicate and, to a degree, extend contemporary notions of
the ideal female body.

In a context where media images have been shown to have a direct impact
on body satisfaction, which is a risk factor for body image disorders, this
'cookie cutter' display of the fit body is concerning (Bersaglio, 2012). It
reinforces the idea that there is only one desirable and healthy body type and
positions women as '"empowered" [and inspired] only and always through
fantasies of what they could be' (Bordo, 1997: 51). This is particularly
concerning, given knowledge of where one stands in relation to body ideals
can indeed contribute to what Howson (2004: 21) refers to as 'our sense of
being normal'. This article thereby claims that this new type of '(f)it' body
snapped and shared for inspiration via the fitspiration hashtag promotes
another problematic standard for women to compare themselves to and
attempt to emulate. This could shape what women perceive as desirable or
appropriate in relation to their bodies and in turn, could have negative
implications on the mental, social and physical health of women viewing
fitspiration images.

This article consequently opens up a myriad of possible directions for future

research. A clear area for future research, and one that was beyond the scope
of this study, is to address how women experience their bodies in fitspiration
images. To do this would be to examine how knowledges and understandings
of bodies are produced in digital spaces. Investigating the profiling practices
of users and tracing the sociomaterial may also shed light on what work the
fitspiration space does in terms of the enactment and production of bodies.
Comparative analyses of representations of men and women, and of
fitspiration datasets from diverse social media platforms, could, moreover, be
useful in determining disparities that were beyond the scope of this research.
A future large-scale longitudinal study of fitspiration images could also reveal
the possible changes and patterns in portrayals of the fit body over time. The
present article can therefore be read as one step forward in a new and
emerging area of research.
Acknowledgements

With sincere thanks to Dr Lauren Rosewarne and Dr Liz Dean from the
University of Melbourne for their guidance and assistance in the production of
this research. Lauren, thank you for giving me the confidence to transform
my early ideas into research and for always providing prompt feedback. Liz,
thank you for awakening my sociological imagination in my first university
lecture in 2010. I have not been able to look at society (or myself!) in the
same way ever since. Thank you also for your tireless encouragement to get
this article published. Last, but certainly not least, thank you to my family
and friends for supporting my love of learning and burning desire to know.

List of illustrations

Figure 1: Photographic Figure Rating Scale (PFRS). Reprinted from Swami, V.,
N. Salem, A. Furnham and M. J. Tove (2008), 'The influence of feminist
ascription on judgements of women's physical attractiveness', Body Image, 5
( 2), p. 228, with permission from Elsevier.
http://recursosbiblioteca.unab.cl:2172/science/article/pii/S174014450700117
9 doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2007.10.003

Figure 2: Visible muscle definition. Author's data collection (2014)

Figure 3: Inactive body pose. Author's data collection (2014)

Figure 4: Active body pose. Author's data collection (2014)

Figure 5: Action-implied body pose. Author's data collection (2014)

Figure 6: Head cropped from frame. Author's data collection (2014)

List of tables
Table 1: Distribution of female body type in the dataset images.

Table 2: Distribution of female age in the dataset images.

Table 3: Distribution of female ethnicity in the dataset images.

Table 4: Distribution of female body pose in the dataset images.

Table 5: Distribution of female body area captured in the dataset images.

Table 6: Distribution of female clothing worn in the dataset images.

Table 1: Distribution of female body type in the dataset images

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ND

0 28 14 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 4

Table 2: Distribution of female age in the dataset images

Child (0-12) Teen (13-19) 20s 30s 40s 50s 60+ ND

0 0 34 8 0 0 1 7

Table 3: Distribution of female ethnicity in the dataset images

White Black/African American Asian Latino/Hispanic Other

34 4 2 2 8

Table 4: Distribution of female body pose in the dataset images

Inactive Active Action-implied

27 18 5

Table 5: Distribution of female body area captured in the dataset images

Total Body Upper Body Middle Body Lower Body Abdominals Only Head
Cropped
21 14 10 1 4 16

Table 6: Distribution of female clothing worn in the dataset images

Fitted leggings 11

Short-shorts/Hot-pants 10

Underwear/Bikini-bottoms14

Bra/Bikini-top/Sports bra 26

Singlet-top 13

T-shirt 4

Other 8

Notes

[1]Josie Anne Reade graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Degree with Honours)
from the University of Melbourne in 2014. She is now undertaking a Doctor of
Philosophy at the Youth Research Centre in the Melbourne Graduate School of
Education, University of Melbourne.

[2] While fitspiration images and videos do also feature men's bodies, this
study was concerned with the representations of women's bodies given they
appear to be in the majority of posts and their representations have been the
main subject of fitspiration criticism.

[3] It is acknowledged that the type of content posted publicly and privately
may vary due to advertising and audience building practices. While this may
have impacted the findings reported in this article, and is a worthy direction
for future research, it was not within the scope or ethical parameters of this
study to follow private accounts or analyse the difference between public and
private fitspiration images. The purpose of this research was to provide a
snapshot of what is publicly posted to Instagram's fitspiration hashtag.

References

Adams, R. (2014), 'Why "Fitspo" Should Come With A Warning Label',

available at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/17/fitspo-fitspiration
%5Fn%5F5574150.html, accessed 22 July 2014
Agger, B. (2015), Oversharing: Presentations of Self in the Internet Age, New
York: Routledge (originally published in 2011)

Alcoff, M. L. (2000), 'Habits of hostility on seeing race', Philosophy Today, 40,

30-40

Bailey, J. and V. Steeves (eds) (2015), eGirls, eCitizens, Canada: University of

Ottawa Press

Baker, C. N. (2005), 'Images of Women's Sexuality in Advertisements: A

Content Analysis of Black- and White-Oriented Women's and Men's
Magazines', Sex Roles, 52 (1/2), 13-27

Bauman, Z. (1995), Life in Fragments: Essays in Postmodern Morality, Oxford

and Boston, MA: Blackwell

Bersaglio, L. (2012), 'What is "Fitspiration", Anyways?', available at

http://www.liberonetwork.com/recovery/fitspiration/, accessed 14 April 2014

Boepple, L. and J. K. Thompson (2016), 'A Content Analytic Comparison of

Fitspiration and Thinspiration Websites', International Journal of Eating
Disorders, 49 (1), 98-101

Bordo, S. (1997), Twilight Zones: the Hidden Life of Cultural Images from Plato
to O.J., Berkeley: University of California Press

Bordo, S. (2003), Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture and the

Body, Berkeley: University of California Press (originally published in 1993)

Bourdieu, P. (1986), 'The forms of capital', in Richardson, J. G. (ed.), Handbook

of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education, New York: Greenwood
Press, pp. 241-58

Butler, J. (1998), 'Athletic Genders: Hyperbolic Instance and/or the

Overcoming of Sexual Binarism', Stanford Humanities Review, 6 (2), available
at http://web.stanford.edu/group/SHR/6-2/html/butler.html, accessed 30 June
2015

Charles, C. A. D. (2003), 'Skin Bleaching, Self-Hate, and Black Identity in

Jamaica', Journal of Black Studies, 33 (6), 711-28

Coltrane, S. and M. Messineo (2000), 'The Perpetuation of Subtle Prejudice:

Race and Gender Imagery in 1900s Television Advertising', Sex Roles, 42
(5/6), 363-89

Connell, R. W. (1987), Gender and Power: Society, the Person and Sexual
Politics, Cambridge: Polity Press

Cover, R. (2003), 'The Naked Subject: Nudity, Context and Sexualization in

Contemporary Culture', Body & Society, 9 (3), 53-72

Cregan, K. (2006), The Sociology of the Body: Mapping the Abstraction of

Embodiment, London: Sage

Dijck, J. V. (2012), 'Facebook and the Engineering of Connectivity: A Multi-

layered Approach to Social Media Platforms', Convergence: The International
Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 19 (2), 141-55

Duncan, M. C. (1990), 'Sports Photographs and Sexual Difference: Images of

Women and Men in the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Games', Sociology of Sport
Journal, 7, 22-43
Duncan, M. C. and C. A. Hasbrook (1988), 'Denial of Power in Televised
Women's Sports', Sociology of Sport Journal, 5 (1), 1-21

Dworkin, S. L. and F. L. Wachs (2009), Body Panic: Gender, Health, and the
Selling of Fitness, New York: New York University Press

Ess, C. and the AoIR ethics working committee (2002), 'Ethical Decision-
making and Internet research: Recommendations from the AoIR Ethics
Working Committee', available at http://aoir.org/reports/ethics.pdf, accessed
27 June 2015

Fanon, F. (1967), Black Skin, White Masks: Translated from the French by C. L.
Markmann, New York: Grove Press

Featherstone, M., M. Hepworth and B. S. Turner (1991), The Body: Social

Processes and Cultural Theory, London: Sage

Featherstone, M. and M. Hepworth (2005), 'Images of Ageing: Cultural

Representations of Later Life', in M. L. Johnson (ed.), The Cambridge
Handbook of Age and Ageing, Cambridge and New York: Cambridge
University Press, pp. 354-62

Ghaznavi, J. and L. D. Taylor (2015), 'Bones, Body Parts, and Sex Appeal: an
Analysis of #thinspiration Images on Popular Social Media', Body Image, 14,
54-61

Gill, R. (2008), 'Empowerment/Sexism: Figuring Female Sexual Agency in

Contemporary Advertising', Feminism & Psychology, 18 (1), 35-60

Gilman, S. L. (1999), Making the Body Beautiful: a Cultural History of

Aesthetic Surgery, New Jersey: Princeton University Press
Goffman, E. (1979), Gender Advertisements, London, Delhi and Melbourne:
Macmillan Press

Grogan, S. (2007), Body Image: Understanding Body Dissatisfaction in Men,

Women and Children, London and New York: Routledge (originally published
in 1999)

Grosz, E. (1994), Volatile Bodies: Toward a Corporeal Feminism, Indianapolis:

Indiana University Press

Guthrie, S. R. and S. Castelnuovo (1992), 'Elite Women Bodybuilders: Models

of Resistance or Compliance?', Play & Culture, 5 (4), 401-08

Hall, P. C., J. H. West and E. McIntyre (2012), 'Female Self-Sexualization in

MySpace.com Personal Profile Photographs', Sexuality & Culture, 16, 1-16

Hardin, M., S. Lynn and K. Walsdorf (2005), 'Challenge and Conformity on

"Contested Terrain": Images of Women in Four Women's Sport/Fitness
Magazines', Sex Roles, 53 (1/2), 105-17

Hooks, B. (1992), Black Looks: Race and Representation, London: Turnaround

Howson, A. (2004), The Body in Society: an Introduction, Cambridge: Polity

Press

Inahara, M. (2009), 'This Body Which is Not One: The Body, Femininity and
Disability', Body & Society, 15 (1), 47-62

Instagram (2013), 'Instagram Privacy Policy', available at

http://instagram.com/legal/privacy/, accessed 28 March 2014
Instagram (2015), 'Celebrating a Community of 400 Million', available at
http://blog.instagram.com/post/129662501137/150922-400million, accessed
8 March 2016

Kilbourne, J. (1999), Can't Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way we
Think and Feel, New York: Simon & Schuster (originally published as Deadly
Persuasion: Why Women and Girls Must Fight the Addictive Power of
Advertising by Free Press in 1999)

Kong, S. (2016), 'Instagram: The Real Stranger Danger', English 176 Intensive
Writing, Paper 5, available at http://scholarcommons.scu.edu/engl%5F176/5,
accessed 8 March 2016

Lafontaine, C. (2009), 'Regenerative Medicine's Immortal Body: From the Fight

against Ageing to the Extension of Longevity', Body & Society, 15 (4), 53-71

Lauzen, M. M. and D. M. Dozier (2005), 'Maintaining the Double Standard:

Portrayals of Age and Gender in Popular Films', Sex Roles, 52 (7/8), 437-46

Leath, V. M. and A. Lumpkin (1992), 'An Analysis of Sportswomen On the

Covers and in the Feature Articles of Women's Sports and Fitness Magazine,
1975-1989', Journal of Sport & Social Issues, 16, 121-26

Leeuwen, T. V. and C. Jewitt (2001), The Handbook of Visual Analysis, London:

Sage

Lupton, D. (1995), The Imperative of Health: Public Health and the Regulated
Body, London: Sage

Mansfield, A. and B. McGinn (1993), 'Pumping Irony: the Muscular and the
Feminine', in Scott, S. and D. Morgan (eds), Body Matters: Essays on the
Sociology of the Body, London and Washington: Falmer Press, pp. 50-70
Maxfield, M. G. and E. R. Babbie (2011), Basics of Research Methods for
Criminal Justice and Criminology, Belmont, CA: Wadsworth (originally
published in 1995)

Mechielsen, J. (2013), 'Why Fitspiration Has Nothing To Do With Fitness',

available at http://www.liberonetwork.com/recovery/why-fitspiration-has-
nothing-to-do-with-fitness/, accessed 17 March 2014

Moore, K. (2013), 'The 6 Most Shockingly Irresponsible "Fitspiration" Photos',

available at http://reembody.me/2013/09/10/the-6-most-shockingly-
irresponsible-fitspiration-photos/, accessed 17 March 2014

Rudman, W. J. and A. F. Hagiwara (1992), 'Sexual Exploitation in Advertising

Health and Wellness Products', Women & Health, 18 (4), 77-89

Savacool, J. (2009), The World has Curves: the Global Quest for the Perfect
Body, New York: Rodale

Schultz, J. (2004), 'Discipline and Push-Up: Female Bodies, Femininity, and

Sexuality in Popular Representations of Sports Bras', Sociology of Sport
Journal, 21, 185-205

Shilling, C. (1993), The Body and Social Theory, London: Sage

Shilling, C. (2012), The Body and Social Theory, 2nd edition, London and Los
Angeles: Sage (originally published in 1993)

Silverstein, B., L. Perdue, B. Peterson and E. Kelly (1986), 'The Role of the
Mass Media in Promoting a Thin Standard of Bodily Attractiveness for
Women', Sex Roles, 14 (9/10), 519-32
Spies, K. (2015), '#Fitspo: 2015's most dangerous body image movement',
available at http://www.mamamia.com.au/lifestyle/is-fitspo-dangerous/,
accessed 25 February 2015

Swami, V., N. Salem, A. Furnham and M. J. Tove (2008), 'The Influence of

Feminist Ascription on Judgements of Women's Physical Attractiveness', Body
Image, 5 (2), 224-29

Syed-Abdul, S., L. Fernandez-Luque, W. Jian, Y. Li, S. Crain, M. Hsu, Y. Wang, D.

Khandregzen, E. Chuluunbaatar, P. A. Nguyen and D. Liou (2013), 'Misleading
Health-Related Information Promoted Through Video-Based Social Media:
Anorexia on YouTube', Journal of Medical Internet Research, 15 (2), available
at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3636813/, accessed 7 March
2016

Tiggemann, M. and M. Zaccardo (2015), '"Exercise to be fit, not skinny": The

effect of fitspiration imagery on women's body image', Body Image, 15, 61-67

Turner, B. S. (1984), The Body and Society: Explorations in Social Theory,

Oxford and New York: Blackwell

Turner, B. S. (2001), 'Disability and the Sociology of the Body', in Albrecht, G.

L., K. D. Seelman and M. Bury (eds), Handbook of Disability Studies, London:
Sage, pp. 252-66

Wasylkiw, L., A. A. Emms, R. Meuse and K. F. Poirier (2009), 'Are all models
created equal? A content analysis of women in advertisements of fitness
versus fashion magazines', Body Image, 6, 137-40

Wykes, M. and B. Gunter (2005), The Media and Body Image: If Looks Could
Kill, London: Sage
Young, I. M. (1990), Throwing Like a Girl and Other Essays in Feminist
Philosophy and Social Theory, Indianapolis: Indiana University Press

Young, I. M. (2005), On Female Body Experience: 'Throwing Like a Girl' and

Other Essays, New York: Oxford University Press

Zhang, Y., T. L. Dixon and K. Conrad (2010), 'Female Body Image as a Function
of Themes in Rap Music Videos: A Content Analysis', Sex Roles, 62, 787-97

Zimmer, M. (2010), '"But the Data is Already Public": On the Ethics of

Research in Facebook', Ethics and Information Technology, 12 (4), 313-25

PHOTO (COLOR): Figure 1: Photographic Figure Rating Scale (PFRS).

PHOTO (COLOR): Figure 2: Visible muscle definition.

PHOTO (COLOR): Figure 3: Inactive body pose.

PHOTO (COLOR): Figure 4: Active body pose.

PHOTO (COLOR): Figure 5: Action-implied body pose.

PHOTO (COLOR): Figure 6: Head cropped from frame.

~~~~~~~~

By Josie Anne Reade[1], School of Social and Political Sciences, University of

Melbourne
Copyright of Reinvention: An International Journal of Undergraduate Research
is the property of University of Warwick Acting Through its Department, the
Institute for Advanced Teaching & Learning and its content may not be copied
or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright
holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or
email articles for individual use.