1 Ideological Analysis of the #BodyPositivity Movement on Instagram Introduction and Context

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Ideological Analysis of the #BodyPositivity Movement on Instagram

Introduction and Context

Feminist activists, alongside critical sports scholars across America, are increasingly advocating for an inclusive representation of bodies and accessible physical cultures. Body positivity manifests as one of the most contentious concepts and movements taken up in different ways by diverse groups. Through the movement, it is demonstrated that all individuals must receive the same praise and attention regardless of whether they fit the societal beauty standards being opposed. Social media spaces have become primal avenues for discussion and ideological dispersion, considering the increasing focus on body image. The #BodyPositivity hashtag on Instagram is essential as it profoundly impacts how society perceives body and self-acceptance. The hashtag, which has since become a movement, celebrates embracing one’s body regardless of size, shape, or form, which goes against all the beauty trends. Many users have shared the contents under the #BodyPositivity hashtag, which has been well appreciated. In this paper, the hashtag is discussed in relation to the post-Colombian ideology, which includes elements like body positivity, embracing one’s body, and not buying into society’s standard of “beauty.” In this case, the ideology manifested as a cultural, social, and political transformation highlighted by changes in beliefs and ideologies following the voyages of Christopher Columbus and contact with the New World. This paper presents the body positivity movement as liberation from the patriarchal, capitalist, and colonial ideologies of what constitutes a good body. Griffin et al. (2022) also found out that social media impacts body image in constructive and destructive ways. By employing a social justice-oriented intersectionality framework, this analysis will explore how the #BodyPositivity movement on Instagram disrupts the rhetoric about body image, and how it is aligned with the post-Columbian ideology in championing inclusivity and challenge oppressive beauty norms.

Focus of Analysis

The selected focus element is the #BodyPositivity hashtag on the Instagram (IG) social platform. The hashtag is chosen because of its importance in advocating for body positivity and fighting unfair gender expectations concerning physical appearance. The body positivity movement is founded on the idea that all bodies are good regardless of form. The hashtag is perceived to hold diverse meanings by people living in and with different bodies because of its contradictory perception within the context of fitness, movement, and wellness. The #BodyPositivity movement manifested from fat, Black, and queer activists responses to some types of bodies being invisible on social media platforms, especially IG. With over 19 million posts, the hashtag has fostered discussions on self-acceptance and appreciation of the human body in all its forms (Griffin et al., 2022). These reasons are valid because Instagram has a broad target audience and, thus, contributes to the development of an active community. A purposive sampling of posts mainly based on the characteristics of representation, interaction rates, and topics of concern was used to illustrate examples from the hashtag.

The #BodyPositivity hashtag on Instagram significantly influences user engagement and community building. The negative and positive reactions to posts with #BodyPositivity suggest how users within this community support each other and form a supportive community fighting for body positivity. It manifests a comparative shift in the cultural norms and ideological beliefs founded on the post-Columbian ideology because of an increasing awareness of- and need for cultural integration. Social media engagement is usually in the form of liking, commenting, or sharing, and these play a significant role in spreading the message of the acceptance of body types (Gelsinger, 2021). For instance, posts by influencers like Jameela Jamil and Ashley Graham often receive thousands of likes and comments, indicating high engagement levels. Furthermore, the number of voices or representations in the hashtag offers a glimpse of how the movement covers all body shapes, colors, sexes, and disabilities. At times, hashtag inclusion has endured criticism for not portraying minorities in its posts. Even so, the movement has gained traction through time because of the comments and likes from users who find it helpful in increasing awareness regarding beauty and dominant beauty standards.

The #BodyPositivity hashtag is suitable for this analysis because of the feedback the movement has since received from the public across the globe. The topic is also aligned with my interest in body positivity and the need for individuals to be confident in their own skin. A sum of research has been conducted into the movement, most of which portrays it as necessary in combatting the stigma and pressures associated with the stereotypic, colonial beauty standards (Griffin et al., 2022). As such, this analysis examines the effects of the hashtag and how it helps enhance respect for diverse cultures and individuals regardless of their physical appearance. Such a link with prior research and self-motivation guarantees a thoughtful and passionate discussion of the hashtag’s ideological connotations.

Historical Context

The #BodyPositivity movement began with social activism in the pre-2010 culture which was empowering body-shaming social perspectives dominating the beauty industry. The hashtag’s origins can be traced back to abuse survivors of color, the queer community, and people of fatness, who used social media to question societal discernment with body size and shape (Griffin et al., 2022). As time passed, the movement grew, some of the significant feats being the #EffYourBeautyStandards campaign by activist Tess Holliday in 2013. This movement aimed at eradicating toxic beauty standards, focusing on accepting one’s mental health, and including people of all shapes and sizes in media, which was deemed as a change towards progressive beauty standards. Another notable example is the #SaggyBoobsMatter campaign by Chidera Eggerue, which challenged the conventional standards of breast appearance and encouraged women to embrace their natural bodies.

The idea of body positivity has been appropriated by mainstream media in conjunction with the fashion industries, moving the representation of diverse body types from the margin to the mainstream. However, critics argued that the movement fails in its initial purpose of celebrating the body in all forms, particularly those who have been oppressed in the past because it mainly showcases young, white, cissexual, and non-disabled women and men (Gelsinger, 2021). However, the current notion of body positivity emphasizes the acceptance of bodies to address the marginalization of a section of individuals in the social environment.

On Instagram, the hashtag #BodyPositivity has been foundational to the story’s construction and large audiences. It posts individual experiences and raw photos and calls for body positivity and inclusiveness, which goes against the social norms of beauty and thinness (Griffin et al., 2022). On the visual layer of Instagram, people are effectively represented in their bodies, and the community created on this platform can help others. However, the fact is that professional and somewhat commercialized models of body shapes dominate and rarely align with the promotion of activism, thus revealing the conflict between activism and advertisement.

From a modern digital perspective, the role of the #BodyPositivity movement is to challenge the stereotypical thinking about beauty and open up the discussion to as many people as possible. Through social tools, the movement has made representation of corrupt and ugly bodies the voice of the voiceless. However, it is crucial to strive for a balance between body positivity and mindfulness in tackling race, sex, and body sizing prejudice (Griffin et al., 2022). This balance will ensure that the movement achieves its intended purpose of having individuals accept and feel confident about who they are, regardless of their physical appearance.

Ideological Framework

The #BodyPositivity movement has been based on the acknowledgment that everybody is worthy of respect and acceptance without comparisons to societal beauty standards. It fosters body positivity and equality, as it opposes the societal expectations that require people to be slim, white, or not disabled. The post-Columbian ideology advocated for body positivity and the need for individuals to embrace their physical appearances regardless of society’s standard of “beauty”. By doing so, the movement promotes positive beliefs and attitudes by enabling people to accept their body shape and not succumb to the societal expectations of having a particular body shape (Griffin et al., 2022). This is evident in the acknowledgment and appreciation of different body sizes, colors, shapes, and disabilities emphasized by the body positivity movement.

Body positivity is directly and indirectly promoted through social media, particularly Instagram. The movement manifests as pro-positivity, considering diversity in body shapes and physical appearances. It is founded on a more significant reliance on unaltered images to uphold the message of diversity and acceptance, demonstrating how the movement’s ideologies are integrated into contemporary social patterns. The decisions made in the production process, for example, highlighting that the pictures are not altered post-shooting and avoiding using references to beauty norms, can be seen as a reaction to fully mediated image culture (Griffin et al., 2022). Similarly, Chidera Eggerue’s posts for the #SaggyBoobsMatter campaign use unfiltered images and raw language to promote body acceptance. Their intentions are more centered on trying to change the atmosphere in the media to be accepting and empowering towards the body types.

Notably, the movement’s production choices include the language used, the representation of bodies, and what bodies are included in #BodyPositivity. As noted from the post-Columbian ideology, #BodyPositivity advocates for the representation of all types of bodies, including those historically marginalized by colonial ideals. As such, the movement emphasizes using raw photos, letting natural light into the scene, and avoiding using specific terms that can make some people uncomfortable. These choices resist the idealized aesthetics of popular culture and the media (Griffin et al., 2022). The movement is associated with the feminist movement that advocates for women’s rights. The posts call for acknowledging different bodies and their acceptance despite the argument that the movement has been hijacked by corporations seeking to foster their commercial interests.

Detailed Example

A key example for in-depth analysis is a post by prominent body positivity advocate Megan Jayne Crabbe (@bodyposipanda). In this post, Crabbe takes two simple selfies where she poses in two completely different positions but only prints one to show the reality behind fake social media images. This post’s signs are symbolic (the pictures) and referential (the arrow pointing to different realities). The denotative meaning is straightforward: two visually compact figures of the same person in different postures. The connotative meaning, however, hints at the critique of the role of social media in crafting unattainable beauty paradigms. This example relates to the general notion of people, identity, and race and can serve as an intervention against unrealistic body images.

The signs in Crabbe’s post include the photographs and the indexicality between the photographs, which shows two different representations of the same body. The first level of analysis is the denotative meaning, which is the actual appearance of Crabbe’s body posed in various stances. On a paradoxical level, the images lampoon how social media distort body image and compel people to fit into specific body images (Gelsinger, 2021). This critique resonates with the general doctrines of body positivity, which is tasking society to change beauty standards and embrace change. Fine-tuning analogy highlights the artificiality of impressions, forcing the audience to think to what extent the information on the Internet must be trusted.

Crabbe’s post is similar to the practices and attitudes prevailing within the body positivity community, especially regarding the specifics of the movement, such as being genuine and accepting oneself. The post exemplifies the post-Columbian ideology as it helps reshape the perceptions that had been promoted by the spread of European colonialism and the repression of indigenous cultures. The European colonizers imposed their beauty standards on the regions they colonized and emphasized traits such as fair skin, slender bodies, and specific facial features (Griffin et al., 2022). The traits were perceived as the fundamental markers of superiority and beauty. The internalized beauty standards set by the European colonizers ensure that the indigenous beauty ideals are marginalized and perceived as inferior. Crabbe’s positiveness is significant since it fosters conversations about body positivity and the significance of challenging the repressive social norms associated with beauty.

Conclusion

In this analysis, the critical aspects of the #BodyPositivity movement are highlighted about the hashtag’s role in enhancing inclusivity. It manifests that the #BodyPositivity movement helps challenge the traditional beauty standards and has since been adopted by different media channels to instigate reforms in mass media portrayal of the body. The movement is founded on the post-Columbian ideology which emphasizes the need for recognition of diverse ideals about beauty. Through the movement, it is possible to dismantle the beauty standards set by the European colonizers, which led to the repression of the indigenous understandings of the body and desirable physical appearances. The #BodyPositivity hashtag is an example of how platforms such as Instagram can instigate positive social change. Future studies should investigate the extent and manner in which the movement has influenced the future and the extent to which it continues to challenge the standards of beauty globally. Finally, analyzing the #BodyPositivity movement, it is possible to state that such improvements could contribute to creating an inclusive society in the long run. However, further consistent efforts and changes in attitudes and practices are still required.

References

Gelsinger, A. S. (2021). A critical analysis of the body-positive movement on Instagram: How does it impact body image? Spectra Undergraduate Research Journal, 1(1), 4. https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/spectra/vol1/iss1/4/

Griffin, M., Bailey, K. A., & Lopez, K. J. (2022). # BodyPositive? A critical exploration of the body’s positive movement within physical cultures taking an intersectionality approach. Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, p. 4, 908580. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspor.2022.908580/full

Appendix

Appendix A: Sample Post by Jameela Jamil

Image: A candid photo of Jameela Jamil

Caption: “Embrace your natural self. Society’s beauty standards are unrealistic and harmful. #BodyPositivity”

Appendix B: Sample Post by Chidera Eggerue

Image: Unfiltered image of Chidera Eggerue

Caption: “Saggy boobs are normal! Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. #SaggyBoobsMatter #BodyPositivity”

Appendix C: Sample Post by Tess Holliday

Image: High-quality image of Tess Holliday

Caption: “Eff your beauty standards! All bodies are beautiful. #EffYourBeautyStandards #BodyPositivity”

Appendix D: Source Summaries

Griffin, M., Bailey, K. A., & Lopez, K. J. (2022). #BodyPositive? A critical exploration of the body’s positive movement within physical cultures taking an intersectionality approach. Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, p. 4, 908580. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspor.2022.908580/full

Summary: The present research contributes to understanding the effects of Instagram on self-acceptance, especially the #BodyPositivity hashtag. Through quantitative data collected on engagement patterns, the researchers interviewed several active users who spend much time browsing body-positive content. This research concludes that encouraging followers to share body-positive posts can increase self-confidence and create a positive online environment.

Credibility: This source is considered more credible thanks to the journal where it was published and the great approach chosen by the authors. The study’s authors are from established universities and possess substantial knowledge of media and psychological sciences, which increases the work’s credibility.

Relation to Other Sources: This source is also relevant to Gelsinger (2021), where the author also focuses on the impact of social networks on body positivity. Compared to Griffin et al. (2022), Gelsinger discusses the overall benefits of Instagram and the movement but lists possible drawbacks, making the information more objective.

Gelsinger, A. S. (2021). A critical analysis of the body-positive movement on Instagram: How does it impact body image? Spectra Undergraduate Research Journal, 1(1), 4. https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/spectra/vol1/iss1/4/

In his work, Gelsinger (2021) critically investigates the body-positive movement on Instagram with body image. This research uses an exploratory approach with the subject members being interviewed with consideration to their experiences on body-positive content. The study also finds that as much as it encourages acceptance, the movement will conform to some beauty standards.

Credibility: This source is considered reliable because of its publication in an undergraduate research journal and analysis presented by the authors. In addition to the detailed methodology offered by the author, the research is reliable because it is based squarely on direct user experiences.

Relation to Other Sources: This source is related to Griffin et al. (2022) as it offers a more refined understanding of the body positivity movement. While Griffin et al. highlight the positive aspects, Gelsinger underscores