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Abstract

The aim of the research was to explore understandings of the ideal body represented in fitspiration posts on Instagram with young women from different ethnic backgrounds. Fitspiration posts have become popular on social media which encourages individuals to engage in a healthy lifestyle presented in the form of health-related information, images, and videos. In particular, fitness influencers on Instagram have become a main source for publishing fitspiration posts and their ‘ideal’ bodies for their audiences. This study addresses the gap in the literature, by identifying women’s subjective experiences of consuming the ideal slim and toned figure which increasingly dominates fitspiration posts. A qualitative study was undertaken by selecting eight young women from Portsmouth and Basingstoke aged between 18-22 via a purposive sampling. Online semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants and they were presented with five images and videos from five well-known fitness influencers on Instagram who publish fitspiration content. The findings revealed no ethnic differences in the understanding of fitspiration posts, as all of the young women aspired towards the same homogenised body of the slim and toned figure, despite their ethnic background. This group of women all had cultural capital in the form of education despite being a mix of university students and non-university students. Arguably they all had the ability to think critically which enabled participants to resist the ideal body representations published by fitness influencers as they viewed fitspiration content as unrealistic and unachievable. Despite participants critical awareness, women in this study induced feelings of guilt and shame when they could not achieve similar ideals published by fitness influencers. The study concluded that this group of women all aspired the same stereotype of the ideal body which made it unachievable to attain as fitspiration is increasingly white dominated. Further research in needed to explore ethnic differences of young women consuming fitspiration posts to identify whether subjective experiences vary between different ethnic groups.

Course: Sociology with Pyschology - BSc (Hons) - C1509

Date Deposited: 2022-05-16

URI/permalink: https://library.port.ac.uk/dissert/dis13908.html