Gender Stereotypes In Instagram

The internet space I have chosen to analyze in this paper is the social media platform, Instagram. More specifically, my feed, where pictures are posted by people that I have chosen to follow. To be even more narrow, I have decided to analyze one specific post and thereafter interpret its content as well as the reactions to it. The post is shared by a friend of mine, a girl in her 20s. Her Instagram profile indicates in a number of 1669 followers which represent the targeted audience. These are the group of people that are able to see the picture on their instagram feed. Looking through her followers, there is a variety of people. Men and women of all ages, however, the majority seems to be in their early twenties. The post she is sharing

According to Dhir et al, women are more likely than men to post selfies and explains that the purpose of what females post is to show off as attractive and trying to belong to a social group (2016). While men, on the other hand, post selfies in order to show entitlement. Professor Nicora Doring et al., at the Institute for Media and Communication Science, analyzes selfies and however the use of them confirms gender stereotypes (2016). In their research, they ask if “females display themselves in selfies more often in postures suggesting weakness, subordination, and seduction (e.g. by lying down and/or making a kissing pout) and even self-objectification (de Vries & Peter, 2013) while males more often demonstrate their physical strength (e.g. by standing solidly and/or showing off their muscles)”. According to their research as well as class discussions, stereotypes of women are being portrayed as weak, emotional and inferior to men. When discussing women in media in class (2/2), professor Goar explained how females often are portrayed as sexual objects who are supposed to be skinny and sexy but still pure, which can be seen in the internet space I have been analyzing. I follow males and females who post pictures on an everyday basis. A recurrent theme I have seen more often is that the women that share their pictures are more often displaying a picture of themselves,

An interesting notion within this space is the fact that no males commented on the picture. Out of 20 comments, all of them came from females. This might be another stereotype that gets confirmed? Or is it contradicted? From my own experience I have seen how women often treat each other badly. The concept of “mean girls” where rivalry groups are formed between females without a certain reason more than to state their authority and popularity over the other group. If this was the norm, that women do not support each other between social groups, this space is telling us something else. Nevertheless, the women that did comment on the post might all be in the same social group and therefore show their support. On the other hand, feminism has become an increased movement that has brought women (mainly not only) together all over the world to show support and fight for equal rights which could tell us that this space is working alongside with today's feminist movement. Not to say that it has to go along with what is the