My Body, My Image: The Digital Staging of the Female Self : A posthuman feminist analysis of female self-representation on Instagram

Abstract: In recent years, the use of social media has grown significantly, yet associations between digital photo-practices and female self-representation in cyberspaces remain unknown. This thesis aims to assess how female self-images shared on Instagram are being associated and evaluated. Inspired by the cyberfeminist effort to create positive cyberspaces for women by reevaluating the relationship between technology and women, a posthuman feminist framework is applied to allow an analysis beyond modern western dualistic understandings of nature vs. culture and reality vs. virtuality. A focus group discussion with four female-identifying participants, mean age 25 years old, was conducted on October 25, 2022. The discussion focused on three digital photo-practices. The analysis of posting frequency suggests that a regular display of female self-images is generally negatively associated with superficiality due to the incompatibility of patriarchally female attractiveness with female intellectuality. Further it suggests that revealing images are generally negatively associated due to the coupling of cyberspaces with masculinity. A digital affirmation of femininity is associated with self-objectification through the male gaze and therefore with sexual intent directed at men. Lastly, the analysis suggests that photo editing practices are generally negatively associated with artificiality. Due to the acceptance of binary oppositions, “artificial” images are negatively associated as “unnatural”. The analysis concludes that the extent of digital photo-practices determines the extended criticism.