Exploring Young Male Perspectives on Gender-Stereotyped Instagram Ads : A qualitative study on Swedish men's engagement towards gender-stereotyped advertisements in the digital context of Instagram

Abstract: This paper examined male engagement towards gender stereotypes online. We specifically sought to address how men engage with gender-stereotyped advertisements on Instagram, and which interactions they utilize to do so. We aimed to understand how men engage with gender stereotypes in Instagram advertisements by answering the following research question: [RQ1] How do men engage with gender-stereotyped advertisements on Instagram? Data were collected from 10 male participants through semi-structured interviews using photo elicitation. The data was further obtained through thematic analysis using the Theory of Planned Behaviour. The findings resulted in 26 codes and 6 themes. The results demonstrated that exposure to masculine content receives more attention and recognition than feminine, non-sexualized content. The findings argued that men are hesitant to engage with sexualized and provocative content due to societal norms and fear of being judged by others. In contradiction, men believe that other men are more likely to engage with sexualised, gender-stereotyped content that idealizes masculinity. The study identified the most common engagement interactions utilized when engaging with gender-stereotyped content: liking, visiting the account or website, and sharing content with a friend. The findings supported previous research claims that accepting a feminine image puts men at risk of violating gender roles, resulting in men preserving a masculine persona by distancing themselves from this type of material (Elliot & Elliot, 2005). Additionally, we concluded that fear of judgement from peers and society results in social pressure to conform to masculine gender norms, which may influence men’s online behaviour. The results may be delimited by social desirability and sampling bias due to the designated scope. Nevertheless, we have implemented measures to ensure the trustworthiness of this study.