#bodypositive

Self-Portrayal in Selfies and User Reactions to the Hashtag #bodypositive on Tumblr

Project Partners

• Insa Miller, M. A.
• Dr. Anne Reif
• Prof. Dr. Monika Taddicken

Description

Stereotypical representations and stylized beauty standards are strongly prevalent in the mass media, especially in advertising. Initial research on user-generated content like selfies on social networking sites show that these representations are reproduced in users' self-portrayals, and in some cases occur even more frequently. In her bachelor thesis, Insa Miller investigated the self-portrayal in selfies and subsequent user reactions to them on Tumblr under the hashtag #bodypositive. To what extent do representation patterns reflecting beauty and gender stereotypes appear in the context of the hashtag itself, which was actually intended to signify diversity?

Based on this work, Dr. Anne Reif and Insa Miller conducted a more detailed study.

Presentations

Insa Miller and Dr. Anne Reif presented their first results at the annual DKPuK conference in 2018. A year later, they presented their nearly finalized research at the 69^th Annual ICA Conference - the biggest international conference in communication science.

• Reif, A., Miller, I., & Taddicken, M. (2019, May). Love the Skin You're in: An Analysis of Females' Self-Presentation and User Reactions to Selfies Using the Tumblr Hashtag #Bodypositive [Presentation]. Annual Conference of the International Communication Association (ICA), Washington, D.C., USA.
• Reif, A., Miller, I., & Taddicken, M. (2018, May 9-11). All bodies are beautiful: Selbstdarstellung in Selfies und Nutzer*innenreaktionen unter dem Tumblr-Hashtag #body-positive [Presentation]. Annual Conference of the German Communication Association (DGPuK), University of Mannheim, Germany.

Publications

• Reif, A., Miller, I., & Taddicken, M. (2022). “Love the Skin You‘re In”: An Analysis of Women’s Self-Presentation and User Reactions to Selfies Using the Tumblr Hashtag #bodypositive, Mass Communication and Society. doi.org.10.1080/15205436.2022.2138442

Funding