| dc.description.abstract | This thesis is a qualitative single-case study of the #effyourbeautystandards Instagram account
and hashtag as a site of public pedagogy. Using feminist critical discourse analysis, this study
sought to understand the ways it did and did not challenge hegemonic beauty standards for fat
women. The study was guided by two questions: 1) How does the #effyourbeautystandards
Instagram account challenge and/or reproduce hegemonic beauty norms? 2) In what ways does
the body positivity promoted by #effyourbeautystandards serve (or not serve) fat women? Data
consisted of the top nine Instagram posts using the #effyourbeautystandards hashtag account
collected daily for one week in December 2019. Analysis of visual and textual data contained in
the posts revealed that much can be learned from whose bodies were seen and not seen. Non-fat
and smaller fat women who were young, conventionally attractive, and performed traditional
femininity dominated. While there was racial/ethnic diversity, none of the fat women featured
showed any physical or other (dis)abilities nor were any of the women clearly members of the
2SLGBTQ+ community. The women only occasionally made benign statements about body
positivity, with most narratives and hashtags instead focused on advertising clothing brands,
pointing to the role of influencer culture and capitalism on Instagram. The findings illuminated,
then, that only certain bodies matter in the #effyourbeautystandards community on Instagram,
namely those that most conform to hegemonic beauty standards, and that fat activism has been
watered down by a body positivity movement coopted by capitalism. This study thus points to
the limits of Instagram as a site for fat public pedagogy and the continued need for fat activism
that ensures inclusion and positive representation of truly diverse fat bodies. | en_US |
