Instagram as a Public Sphere: Women as Participants in Leisure Time Physical Activity and Representation

Year 2023, Volume: 34 Issue: 4, 168 - 184, 05.01.2024

Mine Kızılgüneş , Pinar Ozturk

https://doi.org/10.17644/sbd.1287593

Abstract

Instagram, as a public space, is a platform that affects individuals' practices of participating in leisure time physical activity (LTPA) and shapes these practices with the interaction received from followers. It is known that digital platforms provide a basis for the representation of different identities with dualities such as freedom and control. Drawing on the Digital Leisure theory (Spracklen, 2015), the aim of this study is to examine the role of Instagram for "ordinary people" in their relationship with LTPA. Within the scope of the qualitative research method, a total of 209 posts related to LTPA on the Instagram accounts of eight women between the ages of 21-44 who regularly (min. 1 max. 4 years) participate in LTPA (running, yoga, fitness, crossfit etc.) and created Instagram accounts in this direction were pre-analyzed with the document collection technique and Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted. In the analysis of the data, the reflexive thematic analysis method (Braun and Clark, 2019) and the framework suggested by Schreiber (2017) for visual communication analysis on social media were used. As a result of the analysis, three themes were developed: "Everything is Real: Change", "Interaction and Cycle" and "A Diary Written Under Supervision". Findings show that a) LTPA, which the participants started with a desire for change such as losing weight or being healthy, has moved to an interaction-centered order through Instagram accounts, b) interaction with followers strengthens the participants' desire to be a source of inspiration by intertwining "daily life and "digital" life, and c) It shows that they manage their Instagram accounts with security strategies in parallel with interactions or to attract follower attention. In conclusion, this study shows how Instagram is constructed as a public space in the production of LTPA -related self-representation, suggesting that LTPA participation should not be considered independent of follower interactions.

Keywords

Digital Leisure Time, Leisure Time Physical Activity, Public Sphere, Instagram, Ordinary Women

Kamusal Alan Olarak Instagram: Serbest Zaman Fiziksel Aktivite Katılımcısı Kadınlar ve Temsil

Abstract

Kamusal alan olarak Instagram, bireylerin serbest zaman fiziksel aktiviteye (SZFA) katılma pratiklerini etkileyen ve takipçilerden alınan etkileşim ile bu pratikleri şekillendiren bir platformdur. Dijital platformların özgürlük ve kontrol gibi ikilikler ile farklı kimliklerin temsiline zemin sunduğu bilinmektedir. Dijital Serbest Zaman kuramından (Spracklen, 2015) yararlanılan bu çalışmanın amacı “sıradan insanlar” için Instagram’ın SZFA ile ilişkilerindeki rolünü incelemektir. Nitel araştırma yöntemi kapsamında düzenli olarak (en az bir, en fazla dört yıl) SZFA’ya (koşu, yoga, fitness, crossfit vb.) katılan ve bu içerikle Instagram hesabı oluşturan 21-44 yaş aralığındaki sekiz kadına ait Instagram hesabındaki SZFA ile ilişkili toplam 209 paylaşım doküman toplama tekniğiyle ön analiz edilmiş ve sonrasında katılımcılarla yarı yapılandırılmış bireysel görüşmeler gerçekleştirilmiştir. Verilerin analizinde düşünümsel tematik analiz yönteminden (Braun ve Clark, 2019) ve Schreiber’in (2017) sosyal medyada görsel iletişim analizi için önerdiği çerçeveden yararlanılmıştır. Analizler sonucunda “Her şey Reel: Değişim”, “Etkileşim ve Döngü” ve “Denetim Altında Yazılan Bir Günlük” isimlerinde üç tema geliştirilmiştir. Bulgular, a) katılımcıların kilo vermek ya da sağlıklı olmak gibi değişim isteğiyle başladıkları SZFA’nın Instagram hesapları aracılığıyla etkileşim merkezli bir pratiğe dönüştüğünü, b) takipçiler ile etkileşimin “gündelik” hayat ile “dijital” hayatı iç içe geçirerek katılımcıların ilham kaynağı olma arzularını güçlendirdiğini ve c) Instagram hesaplarını etkileşimlerle paralel yönde güvenlik stratejileri ya da takipçi ilgisini çekmek üzerine yönettiklerini göstermektedir. Sonuç olarak, bu çalışma Instagram’ın SZFA ile ilişkili öz temsilin üretilmesinde nasıl bir kamusal alan olarak kurgulandığını göstererek, SZFA katılımının takipçi etkileşimlerinden bağımsız düşünülmemesi gerektiğini öne sürmektedir.

Keywords

Dijital Serbest Zaman, Serbest Zaman Fiziksel Aktivite, Kamusal Alan, Instagram, Sıradan Kadınlar

References

• 1. Ahmad, N., and Thorpe, H. (2020). Muslim sportswomen as digital space invaders: Hashtag politics and everyday visibilities. Communication & Sport, 8(4-5), 668-691.
• 2. Azevedo, M. R., Araújo, C. L. P., Reichert, F. F., Siqueira, F. V., da Silva, M. C., and Hallal, P. C. (2007). Gender differences in leisure-time physical activity. International journal of public health, 52, 8-15.
• 3. Baker, S. A., and Walsh, M. J. (2018). ‘Good Morning Fitfam’: Top posts, hashtags and gender display on Instagram. New media & society, 20(12), 4553-4570.
• 4. Bell, B. T., Deighton-Smith, N., and Hurst, M. (2021). ‘When you think of exercising, you don’t really want to think of puking, tears, and pain’: Young adolescents’ understanding of fitness and #fitspiration. Journal of Health Psychology, 26(7), 1046-1060.
• 5. Beşikçi, T., Emir, E., Özdemir, E., ve Abay Beşikçi, E. (2021). COVID-19 pandemi sürecinde bireylerin psikolojik sağlamlık düzeyleri ve rekreasyonda algılanan sağlık çıktılarının incelenmesi. Spor Bilimleri Araştırmaları Dergisi, 6(2), 447-458.
• 6. Braun, V., and Clarke, V. (2019). Reflecting on reflexive thematic analysis. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 11(4), 589-597.
• 7. Braun, V., and Clarke, V. (2021). One size fits all? What counts as quality practice in (reflexive) thematic analysis?. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 18(3), 328-352.
• 8. Braun, V., and Clarke, V. (2022). Conceptual and design thinking for thematic analysis. Qualitative Psychology, 9(1), 3-67.
• 9. Cairns, K., and Johnston, J. (2015). Choosing health: Embodied neoliberalism, postfeminism, and the “do-diet”. Theory and Society, 44, 153-175.
• 10. Caldeira, S. P., De Ridder, S., and Van Bauwel, S. (2020). Between the mundane and the political: Women’s self-representations on Instagram. Social Media+ Society, 6(3), 2056305120940802.
• 11. Clarke, V., and Braun, V. (2013). Teaching thematic analysis: Overcoming challenges and developing strategies for effective learning. The Psychologist, 26(2).
• 12. Clarke, V., and V. Braun. (2017). Thematic analysis. Journal of Positive Psychology, 12(3), 297–98.
• 13. Coen, S. E., Rosenberg, M. W., and Davidson, J. (2018). “It's gym, like gym not Jim”: Exploring the role of place in the gendering of physical activity. Social Science & Medicine, 196, 29-36.
• 14. Cohen, R., Fardouly, J., Newton-John, T., and Slater, A. (2019). #BoPo on Instagram: An experimental investigation of the effects of viewing body positive content on young women’s mood and body image. New Media & Society, 21(7), 1546-1564.
• 15. Collier, A. (2012). A ‘Living Internet’: Some context for the cyberbullying discussion. In J. W. Patchin, & S. Hinduja (Eds.), Cyberbullying Prevention and Response: Expert Perspectives (pp. 1–12). New York, NY: Routledge.
• 16. Cox, Andrew M., and Megan K. Blake. (2011). Information and food blogging as serious leisure. Aslib Proceedings, 63(3), 204–220.
• 17. Crawford, R. (2022). A cultural account of “health”: Control, release, and the social body. In Issues in the political economy of health care (pp. 60-104). Routledge.
• 18. Daudi, A. (2022). The culture of narcissism: A philosophical analysis of “Fitspiration” and the Objectified Self. Physical Culture and Sport. Studies and Research, 94(1), 46-55.
• 19. Deighton-Smith, N., and Bell, B. T. (2018). Objectifying fitness: A content and thematic analysis of# fitspiration images on social media. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 7(4), 467.
• 20. DiBisceglie, S., and Arigo, D. (2021). Perceptions of# fitspiration activity on Instagram: Patterns of use, response, and preferences among fitstagrammers and followers. Journal of Health Psychology, 26(8), 1233-1242.
• 21. Doğusan, S., ve Koçak, F. (2019). Ciddi serbest zaman katılımında kadın uzun mesafe koşucularının deneyimlerinin öz belirleme kuramına göre İncelenmesi. Sportif Bakış: Spor ve Eğitim Bilimleri Dergisi, 6(2), 230-249.
• 22. Duffy, B. E., and Hund, E. (2019). Gendered visibility on social media: Navigating Instagram’s authenticity bind. International Journal of Communication, 13, 4983–5002.
• 23. Elias, A. S., and Gill, R. (2018). Beauty surveillance: The digital self-monitoring cultures of neoliberalism. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 21(1), 59-77.
• 24. Emir, E., Küçük Kılıç, S., Gürbüz, B., ve Öncü, E. (2022). Türk kadınlarının serbest zaman aktivitelerine katılımı: Engeller ve kolaylaştırıcılar. Turkiye Klinikleri Journal of Sports Sciences, 14(1), 69–78.
• 25. Englander, E., Donnerstein, E., Kowalski, R., Lin, C. A., and Parti, K. (2017). Defining cyberbullying. Pediatrics, 14, 148-151.
• 26. Farhadi, B. (2018). Narratives of safety on social media: The Case of #mysafetyselfie. The Professional Geographer, 70(1), 140–149.
• 27. Fioravanti, G., Svicher, A., Ceragioli, G., Bruni, V., and Casale, S. (2021). Examining the impact of daily exposure to body-positive and fitspiration Instagram content on young women’s mood and body image: An intensive longitudinal study. New Media & Society.
• 28. Fraser, N. (1990). Rethinking the public sphere: A contribution to the critique of actually existing democracy. In Public Space Reader (pp. 34-41). Routledge.
• 29. Geurin-Eagleman, A. N., and Burch, L. M. (2016). Communicating via photographs: A gendered analysis of Olympic athletes’ visual self-presentation on Instagram. Sport management review, 19(2), 133-145.
• 30. Gill, R. (2007). Postfeminist media culture: Elements of a sensibility. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 10(2), 147–166.
• 31. Gill, R. (2017). The affective, cultural and psychic life of postfeminism: A postfeminist sensibility 10 years on. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 20(6), 606–626.
• 32. Habermas, J. (1989). The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere. Cambridge: Polity Press.
• 33. Hesse-Biber, S. N. (2007). Teaching grounded theory. The Sage handbook of grounded theory, 311-338.
• 34. Kapadia, A., and Patki, S. (2023). Effect of ftspiration on state self-esteem among young adults. Identity, 1-19.
• 35. Kavasoğlu, İ., ve Koca, C. (2022). Gendered body of Turkish bikini fitness athletes on Instagram. Communication & Sport, 10(4), 685-707.
• 36. Kavasoğlu, İ., Eratlı Şirin, Y., ve Uğurlu, A. (2023). A Space of One’s Own? The Tensions of Being Visible on Instagram for Turkish Female Athletes. Communication & Sport, 21674795231154913.
• 37. Krenichyn, K. (2004). Women and physical activity in an urban park: Enrichment and support through an ethic of care. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 24(1), 117-130.
• 38. Li, B., Scott, O. K., Naraine, M. L., and Ruihley, B. J. (2021). Tell me a story: Exploring elite female athletes’ self-presentation via an analysis of Instagram stories. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 21(2), 108-120.
• 39. Liao, S. H., Widowati, R., and Cheng, C. J. (2022). Investigating Taiwan Instagram users’ behaviors for social media and social commerce development. Entertainment Computing, 40, 100461.
• 40. Lumsden, K., and Morgan, H. (2017). Media framing of trolling and online abuse: silencing strategies, symbolic violence, and victim blaming. Feminist Media Studies, 17(6), 926-940.
• 41. Markula, P. (1995). Firm but shapely, fit but sexy, strong but thin: The postmodern aerobicizing female bodies. Sociology of sport journal, 12(4), 424-453.
• 42. Martinviita, A. (2016). Online community and the personal diary: Writing to connect at Open Diary. Computers in Human Behavior, 63, 672-682.
• 43. Merriam, S. B. (2015). Qualitative research: Designing, implementing, and publishing a study, in: V. Wang (Ed.) Handbook of research on scholarly publishing and research methods (Hershey, PA, IGI Global), 125–140.
• 44. Meşe, S. (2022). Türkiye'de postfeminist kültürün izini sürmek: "Çıtır" kadın filmlerinin genç kadınlar tarafından alımlanması. (Tez no:728929). Yüksek lisans tezi, Hacettepe Üniversitesi.
• 45. Nelson, S. L., Harriger, J. A., Miller-Perrin, C., and Rouse, S. V. (2022). The effects of body-positive Instagram posts on body image in adult women. Body Image, 42, 338-346.
• 46. Norman, M. (2017). Serious leisure, prosumption and the digital sport media economy: A case study of ice hockey blogging. In: Carnicelli S, McGillivray D and McPherson G (Eds.), Digital Leisure Cultures: Critical Perspectives (pp. 80–93). Abingdon: Routledge.
• 47. Öztürk P., ve Koca C. (2014). Egzersiz ve performans sporunda beden ğolitikaları. Türk Tabipleri Birliği Dergisi, 29(5).
• 48. Öztürk, P., ve Koca, C. (2019). Generational analysis of leisure time physical activity participation of women in Turkey. Leisure Studies, 38(2), 232-244.
• 49. Papacharissi, Z. (2002). The virtual sphere: The internet as a public sphere. New Media & Society, 4(1), 9-27.
• 50. Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
• 51. Pegoraro, A., Comeau, G. S., and Frederick, E. L. (2018). #SheBelieves: The use of Instagram to frame the US Women’s Soccer Team during #FIFAWWC. Sport in Society, 21(7), 1063-1077.
• 52. Prins, K., and Wellman, M. L. (2021). Dodging negativity like it’s my freaking job: marketing postfeminist positivity through Beachbody fitness on Instagram. Feminist Media Studies, 1-17.
• 53. Pryde, S., and Prichard, I. (2022). TikTok on the clock but the #fitspo don’t stop: The impact of TikTok fitspiration videos on women’s body image concerns. Body image, 43, 244-252.
• 54. Reade, J. (2021). Keeping it raw on the ‘gram: Authenticity, relatability and digital intimacy in fitness cultures on Instagram. New Media & Society, 23(3), 535-553.
• 55. Rettberg, J.W. (2017). Self-representation in social media. In: J. Burgess, T. Poell, and A. Marwick (Eds.), The SAGE Handbook of Social Media (pp. 429–443). London and New York: SAGE.
• 56. Roberto, A. J., and Eden, J. (2010). Cyberbullying: Aggressive communication in the digital age. In T. A. Avtgis & A. S. Rancer (Eds.), Arguments, Aggression, and Conflict: New Directions in Theory and Research (pp.198-216). New York: Routledge.
• 57. Saldaña, J. (2011). The coding manual for qualitative researchers. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
• 58. Salvatore, J., and Marecek, J. (2010). Gender in the gym: Evaluation concerns as barriers to women’s weight lifting. Sex Roles, 63, 556-567.
• 59. Schreiber, M. (2017). Showing/sharing: Analysing visual communication from a praxeological perspective. Media and Communication, 5(4), 37-50.
• 60. Slater, A., Varsani, N., and Diedrichs, P. C. (2017). #fitspo or #loveyourself? The impact of fitspiration and self-compassion Instagram images on women’s body image, self-compassion, and mood. Body Image, 22, 87-96.
• 61. Spracklen, K. (2015). Digital leisure, the internet and popular culture: Communities and identities in a digital age. Springer.
• 62. Stollfuß, S. (2020). Communitainment on Instagram: Fitness content and community-driven communication as social media entertainment. Sage Open, 10(2), 2158244020919535.
• 63. Stsiampkouskaya, K., Joinson, A., Piwek, L., and Stevens, L. (2021). Imagined audiences, emotions, and feedback expectations in social media photo sharing. Social Media+ Society, 7(3), 20563051211035692.
• 64. Takarangi, M. K. T., Garry, M., and Loftus, E. F. (2006). Dear diary, is plastic better than paper? I can’t remember: Comment on Green, Rafaeli, Bolger, Shrout, & Reis (2006). Psychological Methods, 11, 119–122.
• 65. Thorpe, H. and Marfell, A. (2019). Feminism and the physical cultural ctudies assemblage: Revisiting debates and imagining new directions. Leisure Sciences, 41(1), 17-35.
• 66. Thumim, N. (2012). Self-representation and digital culture. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire; New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
• 67. Tiggemann, M., and Anderberg, I. (2020). Social media is not real: The effect of ‘Instagram vs reality’images on women’s social comparison and body image. New media & society, 22(12), 2183-2199.
• 68. Tiusanen, K. (2021). Fulfilling the self through food in wellness blogs: Governing the healthy subject. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 24(6), 1382-1400.
• 69. Toffoletti, K., and Thorpe, H. (2018a). The athletic labour of femininity: The branding and consumption of global celebrity sportswomen on Instagram. Journal of consumer culture, 18(2), 298-316.
• 70. Toffoletti, K., and Thorpe, H. (2018b). Female athletes' self-representation on social media: A feminist analysis of neoliberal marketing strategies in “economies of visibility”. Feminism & Psychology, 28(1), 11-31.
• 71. Toffoletti, K., and Thorpe, H. (2021). Bodies, gender, and digital affect in fitspiration media. Feminist Media Studies, 21(5), 822-839.
• 72. Toffoletti, K., Ahmad, N., and Thorpe, H. (2022). Critical Encounters with Social Media in Women's Sport and Physical Culture. In Sport, Social Media, and Digital Technology. Emerald Publishing Limited.
• 73. Toffoletti, K., Olive, R., Thorpe, H., and Pavlidis, A. (2021). Doing feminist physical cultural research in digital spaces: Reflections, learnings and ways forward. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 13(1), 11-25.
• 74. Toll, M., and Norman, M. (2021). More than meets the eye: A relational analysis of young women’s body capital and embodied understandings of health and fitness on Instagram. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 13(1), 59-76.
• 75. Tyer, S. (2016). Instagram: What makes you post?. Pepperdine Journal of Communication Research, 4(1), 14.
• 76. Williams, R. (1983). Culture and society, 1780-1950. Columbia University Press.
• 77. Wood, M., and Pila, E. (2022). Investigating the effects of fit-normative and weight-inclusive Instagram images on women’s exercise motivations. Body Image, 41, 460-471.
• 78. Wymer, S. (2022). Fitness trainers perceptions of social media: I'm a fitness professional, not an influencer. In Digital Wellness, Health and Fitness Influencers (pp. 128-143). Routledge.
• 79. Xu, Q., and Armstrong, C. L. (2019). # SELFIES at the 2016 Rio Olympics: Comparing self-representations of male and female athletes from the US and China. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 63(2), 322-338.
• 80. Yeru, T. E. (2019). Celebrification of instagram users as a practice. KnE Social Sciences, 405-418.