To See and Be Seen: Self-(Re)Presentation and the Construction of Female Empowerment on Instagram

Abstract

This thesis explores how ideas of female empowerment are portrayed on social media by specifically examining the self-representation on the Instagram accounts of Kylie Jenner and Ashley Graham. The thesis takes into consideration the development and the agenda of feminism in the United States from the second wave to the third wave of feminism and their perspective on the depiction of female bodies. The thesis pays specific attention to the emergence of post-feminism and its correlation to the sexualization and commodification of female bodies. My research examines the depiction of female bodies in the media using the example of public self-representation on Jenner’s and Graham’s Instagram accounts. By using feminist theories that discuss gender identity and the objectification of female bodies by the male gaze, this thesis argues that the sexualized self-representation of women’s bodies is not an act of self-empowerment, but a result of an internalized male gaze that ultimately supports the sexualization and commodification of female bodies.