"You will bloom if you take the time to water yourself": A content and thematic analysis of #instagramvsreality images and captions on Instagram


Meaghan Furlano, Western University; Kaitlynn Mendes, Western University

In 2017, a new trend emerged on social media called “Instagram vs. Reality.” To participate, Instagram users were encouraged to post side-by-side photos of themselves, one side being an idealized Instagram depiction and the other a more ‘realistic’ one. Using a qualitative content and thematic analysis, we asked: How does a trend like Instagram vs. Reality fit within a context of popular feminism and confidence culture? Mindful of the ways that popular feminist campaigns privilege dominant feminine representations, we also asked who is contributing to the trend, and what messages these contributors are spreading? The results indicated two things. First, we argue that the trend is a neoliberal project emphasizing individual psychological change via developing media literacy, rather than efforts aimed at social transformation. Second, we discovered that the trend fits within popular feminist media representations because it privileges and makes visible young, slim, conventionally attractive white women, at the expense of more diverse body types, ages, and non-normative beauty standards. We conclude by taking a stand against arguments situating media literacy as the best solution to combating social ills, arguing instead that media literacy is a neoliberal harm reduction strategy that best fits within the ideology of confidence culture.

This paper will be presented at the following session: