4 Interviewees and Their Instagram Profiles
4.8 Summary: The Commonalities and Discrepancies
4.8.3 The settings of the pictures
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4.8.3 The settings of the pictures
The places where the participants take their photos contribute to a salient theme.
The photography on the researched profiles occur in many scenarios. Commonly, all the participants in this research share their outdoor pictures. Even Emma, a YouTuber about home-setting scenarios, shares foreign travels and camping pictures on her profile.
These mother influencers, who have specifically identified themselves as lifestyle bloggers, share more pictures that are taken outside. Annie, Cara, and Katie present plenty of foreign travel photography, fancy dining-out pictures, participation in high-end brand events, and visiting famous check-in spots like beautiful coffee shops. The portion of taking photos outside surpasses the at-home scenarios among these mothers.
In travel photography, the mothers are always smiling and meticulously dressed.
Moreover, the ambiance created through the mother influencers’ smiling face and relaxing pose seems enjoyable and pleasing. This type of pictures reveal that the mother influencers are having a wonderful and desirable experience.
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Chapter5
The Mothers’ Perspectives and Motivations
This chapter reveals the findings from both observations and interviews. The analysis will embark on the emerging themes since I have previously introduced the participants and their Instagram profiles. The implications will come from analyzing participants’ perspectives and attitudes and their visual content on profiles. Participants’
views are essential resources in this research, because their motivations and purposes cannot separate from the presentation of selves. Moreover, the impression management of content provides salient hints for accomplishing the analysis. Finally, since the research focuses on unveiling the socio-cultural meanings behind the mother influencers’ self-presentation on Instagram, the contradictions the participants have made will be critically elaborated upon in order to discuss the consequential influence of the participants’ impressions made on Taiwanese society.
According to Goffman (1959), individuals portray themselves due to different positions. Specifically, when participants put themselves on a stage, they manage their impressions differently. On Instagram, the mother influencers can construct their images easily without a great cost. Moreover, it provides opportunities in which mothers can fulfill their purposes of impression management.
The summary of the researched profiles in the last section offers a preliminary understanding of how they portray themselves. Since this research is based on understanding the mother influencers’ self-presentation, it is also crucial to delve into their perspectives.
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5.1 Benefits and Rewards
Several participants’ presentations of self are considerably associated with the benefits and rewards they can obtain from manifesting themselves. Their goals of overcoming the mother isolation, benefiting economically, and transforming the traditional mother discourse are explicitly conveyed through interviews. Furthermore, their profiles have become a means of empowering mothers nowadays. To grant a more profound explanation of their viewpoints, I will continue with the mother influencers’
impressions and expand upon several issues accordingly.
5.1.1 Overcoming the mother isolation with social support
Two participants mentioned that the reason why they present themselves on Instagram is to engage with other mothers on Instagram. The first participant, Rose, mentioned that her sharing helps blossom the connections with her followers:
“I’m happy that I can share myself on Instagram. When I became a mother, I felt depressed a lot. Meanwhile, my husband had to work. I stayed alone with myself pretty often. Instagram has become a place where I can share my feelings and get acquainted with other mothers.”
Rose’s pregnancy was unplanned. She did not expect that she would be pregnant at the age of 24. Rose’s wedding was arranged in a rush, which resulted in a lack of communication with her husband. She revealed that she shared herself, because of her isolation from the world. The sharing of herself has improved the predicament of staying alone, for which she could receive support in the virtual world with no boundaries. Similar to Rose, Katie also shared her mothering life frequently with her followers:
“I share everything close to the ‘ME’ in reality. I also like to share random
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even established a hashtag called negative energy (fu neng liang) for him. Many mothers sent messages to me, saying they felt the same way and complained about their husbands. I feel connected to them.”
Receiving feedback from other mothers is Katie’s motivation for sharing herself.
Self-presentation is a way to bond with other mothers online. The contents Rose and Katie have generated are not solely about sharing their lifestyles, but are also about being supportive and connecting to mothers in the virtual world. These two participants reveal their stories and connections with other mothers since they regard themselves as their followers’ friends. In return, the participants’ mental health has also benefited from presenting themselves online. As mother influencers are under tremendous pressure, they might not share specific things online, but they still share their personal stories with their followers. When I asked Katie and Rose why they post specific content, they revealed that their self-presentation is mentally beneficial.
Sharing their stories on social media is about creating bonds with other mothers and empathizing with other mothers’ worries or exhaustion in their mothering life. The factor that triggered Rose and Katie to share their mothering life with other mothers in the virtual world resulted from mother isolation, which most mothers confront in a patriarchal system like that in Taiwanese culture. As reviewed in Chapter 2, women suffer from isolating themselves when they become mothers. Mothers feel an inability to be social since they are bound to their kids (Campbell & Hart, 2019), especially those who are “geographically or socially isolated from friends and family” (Madge &
O’Connor, p.17).
More scholars have granted relevant insights to explain the situations of the above two participants. Since mothers are hard to find new connections with other parents in the real world (Campbell & Hart, 2019), they seek support by utilizing social media
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communication. The instant communication in the electronic environment facilitates the emergence of a virtual community. Baum (2004) suggested that information exchange through online groups for social support is a form of establishing communities and relieving. As cited in Nielsen, social support serves as an indispensable element of successful parenthood and can led to better maternal health (2015, p.7). Social support includes the structure of one’s social life, such as family and other functions like emotional support (as cited in Nielsen, 2015). Specifically, in social media, social support is “appraisal support” and “social integration,” which mean the availability of someone to talk to and the network of individuals who share interests and concerns (as cited in Nielsen, 2015, p.6). Through connecting with other mothers, mothers can maintain a healthy mental state.
As a Taiwanese society phenomenon, the participants’ isolation and tendency to seek online support are accompanied by the ideology that exists in the patriarchal systems. A traditional household pattern exists in the Taiwanese system. A Taiwanese traditional household pattern means “an adult son to live with his parents and a ‘marry-in’ daughter-in-law (Sandel, 2004, p.367). As a marry-in daughter, the tight connection between herself and her family is gradually loosened by physical distance. Moreover, isolation could occur when so-called “mother duties” occupy the mother’s life, since mothers’ discourse in patriarchal systems glorify their obligations and sacrifices throughout history. The duty of nurturing children and doing chores, or even compromising by leaving the workforce, worsens the isolation. Rose shared an incident related to this situation:
“One time my husband was looking after our daughter since he took a day off.
However, I found out he was sleeping in bed all day. My mother-in-law asked me
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that’s women’s job.’ I was perplexed about the response from my mother-in-law.
If my husband doesn’t know how to raise kids, he can learn. I’m not born to be a mother, either.”
In a patriarchal system, mothers follow particular traditional beliefs. Rose explained that she felt it to be unfair to have such thoughts about women. Women are not born to be mothers. Women learn to be a mother. Rose believes that the job of nurturing a kid does not belong to mothers only. Namely, Rose still suffers from the traditional beliefs since her mother-in-law disagrees with her. The traditional belief has remained embedded in the previous generation like Rose’s mother-in-law. According to Rose, it is evident that her thoughts on motherhood are very different from those of her mother-in-law. However, she has chosen to obey since she thinks she should listen to the elders, especially her husband’s mother. This belief has something to do with Confucianism as well.
As discussed in Chang’s study, Chinese culture influenced by Confucianism seeks
“social harmony” among social connections, especially when the system is practicing the ideology of “familial obligations” and “social propriety” (2001, p.156). Namely, Rose feels the need to comply with her mother-in-law. The relationship between a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law is intense in patriarchal systems. Gallin (1994) investigated the relationships between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, mentioning that a mother-in-law often disciplines a daughter-in-law severely and bitterly when she has into the home of her husband. Taiwanese daughters-in-law sacrifice their welfare to avoid conflicts and the condemnations of not behaving morally. More importantly, Taiwanese women desire acceptance from their mother-in-law (Sandel, 2004). The system has perpetuated women’s desire to be a favorable person when living with their husband’s family as a married-in person.
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5.1.2 Benefiting economically even in different financial echelons
Apart from mentally beneficial, the participants revealed that they could also benefit economically from being influencers on Instagram. As Cathy mentioned, she thought it was a good opportunity for homemaker mothers. Homemaker mothers could earn extra money from receiving sponsors. Cathy believes that being a mother influencer is perfect for her, because she does not need to spend much time working since she is busy taking care of her baby. She also has learned that it is good to receive sponsored products, because she does not have to spend money on pricey infant products.
Cathy shared another story with me. She would intentionally post a photo of her and her son together in a car to attract sponsors. She revealed a message about how she can drive, and that needed a safety seat for her baby through the photo (see Figure 20).
As Cathy shared, “It is not a bad thing when you present yourself purposefully on Instagram.” She is inclined to share content relevant to her mothering life, making profits from her profiles.
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Similar to Cathy, Rose and Annie also gain economic benefits significantly from their profiles, in which they have different types of sponsored content. Rose has the widest variety of sponsored content from different companies, while Annie’s sponsored content is mostly about her jewelry brand. Rose, a divorced mother with child custody, carries the responsibility of taking care of her daughter. Divorced women like her bear tremendous economic pressure. Scholars have found that divorce results in “significant economic declines” for women (Warrener, Koivunen, Postmus, 2013). As a mother influencer, Rose endorses many kinds of products, thus increasing her income. Rose mentioned her thought on receiving sponsors:
“I don’t mind to accept lots of sponsored products. I can make profits from promoting them. That’s a great thing. As long as it’s not illegal or too sexual…”
Rose’s statements reveal that she is happy to be sponsored since she could benefit from it. However, collaborating with sponsors as an influencer is not enough for her and her daughter’s living. To maintain a stable financial situation, Rose needs to return to the workforce. A single mother is inclined to face the dilemma of taking care of kids and working at the same time. Namely, Rose made a compromise when it came to her daughter and job.
“I think I’m luckier, comparing to other single mothers. I can work in my brother’s tea shop. I don’t have to worry about finding a decent job. Most importantly, I don’t have to worry that no one can look after my daughter when I work. My mother is willing to look after my kid. I feel grateful.”
Rose’s mother takes care of her daughter most of the time, because Rose works in her brother’s tea shop in Tainan. As mentioned before, Rose’s mother stays in Kaohsiung, and so Rose cannot see her daughter every day. The above excerpts also reveal the dilemma among mothers when they want to re-enter the workforce. In the
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study of Warrener, Koivunen, and Postmus, factors such as mothers being the primary caregiver for children and a lack of quality and affordable childcare worsen the economic situation among women (2013). Divorced women confront obstacles when they want to re-enter the workforce since they need to take care of children and their work simultaneously.
The traditional belief of a household pattern further worsens a mother’s financial situation. Vogler (1998) suggested that males are associated with taking on a financial provider role throughout history, signifying their great value in a family. Since mothers are not the primary breadwinner in a family, they must sacrifice for the family. In contrast to Rose, being an influencer has helped Annie’s business to grow. Annie is an entrepreneur of her jewel brand and frequently promotes her jewelry as a fashion influencer. The sponsored content is mostly about her jewelry brand and often comes with feeds or stories. Annie demonstrates the styles by wearing her jewelry. Sometimes, she elaborates on her inspiration for designing a product. She noted her motivation of starting her influencer career:
“At first, I just wanted to promote my jewelry brand. I think being an influencer was a quick start. The pictures can convince people that I’m good at aesthetics.”
Annie’s motivation for being an influencer was straightforward. She thought it to be more convincing to show herself with her brand. Moreover, her self-presentation sometimes reveals her start-up stories. The texts are mostly about the hard work of being an entrepreneur. The immense content related to her brand led me to dig up more about her start-up stories. Annie continued with another incident:
“At the beginning stage, there were so many things happening at the same time. I needed to arrange the counter, create more designs, and pay my employee at the
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same time. So, I asked my family to help me. I feel fearless with the support of my family.”
As an entrepreneur, Annie started her business when she was only 19. At such a young age, it was problematic that Annie did everything on her own. Annie revealed that it was challenging for her to embark on a business without family help in her start-up. The pursuit of her dream required a considerable sum of money. It would be hard to achieve if her family did not give her any financial support. The excerpts revealed that Annie’s family was comparatively well-off in this system. With financial support, Annie succeeded in fulfilling her dream as a CEO of a jewelry brand. Along with Annie’s background of living in a wealthy family, her achievement elevates her status under the hierarchical structure today. Annie’s success shows that women can also start their own business and achieve on their own. The case reminds us of that participants’
self-presentation should be also taken account into when transforming the traditional mother beliefs in patriarchal systems. In the next part, I will speak of how the participants transformed the traditional mother beliefs into new mother impressions according to their motivations.
5.1.3 Transforming the traditional mother beliefs
Women have historically suffered the most among deprived groups in the world (Mandal, 2013, p.17). Mothers are underestimated for their achievements in life, in which their glorifications are only signified by the presence of children. I recall Cara’s assertion of her identity. First, Cara bestowed a specific identity on herself: “On Instagram…I think I’m a modern woman.” Surprisingly, Cara has a specific image of herself when sharing on Instagram. Cara’s image leads to the preference of manifesting herself primarily on Instagram. On Cara’s Instagram profile, she does not share her children frequently. Most of her pictures are portrait pictures taken by others or selfies,
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which are different from the other mother influencers’ profiles. Cara continued that her aim of sharing herself is not easy to achieve:
“I share my travel photos on Instagram; sometimes, my followers are curious about my children and whether they came with me or not. I am kind of speechless when seeing the comment. I just want to share the moment, about myself, on ‘MY’
profile.”
When facing questions of curiosity from her followers, Cara’s struggle of primarily revealing herself becomes explicit. Her followers’ constant surveillance on Cara inflicts more significant pressure on revealing the mother-children relationship on her profile. Applying Foucault’s (1977) theory to this case, Cara’s followers serve as a specific power to “control, transform, and condition an individual” by “rules, norms, checks and surveillance” (as cited in Currie, 2004, p.225). Furthermore, the followers’
questioning of Cara lubricates the belief of patriarchal motherhood. Valuing the presence of children, mothers should stay focused on their children subconsciously and simultaneously. Making an emphasis on herself, Cara’s implicitly reaffirms that mothers are experiencing identity loss when they are married and have kids. According to Cara, being a modern mother means the capacity to retain her own life and even her identity.
The theme about transforming the traditional mother beliefs emerged in other participants as well. Some participants aim to transmit specific messages through their self-presentations. As discussed, the mother influencers share their relaxing outdoor experience, personal styles, or beautiful appearances. These images result from their will to spread self-love and self-care concepts. Correspondingly, Rose shared her views upon these mother impressions with me:
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“You can see lots of mothers dressed up beautifully on Instagram, including me. I feel it’s okay to stay with your friends more often, dress up for yourself, or travel around. Do not sacrifice for anyone, even after you get married.”
At the time of the interview, Rose was divorced. She acknowledged what that kind of loss might be when getting married. In addition to being fully devoted to family, Rose valued her lifestyle, even after she got married. In a similar vein, Katie also explained such an idea with her transition into a mother: “I will not abandon the things I love, even if I become a mommy.” The statement indicates that she could keep her hobbies, even if she was the caregiver in the family. Katie was a former fashion buyer.
Her attitude towards mothers’ sacrifice is similar to Rose’s. Katie’s thoughts over herself are also expressed through her photography, as she shares numerous fashion outfits and items:
“I like fashion. I can still share it with my followers. I can still be a fashionable mommy like I used to.”
Katie’s impression of being a fashion mother was explicitly conveyed during the interview. More than that, Rose and Katie transmitted the idea that mothers today can still embrace the things they love through their manifestations. The underlying reason
Katie’s impression of being a fashion mother was explicitly conveyed during the interview. More than that, Rose and Katie transmitted the idea that mothers today can still embrace the things they love through their manifestations. The underlying reason