挑戰現今Instagram上對於女性「美」的再現：以肉感女藝人為例 - 政大學術集成

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(1)國立政治大學國際傳播英語碩士學位學程 International Master’s Program in International Communication Studies College of Communication National Chengchi University. Master’s 治 Thesis. 立. 政. 碩士論文. 大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. 挑戰現今 Instagram 上對於女性「美」的再現：以肉感女藝人為例. n. al. er. io. sit. y. Nat. Challenging the Representation of Women’s Beauty on Instagram: Plus-size Micro-celebrities in Panama and Taiwan. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Student: Winibeer Jhineth González 宮昀妮 – 105461022 Advisor: Professor Hong-Chi Shiao 蕭宏祺教授. 中華民國 107 年 7 月 July 2018. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.010.2018.F05.

(2) 挑戰現今 Instagram 上對於女性「美」的再現：以肉感女藝人為例 Challenging the Representation of Women’s Beauty on Instagram: Plus-size Micro-celebrities in Panama and Taiwan. Student: Winibeer Jhineth González 宮昀妮 Advisor: Professor Hong-Chi Shiao 蕭宏祺教授. 國立政治大學. 國際傳播英語碩士學位學程. 學. ‧ 國. 立. 政治大碩士論文. ‧ er. io. sit. y. Nat. A Thesis. Submitted to International Master’s Program in. n. a. v. l C Communication Studies International ni. i U. h. engch National Chengchi University. In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement For the degree of Master of Arts. 中華民國 2018 年. 07 月. July 2018. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.010.2018.F05.

(3) i. ABSTRACT. The digital communication and the fast growing of social networks, such as Instagram, facilitate new models of interaction and ways individuals use to of build relations. In this new environment the term micro-celebrity defines those people that are increasing their popularity over the web using different types of technologies. This paper first tries to understand how plus-size Panamanian and Taiwanese micro-celebrities self-present on Instagram as a platform considered rich on prejudices and stereotypes surrounding the body positivity communities; and how do they gain fame through online multimedia and textual representations. Second, elaborate and note the differences and similarities between their Instagram accounts. This exploratory research takes a qualitative approach using Nethnography as unique method for social media (Instagram) analysis and three research questions are proposed to give guidance and to better explore the self-presentation plussize micro-celebrities have on Instagram: RQ1. How do Panamanian and Taiwanese plus-size micro-celebrities (women) self-present on Instagram? RQ2. What are the most popular hashtags Panamanian and Taiwanese plus-size micro-celebrities (women) use on their Instagram posts? and RQ3. What are the similarities or differences between the content shared by Panamanian and Taiwanese plus-size micro-celebrities (women)?. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. al. er. io. sit. y. Nat. The netnography themed all kind of multimedia shared on the Instagram accounts and showed that there were more similarities than differences between the content portrayed among Taiwanese and Panamanian and there were 7 major themes within their profiles, glam posts, natural body, commercial and promotion, beautification, body acceptance labeled posts, fatness and transgressions, semi-nudity and sexualizations.. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Keywords: Plus-size, Micro-celebrity, Body acceptance, Instagram, Digital media, Social Media, Panamanian , Taiwanese, Women, Beauty, Culture, Cannons of beauty, Body, Fat.. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.010.2018.F05.

(4) ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT. I would like to thank and express my special appreciation to my advisor, Dr. Hong-Chi Shiao, you have been a great professor with a unique and wonderful personality. I am not a researcher lover (Not even close to be friends) however you encouraged me with positive and kind advices on both education and professional values that made my road to success joyful and easier. I also would like to extend my gratitude to professors Ting-Yu Kang and Sun Se-Wen for their help as my committee members.. 政治大 I am grateful to all those incredible friends, classmates, colleagues and professors I had the 立 pleasure to work during this and other related projects. I owe a big thanks to the College of. ‧ 國. 學. Communication’s staff for being always willing to assist me. I would not have been able to finish. ‧. this educational step without the cheerfulness【加油】My family, CrossFit friends, roommate. y. Nat. n. al. er. io. 感謝你們了！. sit. and the cordial Taiwanese people gave me.. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.010.2018.F05.

(5) iii. TABLE OF CONTENT l-Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 1 1.1.. Research Background ..................................................................................................... 3. 1.1.2. Positive Body Image and the Word Fat ......................................................................... 5 1.2 Purpose of the Study and Contributions................................................................................ 6 ll-Literature Review ........................................................................................................................ 8 2.1. Plus-size Women and the Critique ....................................................................................... 8 2.2. Media and the Ideal Beauty................................................................................................ 10 2.3. Social Norms and Canons of the Female Beauty ............................................................... 11. 政治大 2.4.1 Women’s Self-presentation on Instagram .................................................................... 14 立 2.5. The power of hashtags........................................................................................................ 16. 2.4. Self-presentation................................................................................................................. 13. ‧ 國. 學. 2.6. Body Positivity Plus-sizing Latin America and Asia ......................................................... 17 2.6.1 Latin America ............................................................................................................... 17. ‧. 2.6.2 Asia ............................................................................................................................... 18 2.7. The raise of plus-size celebrities on Instagram .................................................................. 19. Nat. sit. y. 2.8. Digital empowerment, narcissism or business ................................................................... 21 lll-Method and Research Questions .............................................................................................. 23. io. al. er. 3.1. Netnography ....................................................................................................................... 23. n. iv n C hengchi U 3.2.1. Panama......................................................................................................................... 25. 3.2. Data Collection and Analysis ............................................................................................. 24 3.2.2. Taiwan ......................................................................................................................... 27 lV-Findings ................................................................................................................................... 32 4.1. Primary Themes (More repetitive)......................................................................................... 34 4.1.1. Glam Post ........................................................................................................................ 34 4.1.2. Natural Body ................................................................................................................... 40 4.1.3. Commercial and Promotion ............................................................................................ 44 4.1.4. Beautification .................................................................................................................. 48 4.2. Secondary Themes (Less Repetitive)..................................................................................... 51 4.2.1. Body Acceptance Labeled Posts ..................................................................................... 51 4.2.2. Fatness and transgressions .............................................................................................. 53. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.010.2018.F05.

(6) iv 4.2.3. Semi-nudity and Sexualization ....................................................................................... 55 4.3. Findings Theme Framework .................................................................................................. 58 4.4. Hashtags ................................................................................................................................. 59 Conclusion and Discussion ........................................................................................................... 59 Implications and Limitations ........................................................................................................ 61 References ..................................................................................................................................... 62. LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Figures. Page No.. 政治大. Figure 1 ......................................................................................................................................... 19. 立. Figure 2 ......................................................................................................................................... 26. ‧ 國. 學. Figure 3 ......................................................................................................................................... 27 Figure 4 ......................................................................................................................................... 28. ‧. Figure 5 ......................................................................................................................................... 29. sit. y. Nat. Figure 6 ......................................................................................................................................... 30. io. er. Figure 7 ......................................................................................................................................... 30 Figure 8 ......................................................................................................................................... 33. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. Figure 9 ......................................................................................................................................... 34. engchi. Figure 10 ....................................................................................................................................... 36 Figure 11 ....................................................................................................................................... 36 Figure 12 ....................................................................................................................................... 37 Figure 13 ....................................................................................................................................... 37 Figure 14 ....................................................................................................................................... 38 Figure 15 ....................................................................................................................................... 38 Figure 16 ....................................................................................................................................... 39 Figure 17 ....................................................................................................................................... 40. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.010.2018.F05.

(7) v Figure 18 ....................................................................................................................................... 40 Figure 19 ....................................................................................................................................... 41 Figure 20 ....................................................................................................................................... 41 Figure 21 ....................................................................................................................................... 41 Figure 22 ....................................................................................................................................... 42 Figure 23 ....................................................................................................................................... 42 Figure 24 ....................................................................................................................................... 43 Figure 25 ....................................................................................................................................... 43. 政治大 Figure 27 ....................................................................................................................................... 46 立 Figure 26 ....................................................................................................................................... 45. ‧ 國. 學. Figure 28 ....................................................................................................................................... 46 Figure 29 ....................................................................................................................................... 47. ‧. Figure 30 ....................................................................................................................................... 48. sit. y. Nat. Figure 31 ....................................................................................................................................... 50. io. er. Figure 32 ....................................................................................................................................... 51 Figure 33 ....................................................................................................................................... 52. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. Figure 34 ....................................................................................................................................... 53. engchi. Figure 35 ....................................................................................................................................... 54 Figure 36 ....................................................................................................................................... 55 Figure 37 ....................................................................................................................................... 56 Figure 38 ....................................................................................................................................... 57 Figure 39 ....................................................................................................................................... 57. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.010.2018.F05.

(8) vi. Tables Table 1 .......................................................................................................................................... 29 Table 2 .......................................................................................................................................... 32 Table 3 .......................................................................................................................................... 50. 治政 Table 5 .......................................................................................................................................... 59 大立 Table 4 .......................................................................................................................................... 58. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.010.2018.F05.

(9) 1. CHAPTER 1 Introduction “The human body is the best work of art.” ― Jess C. Scott. Being a Latin American plus-size young woman living in Taiwan is an interesting experience; your social believes get reconfigured and your own body image will consequently. 政治大. change. Walking on the streets of Taiwan, looking around to those skinny models and actresses. 立. promoting whitening skin products, hearing the daily conversation about how famous Korean. ‧ 國. 學. plastic surgeries are over Asia or all the other features digital media offers about bodies are indeed already part of the Taiwanese cultural sphere.. ‧. Some Women from all around the world that share similar experiences dealing with the. y. Nat. io. sit. dominant ideals of beauty, are participating in different movements using body positivity, fat. n. al. er. acceptance and plus-size empowerment content in online platforms (Cwynar-Horta, 2016).. Ch. i n U. v. However, these growing communities have attracted a lot of criticism from other body positive. engchi. activists and pro-fitness groups who question the validation and forms they are taking on internet. As a result, and inspired on my personal experiences, this thesis intends to examine plus-size celebrities’ accounts content on Instagram, to determine whether it is in fact a supportive experience for both, the women involved and for the women viewing the alternative portraits of beauty. This study used Goffman’s self-presentation lenses to examine the content transmitted by plussize micro-celebrities on Instagram and how the narrative of this content affects the body. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.010.2018.F05.

(10) 2 acceptance on online communities in Taiwan and Panama. By analyzing the Instagram accounts of four online plus-size micro-celebrities (two Panamanian and two Taiwanese) this paper tries to shed light upon the differences and similarities between the presentation of plus-size celebrities in these two countries on Instagram and how these women gained popularity in social media where they are able to influence followers using information related to their own body and lives. Latin American women have been considered as curvy, voluminous and sexy (Venegas et. 政治大 short, tall, delicate and others (Alcázar, 2008). Magazines, newspapers and people in daily 立 al., 2016). In these countries, women present countless variants of body type, fit, fat, muscular,. ‧ 國. 學. conversation use phrases like ¨Latinas are always beautiful¨, ¨Curvy is sexy¨ ¨The soup with meat tastes better¨ (Maldonado, 2015) apparently showing acceptance of the different types of. ‧. corporal representations. However, despite of this, obese and overweighed people are often. sit. y. Nat. object of mockery, catcall and even marginalization (La Estrella de Panamá, 2016).. n. al. er. io. Questions related to body acceptance remain in Latino society, “why the Latina half-day. i n U. v. news anchorwoman is a thin top model and not a journalist?” for instance; there is not a. Ch. engchi. definitive answer, but the root lies on the existent beauty standards which will be discussed later in the literary review of this paper. In the other hand, Asia, where young women who weight around 50 kilos, feel dissatisfied with their body or consider themselves as “fat” even when being within the BMI levels established by the world health organization (Shih & Kubo, 2005; Seo, 2014; Noh et al., 2017), beauty canons are stricter. The acceptance of plus-size women and body positivism in Asian countries have not been extensively explored and the existent research mainly focuses on body perception and destigmatisation (Singh, 2018; Lloyd, 2017).. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.010.2018.F05.

(11) 3 Asian countries share a number of similar characteristics based on religious backgrounds that traditionally influenced the way people perceived human beings and their connections, for example China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, are strongly influenced by Confucianism and Buddhism (Noh et al., 2017; Albrecht, 2013; Zhang, 2005); however, westernization has broken these similarities, thus Asian countries now differ in cultural and socioeconomic development, what leads to differences in social meanings of weight (Wang, 2015). People feel pressured by adhering to social norms of being ‘thin’ and stressed by weight-related stigmas as the country. 治政大levels of the different female body and “anti-fat cultural context (Brewis, 2017), thus, acceptance 立 has advanced (Noh et al., 2017) triggering negative physical and psychological health outcomes. types, especially the plus-size, are lower and highly criticized in these cultures.. ‧ 國. 學. In this ovation to plus-size women, Panama was chosen for its variety of races and rapid. ‧. growth during the last years; for being located in the center of America and having a high. sit. y. Nat. amount of female migration from other Latino countries (Panamanian Institute of Tourism,. io. al. er. 2017). On the other side, there is Taiwan that shares characteristics with Panama in terms of. iv n C beauty ritual from other Asian countrieshperceived on the media. In both, Panama and Taiwan, engchi U n. touristic movement and development and also because of the westernization and adoption of. plus-size micro-celebrities in Social Networks is something new and there are not abundant English research works related to the topic, nonetheless research addressing an analysis of the movement on these countries. 1.1. Research Background Online Social Networks (SNS) are not a new way of communication anymore, but a way of adaptable communication where users can share images, videos and texts and where Zhao’s. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.010.2018.F05.

(12) 4 “digital self” or online identities are build up (Zhao, 2005). Social Networks have disrupted the gap between what is public and private, modifying the individual identities. Using Goffman’s metaphor about the self-presentation in society, in online communities, users have total control about the way they present themselves through different platforms helped by a variety of tools (Papacharissi, 2014; 2016). Users have control over their presentation, paradoxically, part of that control is paid through the exposure of the private life. In some cases, especially on Instagram (Ha-tuka, Toch,. 政治大 online and in traditional media. Plus-size women are an example of this phenomena, where 立 2016), celebrities can raise or emerge from these personal accounts and become well-known. ‧ 國. 學. females break the standards of hegemonic features of beauty that have been prevailing on fashion and social presentation during years (Blanes, 2017). Using their profiles, those women. ‧. have evolved and became a new type of micro-celebrities, term that was first coined in 2001 by. sit. y. Nat. Theresa Senft on a research about ‘camgirls’ and online resources, meaning people increasing. io. al. n. Welling 2017, p. 197 ).. er. their popularity over the web using different types of technologies (Senft 2008, p. 25; Khamis &. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. The opportunities Instagram give to plus-size women and female in general of showing themselves as they want, where and when they decide, make this platform an appropriate environment to uncover women’s “perspectives” (Fredick, 1999; Alentola, 2017). In the online community each individual can feel supported and empowered by others (followers) and by the fact that they have encouraged themselves to publish a body positive picture or content related to their lives (Wazmy, 2010) that can be seen and liked by others. However, society is still organized according to regimes of image that through representations, hold relations of power.. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.010.2018.F05.

(13) 5 This is a replicated asymmetry that also happens in social networks, where individuals also apply control and surveillance (Ha-tuka and Toch, 2016). 1.1.2. Positive Body Image and the Word Fat. There is not a universal definition of positive body image but, on 2015 Halliwell identified it as being highly satisfied with one’s own appearance. Several characteristics of this movement can be identified, such as: hold favorable opinions of the body, respect of the body,. 治政 conceptualization of beauty (Tylka and Wood-Barcalow, 2015; 大Halliwel, 2015). 立. feelings of gratitude towards the body, rejection of societal ideals of attractiveness and a broad. ‧ 國. 學. In a study on weight loss and cosmetic surgery Jayne Raisborough examined the notion of self-formation from a sociological approach, exploring the effects of “lifestyle media” on what. ‧. she expresses as one’s relationship to the self “the goal of most people engaged in weight loss. sit. y. Nat. plans or undergoing cosmetic surgery work is to be recognized in a society that only endorses the. io. al. er. worth of certain “bodily forms” (beautiful, white and skinny bodies) (Harris-Moore 2016, p. 4). Past research argues that in social media environments the effects these bodily forms have are. n. iv n C stronger and platforms such as Instagram various types of editing and beautifying h which e n gaffords chi U. apps, can help to trigger body dissatisfaction or in some cases body dysmorphia (Ghaznavi & Taylor, 2015); however, in terms of image of the body and body acceptance, media is also considered a powerful tool. It is not fully responsible for determining the standards of physical attractiveness, but it will somehow prompt base for ideals (Kernan 2018). There are many elements of the ways in which traditional and digital media present body weight, size, and shape, including representations, practices, and performances related to these bodies (Lupton, 2017); thus, the term fat, to describe bodies, has been always criticized in. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.010.2018.F05.

(14) 6 different cultures. In Panama for instance, people will elude using it as a characteristic and individuals will avoid calling themselves or close acquaintances fat, because it may affect someone’s susceptibility; this also happens in Taiwan where terms such as “Feng-Man” (豐滿well filled-out figure) or “Rou-Gan”(肉感-voluptuous) are used instead of “Pang” (胖-fat). In society the word fat is more likely to be considered as negative and used to describe a feeling (I feel fat), Shaming someone or justifying discrimination; it is appropriate to use it only when. 政治大. describing someone (healthy or not) who self-identifies as fat (Zeilinger, 2015).. 立. However, the turn toward sharing contents on media in online platforms has contributed. ‧ 國. 學. to body acceptance initiatives and variation of movements such as fat activism, body positivism and plus-size movements; in the same line, some websites and social media communities have. ‧. been working to fight fat shaming and discrimination, highlighting the multiple disadvantages. Nat. sit. y. from which fat people can suffer and challenging the global standards of beauty (Lupton, 2017).. n. al. er. io. Research also indicates that women that participate in online fat acceptance activities experience. i n U. v. many benefits of being fat-accepting, such as self-acceptance, emancipation from dieting, and. Ch. engchi. more time and energy to pursue other interests (Ngaire &Clemitshaw, 2012). 1.2 Purpose of the Study and Contributions This paper first looked to help understand how plus-size micro-celebrities self-present on Instagram as a platform considered rich on prejudices and stereotypes surrounding the body positivity communities; and how do they gain fame through online multimedia and textual representations. Second, elaborate and note the differences and similarities between Instagram accounts of the Panamanian and Taiwanese plus-size micro-celebrities chosen for the study.. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.010.2018.F05.

(15) 7 In the method section, the researcher proposed three research questions that specifically analyzed self-presentation of the plus-size micro-celebrities and looked for themes trough the accounts (eg., body acceptance labeled post, beautification, fatness and transgressions), and also looked at the similarities and differences between their profiles and shared content. As noted before, there is one mainly research gap identified in this study, _there are no research works about plus-size micro-celebrities and body image on Instagram addressing Asian and Latin American countries, nonetheless, Panama and Taiwan. Briefly explained, this. 治政大 toward ideal-beauty standards considered too, because Mass media is increasing the pressure 立. investigation contributed in theory, practice and in a third added value : health. Health was. and women are having more discomfort with their bodies and body parts; therefore, the author. ‧ 國. 學. tried to provide appropriate and fair assessment through the development of this paper.. ‧. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.010.2018.F05.

(16) 8. CHAPTER ll Literature Review. I used to weight 88 Kilograms and wear XL and XXL. In Panama is easy to find big sized clothes; however, women there have to face great barriers that impede access to beautiful fashion, including limited styles and lack of colors and designs.. 政治大. 2.1. Plus-size Women and the Critique. 立. The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines the term plus-size as something or someone. ‧ 國. 學. “extra-large” (Merriam Webster Dictionary, 2018), but the real origin emerged with the fashion industry’s exclusivity of sizes. While fashion trends have had numerous variations through the. ‧. time, it is only recently that women of size, curvy or plus-size women, have started to get. Nat. er. io. sit. y. recognition and fame (Money, 2017).. Plus-size movement in general represents a growing market of women of size who have. n. al. Ch. i n U. v. been largely left out of the fashion conversation until recent years, but it has triggered some. engchi. critics from the feminist perspectives (Zanette & Brito, 2018). On 2014, Cosmopolitan Magazine published a digital article titled “Is This How A Plus-Size Model Should Look Like?” (see figure 1) indicating that in the global industry, the term “plus-size” is defining those models who size 8 and up, but in real life, sizes starting from 8 are not even considered as plus but, the ones beginning from number 16 (Beck, 2014), allowing the criticism to continue when the industry started to focus then, on sizes going from 16 to 20 and women sizing 20+ still felt marginalized (Schaefer, et al., 2017).. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.010.2018.F05.

(17) 9. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學 y. Nat. n. al. er. io. sit. Figure 1: Image illustrating the article “Is This What A Plus-Size Model Should Look Like?”Cosmopolitan, 2014. Ch. i n U. v. Women considered plus-size by media have argued that the term is not appropriate to. engchi. describe them. On 2015 Melissa McCarthy, American actress-comedian said on an interview that plus-size labels indicate women are not worthy and create distance between females; also, the model Jordyn Woods when featured in an interview on Teen Vogue referred to herself as a "curve model" rather than the more common industry term, “plus-size” (McCarthy, 2015).. Diversity of terms to describe bodies can be found in different contexts and feminist reactions can vary. In this ambivalent panorama there are topics to discuss and research is necessary to fill this gap, especially in online environments.. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.010.2018.F05.

(18) 10 2.2. Media and the Ideal Beauty The ideal of beauty and attractiveness, considered as a social construct, is not exempted from the trend of online media and globalization. Research suggest that before the globalization, each culture had a unique standard of attractiveness derived from traditional views about beauty as well as the physical features of the people (Yan & Bissell, 2014). For example, the traditional Korean image of beauty was average or even overweighed in size because it represented abundance (Han, 2003; Jung & Forbes, 2007). In China and Japan, women with round faces and. 政治大. mild plumpness were seen as beautiful and healthy (Han, 2003; Jung & Forbes, 2007). Hispanic. 立. cultures valued oversized and curvy bodies and tinned skin as attractive and fertile (Cunningham. ‧ 國. 學. et al., 1995; Maldonado, 2015), while scarification of the skin was a beauty process in parts of Africa (Frith, 2006; Keefer 2017). However, in the last century cultural assimilation is found in. ‧. local cultures that are being integrated into a universal standard of beauty dominated by western. Nat. sit. y. Ideals such as thin bodies, round eyes, narrow faces, and pronounced noses (Kim, 2010).. n. al. er. io. In general, photo activity and social grooming behaviors, including posting content, and. i n U. v. viewing, liking, and commenting on other users’ posts, has been linked to the concepts of body. Ch. engchi. dissatisfaction (McLean et al., 2015; Meier & Gray, 2014), drive for thinness (Kim & Chock, 2015; Meier & Gray, 2014), overvaluation of shape and weight, and dietary restraint (McLean et al., 2015). Although this research in not a cause and effect study, it is important and linked to the purpose, to mention how the exposure to appearance-oriented content has affected the way people perceive their own selves. Asian women are obsessed with skin whitening via whitening cosmetics and even surgery to achieve lighter and flawless skin (Chung & Bissel, 2009). When asked to identify an ideal. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.010.2018.F05.

(19) 11 mental image of beauty, a large percentage of US and Korean girls offered US celebrities as examples or described a perfect ideal who has mixed Asian and Western appearance, such as extreme thin bodies, long straight hair, big eyes, and a high nose (Chung & Bissell, 2009). In Taiwanese societies some women will feel praised by being asked if she is from a foreign country, specially Korea and Japan. As past works suggest that the norms of beauty still vary depending on cultural backgrounds and audience differences (Morris & Nichols, 2013), this study will focus on the narrative and conversation plus-size micro-celebrities have on Instagram. 治政大 and the differences/similarities imposed by media in two different countries, Panama and Taiwan 立. and the way this movement is trying to overcome the patterns of these strict beauty standards. between them.. ‧ 國. 學. 2.3. Social Norms and Canons of the Female Beauty. ‧. Social norms are defined as “the customary rules that govern behavior in groups and. y. Nat. sit. societies” (Bicchieri, Muldoon, 2014). Social norms can be described also as “grammar of social. n. al. er. io. interactions”, (Bicchieri, Muldoon, 2014, p16) as well as a solution to the problem of “attaining. i n U. v. and maintaining the social order”. In this context and well related to gender norms there is the. Ch. engchi. construction of the ideal woman, which has been always connected with weight (Mackenley, 2017). For instance, in the latter part of the nineteenth century, when the ideal woman of the middle class was treated as an ornamental and maternal object (Mackenley, 2017); in that time the females were advised to not frequently exercise and eat more cream in order to maintain feministic curves. However, during the last years ideal weight has come into popular culture with the introduction of the conceptions about thinness; being thin is normally having the same meaning as being beautiful and healthy, while being fat is considered repulsive and a symptom of illness (Hesse-Biber, 2007).. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.010.2018.F05.

(20) 12 Women living in western cultures learn, since early age, that physical beauty is one of their most important features (Harter 1999). Women, while facing constant patterns shown on media about a different self they should become in order to be liked and meet the societal standards, are putting self-esteem under pressure. If a woman is fat, this means she is not conventionally attractive or thin (Hester & Walters, 2015). But where does this conventionalism come from? The present study is not aiming to answer this question, but there are many lenses analyzing the issue. Naomi Wolf. 政治大 suggests that images about women beauty are a type of “political weapon against women’s 立. explains well the panorama when she writes The Beauty Myth, book published on 2004, and. ‧ 國. 學. advancement” (P10) a weapon not only viralised by men, but by other women too. More recent investigations confirm that beauty standards differ with race and ethnicity,. ‧. and some conventional rules for ideal facial attractiveness are found to be even inappropriate. Nat. sit. y. (Rhee, 2018). It is impossible to measure or generalize all the cannons of the beauty, however, in. n. al. er. io. the 21st century, those are mainly focused on body type, eyes size and color, skin color and breast. i n U. v. sizes. One research about Taiwan, US and Singapore predicted that western models (women). Ch. engchi. would tend to dress in more seductive ways more often than Asian models, indicating that western women are used as “sex objects” in cross cultural advertising (Frith et al., 2004). Other study found out that Taiwanese women, during pregnancy, are hoping to regain their body shape after the childbirth period. One theme that emerged in this research was “My body: where did it go?” this theme was considered as a reflector of the possible beauty standards of nonpregnant adult female bodies (Chang et al., 2006). In the case of Latin America, the curves and voluptuous figures are indispensable . Women tend to be fascinated with beauty and this “is regularly ascribed to culture” (Venegas et. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.010.2018.F05.

(21) 13 al., 2016; Jones, 2017 p10-82). Latinas are seen as “sensuousness, cults of body worship in tropical climates” (p10-82), and the expectations of machismo about female body physics are regularly mentioned in the popular media and historical facts as triggers of the multifaceted beauty consumption (Jones, 2017). Panamanian Picky Zubieta, one of the samples for this study and body positivity advocate, wrote an article titled “What is beauty for Latinas?” in which she attempts to give a general answer: “–mostly- have to be sex bombs… super skinny, but with big breasts, huge behinds and. 政治大. small waists… Otherwise you are considered ugly, unintelligent, stupid or pretty much invisible”. 立. (Skorch , 2015).. ‧ 國. 學. The literature about plus-sizes in Latin America is almost inexistent but, there is one study with Chilean women where regimes of beauty, body size and perceived social pressure for. ‧. being slim are indicators that will variate across different socioeconomic strata; for instance,. y. Nat. sit. thinness will have more value within high class and educated individuals, while obesity will. n. al. er. io. affect more people with low economic incomes (Robinovich 2018, p80). 2.4. Self-presentation. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Erving Goffman’s approach of self-presentation explains how people are performers trying and sometimes fighting to express an identity through verbal and non-verbal communication (Goffman 1959). Self-presentations are different one to another because humans interact in different environments and relationships with various goals, as a result “selfpresentation tends to be goal-driven” Leary & Kowalski, 1990. In a fallow up to his original study, Goffman considered two different performances of self-presentation, frontstage and backstage. While in frontstage, individuals are typically very. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.010.2018.F05.

(22) 14 cautious about the image (“self”) they are presenting, in backstage performances, people will generally opt for a more natural characterization (Goffman 1974). Commonly, in people interactions one’s frontstage and backstage image will be in a continual process of complex interchange, because each one includes numerous presentation strategies that a person tries to manage through the interpretation of the audience; however, previous researches on athletes’ figures use of SNS, reflected that backstage performance is more likely to be utilized (GeurinEaglema, 2016).. 治政大 information, is what gives descriptions, selecting the best profile picture or managing general 立 Online self-presentation has become an important part of people lives. Organizing. individual identity in online communities. In member profiles in online social networking sites. ‧ 國. 學. such as Instagram, people generally offer details about them and share personal activities or. ‧. external content with other netizens (Schwammlein and Wodzicki 2012). The present study focuses on plus-size micro-celebrities presentation on Instagram accounts, thus is important to be. y. Nat. al. n. 2.4.1 Women’s Self-presentation on Instagram. Ch. engchi. er. io. sit. familiar with related past research works, as presented in the next section.. i n U. v. Past studies have identified profiles on social media as “identity performance” (Cover 2012; Westlake 2008). Goffman’s concept of “performance of self in daily life” has also been applied in the study of social media in order to understand how individuals uses social media to construct and manage their identity or image (Dobson 2015). When people create their profile on SNS, they utilize visual and textual elements, such as images and texts, to manage the impression about themselves and project it to other people, especially to their circle (Boyd, 2008).. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.010.2018.F05.

(23) 15 Zizi Papacharissi, from the University of Illinois, contributed to the investigation of selfpresentation online with several studies where she connotes that the self, recently can be expressed as “fluid abstraction” (p304), reified through the normal associations people have with a flexible reality. This process of self-presentation becomes a changeable cycle where identity is “presented, compared, adjusted, or defended” against social, cultural, economic, or political realities. (Papacharissi, 2010, p 304 ) Studies regarding computer-mediated communication have also found the effect of. 政治大. gender on individual’s self-representation on SNS. Trammell and Keshelashvili (2005) explored. 立. how bloggers manage the impression online and the findings affirmed the influence of gender on. ‧ 國. 學. self-representation as it was found that male bloggers preferred to run information curation blog, while female bloggers tend to write about their own experience or comments. This finding. ‧. indicated that men are more into information seeking, while women are more expressive on. Nat. sit. y. online platforms. Moreover, Lebel and Danylchuk (2012) investigated the self-representation of. n. al. er. io. tennis players on Twitter and found that male tennis players were sports fan while the female. i n U. v. tennis players took the role more as brand managers and advocators.. Ch. engchi. Social media itself has evolves in these past years. In the past, many studies conducted the self-representation on the text-based channels, for instance blogs (Sanderson, 2008) and Twitter (Jackson & Lilleker, 2011; Lebel & Danylchuk, 2012). However, recently, visual-based social media such as Instagram and Snapchat have gained more popularity (Lunden, 2014). Some scholars have also attempted to see the self-representation of women on this visual platform. Smith and Sanderson (2015) examined the Instagram content of athletes using visual content analysis and found that women showed more “warm touch”, such as hugging other people or putting arm on other individual’s shoulder and women also had more provocative. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.010.2018.F05.

(24) 16 contents, for instance pictures with revealing clothes. Another study conducted by Pounders, Kowalcyzk, and Stowers (2015) delved into motivations of selfie-posting by female Instagram users and they discovered that one of the motivations to post selfies was “impression management” by transmitting their own ideal image of themselves to their followers, not only related to their personal features, but also their status, personality, physical condition, and so on. A study by Chung et al. (2017) also reported that women posted contents on Instagram in order to give support to other individuals regarding a particular issue or topic and the audience who. 治政大 eating which some Instagram acquiring social support. The study brought the example of healthy 立. was exposed to the messages on Instagram posts could be inspired and consequently feel like. users encouraged other people to do the same thing by posting healthy foods they ate on. ‧ 國. 學. Instagram and the audience felt encouraged to follow the steps of these users and achieve their. ‧. healthy eating goal, thus this kind of behavior could be categorized as a form of social support.. sit. y. Nat. 2.5. The power of hashtags. n. al. er. io. Hashtag is a way for annotating social media content to a particular topic and usually it. i n U. v. contains the symbol of #, then followed by the name of the topic. Social media users who post. Ch. engchi. content embedding the hashtag implying a convention as they attempt to generate collective conversation regarding that topic. Users conveyed the message with hashtag usually have similar interest about a certain topic or event. If someone is interested to learn about a topic, they can simply look for the hashtag on search feature provided by the social media platform then they can get the updates about that topic through contents shared by other users easily as they do not need to be in the location or know the content producer (Heverin & Zach, 2011).. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.010.2018.F05.

(25) 17 When huge number of people are involved in a conversation under a certain hashtag, it establishes a sense of presence and community between the social media users that lead to collective action or hashtag activism (Yang, 2016). Some scholars have explored the role of hashtag. in. provoking. collective. action.. Khoja-Moolji. (2015). studied. the. hashtag. #BringBackOurGirls. She argued that through the joint conversation moderated by the hashtag, people develop an affective tie among each other and it formed a digital community. As the result, people collectively participated in the campaign and conveyed their support on social. 治政 to direct people’s attention to a certain topic or campaign and大 mobilize them online. 立. media. Clark (2016) also recognized the ability of hashtag on social media as a powerful strategy. ‧ 國. 學. Also, hashtags such as #fatpositive, #fatbabe, #bodypositive, #thickspiration, and #fatacceptance has been employed to further highlight how women wish their self-images to be. ‧. received (Cooper, 2011; Dickins et al., 2011, Marcus, 2016; Pausé, 2016). In Taiwan, the online. Nat. sit. y. store AIR SPACE PLUS is recognized for its Instagram account where they employ clothes and. n. al. #plussizefashion, #curve and #curvemodel.. Ch. engchi. 2.6. Body Positivity Plus-sizing Latin America and Asia. hashtags like #plussize,. er. io. services to generate body empowerment through campaigns and. i n U. v. 2.6.1 Latin America While in Central America the plus-size movement is quite new, in some other Latino countries, such as Chile, Colombia, Venezuela and Argentina curvy women have gained fame and recognition through social networks, because before Social Media, celebrities were only the people on the TV (Blanes, 2017).. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.010.2018.F05.

(26) 18 Curvy Fashion Week, Plus-size Week and other events related to plus-size clothes promotion are the reasons for this movement to be growing so fast in Latin America. Companies have discovered an old but, unexploded niche, that seems to be producing good results for the body positivity community as well (Informador 2017). María Eugenia Donoso Muller is one of the online body acceptance influencer in Latin America; she suffered from eating disorders and depression and now dedicates her life to empower women through famous and social media platforms such as CNN, BBC, El Miami Herald and other. Like Donoso, there are other Latinas. 治政大 plus-size influencers: 1. Fluvia Lacerda, 2. Jennifer Barreto-Leyva, 3. Lornalitz Baez, 4. 立. trying to put away preconceptions about beauty; COSMOPOLITAN Magazine offers a top 6. Christina Mendez, 5. Grisel Paula and 6. Rosie Mercado (COSMOPOLITAN 2015).. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. 2.6.2 Asia. Many western countries have already shifted their definition of beauty and the perception. Nat. sit. y. of body image. However, for many Asian countries, this is very challenging as there is always a. al. er. io. certain perspective on looking on body image and beauty standard which has been deeply rooted. n. iv n C U h eskinny 2015). In Japan, women prefer to have and this country has been h i proportion n g cbody. for decades and enforced by the exposure of media, culture, as well as social media (Olivia,. recognized as “the slimmest industrialized nation”. The main reason is the social pressure from the society, particularly other Japanese women, who favor fit body and often criticize other women’s physical appearance intensely (Harden, 2010). In South Korea, a study conducted by Samyook University in 2013 (cited in Lee, 2016), found that female university students still felt unsatisfied with their body and kept wanting to lose weight in order to look better despite possessing normal weight range. YouGov also surveyed adults from at least 25 countries worldwide and results suggested that women in Hong Kong had the least satisfaction of their. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.010.2018.F05.

(27) 19 body as only 44% of the respondents found contentment in their physical appearance (Gammon, 2015). Even though a lot of women in Asia are still haunted by the expectation of having a thin body, movements to counter this mainstream perception have grown, especially through the different social media platforms. These past years, some public figures or brands have initiated body positivity campaign to raise the awareness of embracing all kind of body types. Priscilla Boh and Kayde Ling, fashion entrepreneurs from Singapore started the campaign called “I Am”,. 政治大. aiming to educate Singaporean and all Asian women about the body positivity. Through Youtube,. 立. blog, and some other digital channels, they would like to encourage women across Asia to. ‧ 國. 學. against the pressure of body ideal and be confident about their appearance regardless the size of their body (McKelle, 2015). In India, a curvy woman named Dolly Singh counters the body. ‧. standards by posting photos and videos of her yoga practice. Her contents go viral on social. Nat. sit. y. media and convince people that everyone can still do yoga no matter the body size is (Packham,. al. er. io. 2017). Another example of the body positivity movement is #RockTheNakedTruth which was. n. iv n C problems, Cheryl Tay. First started in h January main purpose of this campaign it to i U e n g2016, c hthe. established by a Singaporean woman who once experienced eating-disorder and self-confidence. increase the awareness of body acceptance and give a support to those who struggle with issues related to their physical appearance and self-esteem (Tan, n.d.). 2.7. The raise of plus-size celebrities on Instagram Plus-size movement portrays women liking, accepting, and respecting their bodies usually considered overweighed, despite shape or imperfections, and is a positive psychological strength that has been linked to optimism and life satisfaction (Avalos et al. 2005).. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.010.2018.F05.

(28) 20 The perception of ‘being skinny is beautiful’ in Asian societies has clearly affected many aspects, including entertainment industry. Women with curvy body have limited access to be known in this field and most of the time they are only able to get in as “slapstick sidekicks and comedic relief” (Tai, 2018). In Asia, for instance, a study by Soon Chun Yang University in 2015 found that many South Korean female plus-size figures often encountered body-shaming in the broadcasting industry. Moreover, the pressure of staying skinny to look good in front of camera had made some celebrities suffered from eating disorder (Lee, 2016).. 政治大. However, as the body-positivity campaign begins to emerge in the community, now there. 立. are more doors opened for plus-size women to enter the entertainment industry. In Singapore and. ‧ 國. 學. China, there is a rising demand of curvy model as plus-size clothing brands penetrate the market and receive positive response from the public (He, 2017; Woo, 2017). Aside from that, there are. ‧. many full-figured women who are able to make themselves famous in Asia. In Japan, Naomi. Nat. sit. y. Watanabe successfully counters the body issue and takes over the entertainment industry in the. al. er. io. country as a singer and comedienne. She is even known as “Japanese Beyoncé” and has. n. iv n C h easn2016 than 5 million followers and she was named h i UJapan Women of the Year (Agrawal, g cVogue performed in Japan, Taiwan, and the United States (Tai, 2018). Her Instagram account has more. 2016). Vivian Geeyang Kim also enters the industry in South Korea as a curvy model. Weighing at 70 kilograms, Vivian challenges the beauty norm in this nation despite having online negative response, such as death threats (South China Morning Post, 2016). Indian actress, Parineeti Chopra is also known as a figure with positive body image. She is often criticized for her weight, but that does not take her fame away. Chopra became a role model for body acceptance in India after campaigning #BuiltThatWay on Twitter in 2015 (Saxena, 2015).. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.010.2018.F05.

(29) 21 On Harju 2018, plus-size online interactions are defined as a collective activity of consumer resistance of the common products of the beauty scenario (e. g., plastic surgeries, diets), becoming subversive identities and political activists. For instance, plus-sized bloggers actively seek social and cultural inclusion by the way they portray themselves, more likely to be in fashion (“Fatshionists”) or in any other area or profession. 2.8. Digital empowerment, narcissism or business The rise of internet has offered a new platform for people to engage in collective action.. 政治大. Internet allows individuals to engage in social movement economically. Furthermore, this. 立. platform could circulate and distribute messages conveyed by individuals faster. Therefore,. ‧ 國. 學. individuals could get connected with other people and aggregate their power to create various causes (Theocharis et al., 2015). Unsurprisingly, many collective actions have quickly emerged. ‧. in order to increase public’s awareness regarding a social issue (Brunsting & Postmes, 2002). A. Nat. sit. y. collective action called #fitspritation, for instance, becomes viral on Instagram with a purpose to. n. al. er. io. promote healthy lifestyle and exercise for female, aside from raising the awareness of women. i n U. v. empowerment (Slater et al., 2017). Some hashtags related to feminist causes, such as. Ch. engchi. #YesAllWomen, #Direnkahkaha, as well as #BringBackOurGirsl also circulate on social media and provoke users’ conversation on this platform (Thrift, 2014). These cases prove that this kind of social movement is very effective to create social causes as it is able to draw individuals’ attention instantly. However, realizing how powerful this practice is, some people start to utilize this method for their own good. One of the motivations is narcissism, defined as a severe concern for appearance (Vazire et al., 2008). A collective action might begin because of positive causes, such as solidarity, feminism, and so on, but later it transforms into a channel for self-centeredness and narcissism (Chapman, 2016). Social media. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.010.2018.F05.

(30) 22 users would like to portray themselves positively to the others on the platforms (Bergman et al., 2011); thus, individuals would like to engage in digital movement in order to look good. Nowadays, the hashtag activism is labeled as something “narcissistic, lazy, and ultimately devoid of real solutions” (Yaverbaum, 2017). Aside from these individuals, some brands also use hashtag activism for commercial purposes. After the emerge of #IAmPerfect movement, Victoria Secret, a famous lingerie brand from the United States, initiated a campaign called “the Perfect Body”. This slogan was. 政治大. displayed alongside with slender supermodels. The campaign later created public outrage as. 立. many people deemed this campaign promoted unrealistic body image and considered it as a form. ‧ 國. 學. of body shaming (Stampler, 2014). Another plus-size clothing line, Lane Bryant, created another campaign called #IAmNoAngel. This campaign celebrated women body in all shapes,. ‧. particularly curvy women, and it was seen as an effort to fight back the campaign held by. sit. y. Nat. Victoria’s Secret (Moyer, 2015). #IAmNoAngel sparked conversations on social media and was. al. er. io. able to generate more than 16 million impressions (Yohn, 2015). However, at the end, Labe. n. iv n C In this panorama the present research h uses 2015 definition about i U e Tylka, n g c&hWood-Barcalow’s Bryant did this campaign in line with their marketing strategy to earn more profit (Moyer, 2015).. body acceptance and positivity of being totally comfortable with one’s own body features, “is expressing love for and comfort with the body” (p5) even if not completely satisfied with all aspects of that body. Thus, body acceptance and love should not be considered narcissism or vanity. Then, if the main objective is aligning with the sociocultural ideals of beauty as mentioned in other sections of this study (Thin, white, other) and trying to achieve appearances. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.010.2018.F05.

(31) 23 inconsistent with one’s physical and genetical features, the. result sometimes has been. considered as narcissism (Tylka & Wood-Barcalow, 2015). CHAPTER lll Method and Research Questions This exploratory research takes a qualitative approach using Nethnography as unique method for social media (Instagram) analysis. Three research questions were used to give guidance and to better explore the self-presentation plus-size micro-celebrities have on Instagram as presented. 政治大. below:. 立. RQ1. How do Panamanian and Taiwanese plus-size micro-celebrities (women) self-present on. ‧ 國. 學. Instagram?. ‧. RQ2. What are the most popular hashtags Panamanian and Taiwanese plus-size micro-celebrities. sit. y. Nat. (women) use on their Instagram posts?. n. al. Taiwanese plus-size micro-celebrities (women)? 3.1. Netnography. Ch. engchi. er. io. RQ3. What are the similarities or differences between the content shared by Panamanian and. i n U. v. This exploratory study employed a qualitative method approach with Netnographic content analysis (Kozinets, 2010) of the four plus-size micro-celebrities Instagram accounts (two Panamanian and two Taiwanese). Qualitative research was selected for the work because it allows researchers to acquire meaningful and fruitful insights about a social phenomenon (Attride-Stirling, 2001). Netnography also presented the best approach when it comes to the study of social media, for instance monitoring hashtags on Instagram to understand behaviors. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.010.2018.F05.

(32) 24 and attitudes (Kozinets et al., 2018), thus, allowed the researcher to get more and variated data to answer all the three research questions. Netnography comes from ethnography but, it is applied as an online alternative, involving data collection of SNS ; it utilizes images, videos, captions, comments and any form of information presented in online environments (Kozinets, 2010). Other methods have been used to research online communities such as online ethnography (Crowe & Bradford, 2006; Crowe & Watts, 2014) ‘virtual ethnography’ (Hine, 2008), ‘digital ethnography’ and ‘cyber ethnography’ (Grbich, 2007).. 政治大 1. It is natural because it approaches 立 cultures that exist and have real lives.. Kozinets, 2010 explained how Netnography is built upon Ethnography foundations:. ‧ 國. 學. 2. It is immersive. When it tries to understand engagement and personal participation with “objective” observation.. culture members.. ‧. 3. It is descriptive. It seeks “rich description,” of the subjective reality and emotional truth of. y. Nat. n. al. er. io. projectives, photography, video or any other available mean.. sit. 4. It is multi-method. As it is natural, uses or mixes methods such as semiotics, observation,. i n U. v. 5. It is adaptable; as Ethnographies have been conducted within different cultural environments,. Ch. engchi. the same is possible with Netnographies on internet. 3.2. Data Collection and Analysis. This Netnographic content analysis examined. four accounts of plus-size women in. Panama and Taiwan. As mentioned before, by analyzing Panamanian and Taiwanese women’s activity on Instagram, the study was able to find helpful information for future research works involving Latin America and Asia and the plus-size and body positivity movement. The microcelebrities for this qualitative study were chosen through a non-probabilistic method (Higginbottom, 2004), based on their self-presentation on media as advocates of the plus-size. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.010.2018.F05.

(33) 25 and body positivity movement and because they showed patterns that challenge the regular standards of beauty. To find the sample, online research was applied; reading online news articles and looking at the plus-size community on Instagram. Non-probabilistic sample approach was employed because the plus-size movement is a new phenomenon in Panama and Taiwan. This technique is defined as “the process by which a selection of the population can be chosen by researchers as they have characteristics that can be viewed as a representation of wider society” ( Higginbottom 2004, p7). Therefore, size is not defined to provide generalizability, but to deeply. 政治大 These plus-size micro-celebrities who share the same characteristic of having recognition 立. investigate the topic (Grbich 1999).. Alexa Carolina Chacón @sohotsomealex (see figure 2):. Nat. sit. y. ‧. ‧ 國. 3.2.1. Panama. 學. on Instagram (see table 1) and other social networks are presented as follows:. io. al. er. Born on March 21st, 1993. On 2008 she started a blog called “So Hot, So Me” related to. iv n C was after the appearance of Instagramhand the raise of other Social Networks, when Alexa engchi U n. fashion but, mainly focused on her daily life experiences. The blog got some followers, but it. Chacon’ fame raises in Panama. She identifies herself as an advocate for women rights and a “curvy” but flawless model. (So Hot, So Me online, 2018) “I started this because I discovered life is hard and you only have yourself to protect yourself, you need to feel good under your own skin because that, your own body, is the only real comfort zone you have…embrace it, love it” Alexa Chacon, 2018.. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.010.2018.F05.

(34) 26. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. Figure 2. Alexa Chacon’s 2018 blog’s picture. al. er. io. sit. y. Nat Piky Zubieta-Kay @entrelibras (see figure 3):. n. iv n C Patricia Zubieta-Kay studied Architecture dedicates h e n gbutc h i U her life to “motivate people”. She. began to gain fame when she started to share her experiences of frustration and pain for being fat and how this pushed her to go under a gastric sleeve surgery. Her believes are that women should be happy with their bodies but being healthy is also important (El Siglo, 2016). DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.010.2018.F05.

(35) 27. 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. Figure 3. Picky Zubieta’s 2018 Instagram Picture (She does not use a gastric sleeve anymore). ‧. al. er. io. Amanda 劉紀範 @Amanda_isme (See figure 4):. sit. y. Nat. 3.2.2. Taiwan. n. iv n C Born on 1987 is recognized for having small in Taiwanese and Chinese dramas. Amanda or h e roles ngchi U Liu Ji-fan in Romanized pinyin has expressed on Taiwanese media her desire to transform and offer a change regarding to way women hide their thickness and leave fashion only for the skinny type (Liu, 2018). As an advocate of the plus-size movement, she joined and participated in the production of Air Space Plus’s 2018 promotional campaign, titled “be mine”, a video that aimed to teach women they are worth and sexy despite their body weight or shape “your sexiness has nothing to do with your body” argues Amanda in one line whiting the video (Air Space Plus, 2018).. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.010.2018.F05.

(36) 28. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學 sit. y. Nat. n. al. Wang Qi/Mao Bu @chatdeombre (See figure 5):. Ch. engchi. er. io. Figure 4. Amanda 劉紀範’s 2018 Facebook picture (modeling). i n U. v. Mao Bu is a 25 years old, Taiwanese singer, performer and women’s rights activist, who found space on Social networks to develop her art and carrier. On March of 2018 her recognition increased as the result of a video report published first, on BBC News online portal and consecutively in some other news platforms. “There is always going to be someone suddenly coming up to you, and saying: ‘so fat’ you need to lose weight”, expresses Wang Qi during the translated interview presented on the site. In the video she also shares her experience of using a. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.010.2018.F05.

(37) 29 gastric sleeve and explains that her willingness to lose weight is not because of body shame but due to health conditions that could affect her carrier and family wellness.. 政治大. 立. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. Table 1. Plus-size Micro-celebrities (may 2018) Number of Number of Name, Instagram Country Instagram Instagram ID or Nickname followers posts. n. al. Ch. engchi. er. io. sit. y. Nat. Figure 5. Wang Qi/Mao Bu (Picture from her Facebook photo session called “The humorous Daily life of the female bodies” [女體的幽默日常]). i n U. v. Other Social Profession or Networks insights activities. Panama. Alexa Carolina Chacón (Sohotsomealex). 134K. 4,894. Youtube: 3.3K Facebook: 4K+ friends Twitter: 2.7K. Panama. Piky ZubietaKay (entrelibras). 113k. 5119. Facebook: 8.4K. Taiwan. Amanda 劉紀範 (Amanda_isme). 15.5K. 1,310. Facebook: 72.8K. Taiwan. Wang Qi/Mao Bu (chatdeombre). 515. 127. Facebook:74.4K Youtube:18.4K. Fashion blogger, Marketing specialist Blogger, radio host, model Actress, model, performer Singer, artist, model. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.010.2018.F05.

(38) 30 In order to conduct the netnography, the researcher created a new Instagram Account (See figure 6 and 7), without using a personal profile. This mean was proposed by Lamb’s (2011) when doing online studies and following ethics.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Figures 6-7. Screen captures of the Instagram account utilized for the research. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.010.2018.F05.

(39) 31 First, observation took place to analyzed general activity of the plus-size women Instagram accounts, such as: Increase or decrease of followers, change of user ID, daily story narratives, Instagram biography and other. Helped by the screen capture tool of a computer and mobile device, important data and insights were retrieved and used only for this research and respecting ethics. Second, the researcher proceeded to study and look for the most prevalent themes within each account posts. This information was also stored through screen capture and filming functions of a mobile device. Useful captions and hashtags in mandarin language were. 政治大. translated into English and both, multimedia as well as texts, were analyzed together to offer clearer results.. 立. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.010.2018.F05.

(40) 32 CHAPTER 4 Findings In terms of general activity, since the first revision of their accounts on May 2018 (See Table 1) their followers increased in number in comparison to June, but the number of posts was similar as showed on table 2: Table 2. Accounts Data May-June 2018 Country. Name, Instagram. Followers by. ID or Nickname. May 2018. 立 134K. Alexa Carolina Chacón. Posts on. 治2018 May 2018 政 June 大 143K. 84. (Sohotsomealex) Panama. Piky Zubieta-Kay. 113k. 114K. 71. 15.5K. 16.9K. 30. 515. 576. y. Nat. Ch. engchi. 12. er. al. n. (chatdeombre). io. Wang Qi/Mao Bu. sit. (Amanda_isme) Taiwan. Total. June 2018. Posts. 75. 5, 093. 73. 5, 316. 25. 1, 379. 8. 134. ‧. (entrelibras). Amanda 劉紀範 Taiwan. Posts on. 學. ‧ 國. Panama. Followers by. i n U. v. However, in the cases of Amanda 劉紀範 and Piky Zubieta, increasing the number of followers was not equal to getting more likes or comments on their posts and controversially content shared by Amanda during 2016 and 2017 got more likes than the actual year’s posts. This phenomenon was also observed on Piky’s account were posts generated on May reached 5, 000 likes and more, while June’s liking average was under 2, 000 responses, reaction that can be considered a product of the hashtag usage and the type of post (how do they self-present) as explained in the next section. Posts with higher number of hashtags, promoting clothes and. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.010.2018.F05.

(41) 33 brands, and portraying glamorous and sexualized poses got more likes. Videos shared by the four micro-celebrities tended to get less comments and likes than images or pictures, specially selfies. Personal self-revelation was also analyzed, this feature is defined as whether individuals avoid privacy concerns and openly offer names, gender, biography, contact information, mention of interests, family or friends {Papacharissi, 2002; Trammell & Keshelash, 2005; Bartsch, M., & Subrahmanyam, 2015(P. 345)}. Panamanian plus-size were found more open and willing to offer more information about their families, friends, hobbies, mood of the day and life stories; their. 政治大 Piky’s picture kissing her husband (see figure 8) or Alexa’s daily story wishing happy birthday 立 profiles are not focused on only one activity, for instance, one moment followers can observe. ‧ 國. 學. to her mother (see figure 9) and the next hour something totally different. Taiwanese also share small details, such as, one or two Instagram friends tagged on their posts, but they do not. ‧. disclose too much since their accounts already portray a stable theme; Amanda has a personal. sit. y. Nat. blog, while the narrative presented by Wang Qi’s profile is someone who fight for the rights of. io. al. n. same time.. er. fat people, love singing/performing but that is trying to lose weight and become healthier at the. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Figure 8. Piky’s picture kissing her husband. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.010.2018.F05.

(42) 34. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. Figure 9. Screenshot of Alexa’s daily story wishing happy birthday to her mother. sit. y. Nat. io. al. er. RQ1, RQ2 and RQ3 attempt to understand how do Panamanian and Taiwanese plus-size microcelebrities (women) self-present on Instagram and to find similarities or differences in how these. n. iv n C women portray themselves. After the analysis selected h e nofgthec h i U profiles, seven themes were found. as repetitive within the publications and daily stories ; in those themes they share similar characteristics but with different levels and patterns, as it is explained below: 4.1. Primary Themes (More repetitive) 4.1.1. Glam Post This theme represents the most repetitive one in all the 4 accounts, representing a 95% of their content shared on May and June of 2018 (359 were considered glam posts) and showing the. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.010.2018.F05.

(43) 35 same pattern in the rest of the posts. Glam post or Glamorous picture is originally a photography genre with models portraying unusual, “delightful” and/or erotic poses. In terms of semi-nudity and sexualization, Glamour has been highly challenged by modern feminism (Nebot, 2017; Coy & Garner, 2010). Despite not having a body considered symbol of cannon according to the beauty standards mentioned on the literature review of this paper, these micro-celebrities share pictures imitating poses and presenting fancy clothes. Sometimes the content displayed is just a result of their professions or business activities.. 政治大. The research found out that at least 50% of May and June posts analyzed revolved around. 立. two important factors, the attire and modeling; for instance, on figures 10 and 11 the. ‧ 國. 學. Panamanian Piky uses the hashtags “@plussizepanama #actitudplus #inspiraciondeldia #actitudplus #tallagrande #actitudplus#plussize #plussizemodel. ‧. #plussizefashion#plussizeblogger #pty #panama #fashion #moda #plusfashion. Nat. sit. y. #celebratemycurves# celebratemystyle #celebratemysize #panama #pty #colombia #mexico. al. er. io. #miami #MIA #usa #Londres” and on figure 10 she left the caption “Es #Lunes de #selfie y de. v. n. lucir las curvas con diseños de @celipizan . � ” (Is #Monday for #selfie and to show off your. Ch. engchi. i n U. curves with @celipizan designs) as a way to manifest satisfaction with a clothing brand, same brand mentioned multiple times in her account.. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.010.2018.F05.

(44) 36. 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. Figure 10: Piky’s Instagram account picture. ‧. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Figure 11: Piky’s Instagram account picture. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.010.2018.F05.

(45) 37. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學 y. Nat. er. io. sit. Figure 12 and 13: Glam posts from Amanda’s Instagram account Amanda’s account typically receives comments such as “Ni bian Shou le”(你變瘦了-you. al. n. iv n C h e related lost weight) In Taiwanese society comments i U thinner, even when is not true, are n g ctohgetting. considered positive. Other examples are “Chao zheng! you bai xing jiu shi mei ！！！！！” (超正！有自信就是美-Awesome! Just the confidence is beauty), “Hao mei” (好美-so beautiful), “Tai la” (太辣-too hot) and other. Amanda and Piky have both, a higher rate when it comes to replies, this probably gives a sense of closure to their followers.. DOI:10.6814/THE.NCCU.IMICS.010.2018.F05.