Beauty Standards and Body Image on Instagram: A Cultural Studies Perspective

Abstrak

This research aims to examine beauty standards and body image across several influential Instagram accounts that significantly shaped narratives of women's empowerment within a cultural studies framework. Using a qualitative approach, it analysed visible narratives expressed through visual and textual content, while also incorporating netizen comments related to feminist discourse. Drawing on postfeminist perspectives from Stuart Hall and Rosalind Gill, as well as theoretical insights from scholars such as Naomi Wolf and others, this study provided a critical lens for understanding the construction of women's bodies in digital media. The findings indicated that many influencer accounts ultimately share similar objectives in reproducing and representing particular standards of beauty and body image. These representations did not emerge entirely from organic ideologies, despite their strong emphasis on women's bodily independence. Instead, digital media spaces often function as industries that commodify the body to generate profit and public attention. As a result, the freedom promoted by these platforms did not entirely align with the original goals of bodily liberation, as it remains bounded by digital capitalism.