Market Your Selfie: Self-Advertising as Postfeminist Practice

• In Event: 35.082 - Roundtable Session 14
  In Roundtable Session: 35.082-15 - Speaking To/From/Against: Media Representations and the Gendered Self

Abstract

We used Gill’s (2007, 2008) description of postfeminist sensibilities to conduct an analysis of almost 300 selfie photos, dominated by images of women, posted using a hashtag related to a college football event. There was remarkable similarity among the photos, specifically in terms of how subjects were cropped, posed and edited to a degree of flawlessness. It’s important to note that this is not being done to women’s images, but that women are doing it to their own photos and sharing them with the public. We argue that this practice ties into Gill’s account of postfeminist sensibility, and in particular, her description of women’s participation in self-objectifying practices in ways that are experienced as liberated choices.

Authors

• Mardi Schmeichel, University of Georgia

• Stacey Leigh Kerr, University of Georgia - Athens

• Chris Linder, University of Georgia