Idealization of the Body in the Social Media

We discuss the sociocultural risks, psychological consequences and instruments of body idealization, and the types of content in the social networks pertaining to the presentation of the body ideals. Sociocultural risks are defined via the widespread tendency to objectify and sexualize the female body in mass media, which is criticized in many studies for its negative consequences in the mental health sphere and interpersonal relationships on the whole. One of the consequences of objectification is self-objectification defined as a distortion in the subjective position in regard to one’s body. Self-objectification contributes to the development of appearance-related psychological vulnerabilities (bodily alienation, body shame, negative appearance evaluation, appearance-based rejection sensitivity), which can lead to mental disorders (depression and eating disorders). In social networks self-objectification underlies the behavior focused on one’s appearance. We consider self-portraits (selfies) as one of the instruments of body idealization and describe two types of content in social media aimed at achieving the ideal body: #thinspiration (motivating thinness) and #fitspiration (motivating athleticism). In both cases the ideals of physical attractiveness are associated with their sexualized demonstration, calls to dietary restrictions and exhausting physical exercising that repress one’s biological needs and signals from the one’s body. As a consequence focusing on appearance has a negative impact on both physical and mental health.

Keywords

body idealization, body dissatisfaction, social media, objectification, self-objectification, social comparisons, appearance-based rejection sensitivity, mental disorders

Acknowledgment

The reported study was funded by Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR), project number 20-013-00429.

Received

25.04.2022

Publication date

11.05.2022

Number of characters

27790

Cite

GOST	Polskaya N., Yakubovskaya D. Idealization of the Body in the Social Media // Psikhologicheskii zhurnal – 2022. – V. 43. – Issue 2 C. 128-141 [Electronic resource]. URL: https://psy.jes.su/S020595920018771-4-1 (circulation date: 20.04.2024). DOI: 10.31857/S020595920018771-4
MLA	Polskaya, Natalia, Yakubovskaya, D. K. "Idealization of the Body in the Social Media." Psikhologicheskii zhurnal 43.2 (2022):128-141. DOI: 10.31857/S020595920018771-4
APA	Polskaya N., Yakubovskaya D. (2022). Idealization of the Body in the Social Media. Psikhologicheskii zhurnal 43(2), pp.128-141 DOI: 10.31857/S020595920018771-4

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