A feminist embodied ethics of social media use: Corporeal vulnerability and relational care practices
File version
Version of Record (VoR)
Author(s)
Thorpe, Holly
Olive, Rebecca
Pavlidis, Adele
Moran, Claire
Griffith University Author(s)
Primary Supervisor
Other Supervisors
Editor(s)
Date
Size
File type(s)
Location
Abstract
This article adopts a feminist relational orientation to investigate the care practices that women develop when producing and engaging with body-focussed content online. We propose and argue for an embodied ethics of social media use to understand women’s enactments and exchanges as they relate to shared corporeal concerns. Drawing on qualitative interview data, and using Judith Butler’s understanding of corporeal vulnerability as the basis for mutual recognition, this article investigates social actors’ ethical orientations towards, and attempts at, improving the collective experiences of women in the context of Instagram use for physical activity. We identify several ways in which exercising women practice an embodied ethics of care on Instagram, including sharing unedited images of themselves, not judging others’ bodies, awareness-raising and supporting others. By conceptualising women’s everyday social media encounters as an embodied ethical practice, this study develops new theoretical insights to understand women’s sharing of body-focussed content online.
Journal Title
New Media & Society
Conference Title
Book Title
Edition
Volume
Issue
Thesis Type
Degree Program
School
Publisher link
Patent number
Funder(s)
Grant identifier(s)
Rights Statement
Rights Statement
© The Author(s) 2023. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
Item Access Status
Note
This publication has been entered in Griffith Research Online as an advanced online version.
Access the data
Related item(s)
Subject
Screen and digital media
Sociology
Communication and media studies
Social Sciences
Communication
Body image
Care
Embodied Ethics
Persistent link to this record
Citation
Toffoletti, K; Thorpe, H; Olive, R; Pavlidis, A; Moran, C, A feminist embodied ethics of social media use: Corporeal vulnerability and relational care practices, New Media & Society, 2023