Young Women's Experiences of Viewing Thinspiration and Fitspiration on Instagram

With the growing popularity of image-based social media platforms like Instagram, particularly among young women, researchers have begun to study relationships between social media and body image. Much of this research, however, has used quantitative research methods, which cannot capture the rich, inner experiences of individuals. Popular trends on Instagram include images of what is termed “Thinspiration” (i.e., pictures of thin girls or women intended to inspire viewers to be thin like them) and “Fitspiration” (i.e., pictures of fit girls or women who ostensibly inspire viewers to become fit like them). Given the dearth of qualitative research exploring thoroughly what young women internally experience when viewing Thinspiration or Fitspiration, the present study used consensual qualitative research to capture in young women’s own words what they feel and think in response to viewing Fitspiration and Thinspiration. Twelve young women who use social media regularly and Instagram at least once per day were recruited for a study entitled “Young women's experiences of viewing Instagram #Thin- and #Fitspiration.” Participants were shown lab-created Instagram fan-page profiles of one well-known Fitspiration influencer and one well-known Thinspiration influencer and then interviewed about these and similar experiences in their lives. The analytic team identified 10 general, 18 typical, and 11 variant domains. Many of the domains related to the sociocultural model of body dissatisfaction or objectification theory. Moreover, from five of the 10 general domains emerged what I have termed an emergent dialectical theory of social media and body image. When viewing Thinspiration or Fitspiration, young women often seemed to feel or think two seemingly opposite things simultaneously within the topic areas of attainability, emotional reactions, social comparison, body image, and health. Given the occurrence of dialectics within these domains, I conclude that these themes should be explored in prevention programs in ways aiming to balance acceptance with change. I also offer broader implications and recommendations to social media companies based on results found herein.