Positive Body Image Activism in Collective (effyourbeautystandards) and Personal (yourstrullymelly) Instagram Accounts: Challenging American Idealized Beauty Construction

Women who have been exposed to the construction of idealized beauty standards have suffered from distorted ideals of body image. This leads to multiple psychological and physical disorders such as anorexia, bulimia, or dangerous cosmetic surgeries and harmful diet regimens. The idealized beauty standard is, at first, disseminated through traditional media such as magazines, newspapers, televisions, movies, videos, and advertisements. The emergence of social media, especially those with a photo-sharing feature, has affected the pattern of dissemination, thus becoming a new area for spreading idealized beauty. Social media provides their users with various features and opens new spaces for interaction and discussion. Instagram, a photo-sharing-based application, has been used to challenge the idealized beauty standard by its users. @effyourbeautystandards, a collective account, and @yourstruelymelly, a personal account, are the subjects of this research, as both accounts are promoting positive body image through Instagram. Using a textual analysis, this research examines the two accounts to reveal the complexities of positive body image activism through their posts and comment sections. Furthermore, it also analyzes the similarities and differences of the body image issues that have been brought up by these accounts.