Diet culture and Instagram: A feminist exploration of perceptions and experiences among young women in the midwest of Ireland

O’Shea, Laura. (2020). Diet culture and Instagram: A feminist exploration of perceptions and experiences among young women in the midwest of Ireland. Dearcadh: Graduate Journal of Gender, Globalisation and Rights, 1. doi:https://doi.org/10.13025/64p6-3p21

Abstract

This article provides a feminist exploration of the perceptions and experiences of diet culture on Instagram among young women in the Midwest of Ireland. It discusses why young women continue to engage with diet culture and how it has translated to Instagram. This research was conducted through qualitative semistructured interviews. Eight women between the ages of 18-30 living in the Midwest of Ireland were interviewed in this study. Through engaging with feminist research methods and utilising a feminist lens, this research prioritises the female voice in social research. It is revealed that the women interviewed perceive and experience diet culture on Instagram in various ways but overall it has a negative influence on their wellbeing. This article highlights this issue as a gendered side effect of social media that is inherently harmful to women. It generates new knowledge of this issue in the Irish context and identifies further areas of research.

Publisher

School of Political Science and Sociology, University of Galway

Rights

CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IE

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Collections

School of Political Science & Sociology (Scholarly Articles)