“In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female” – Laura Mulvey
Scholar and filmmaker, Laura Mulvey, argues that women are framed as desirable "objects" for heterosexual men to look at. In her words, women are characterized by their "to-be-looked-at-ness" in cinema, while the man is "the bearer of the look". She introduces the term "male gaze" which refers to a particular way of looking that sexualizes women and gives men power (Read more), claiming that the majority of commercially successful films are shot in ways that appeal to men's scopophilia.
But if this representation has dominated the industry in visual images such as advertisements, television shows, and films, how does it compare to the self-representation of public figures on Instagram?
Instagram Design and Use
Winner (1980) draws on the fact that we must “pay attention to the characteristics of technical objects and the meaning of those characteristics”, suggesting that technologies have political properties which maintain the current power relations (whether by necessity or by design). It is the patriarchal society that has given rise to the Instagram model/influencer industry (Stringer, 2020). The sexual politics of the gaze empowers men and diminishes the identity of a woman.
In its inception, Instagram is a platform primarily for sharing photos that can be edited and crafted. The app's audience and algorithm can influence how women choose to represent themselves since it was designed to spread user-generated content in the hopes of drawing in new eyes (Osmidoff, 2020). Nonetheless, Instagram can be a space for feminists who claim to enable woman empowerment and embody the identity of women and the expression of their agency.
But are influencers actually breaking gendered stereotypes or are they merely recreating the sexually imbalanced world that objectifies women and highlights their “to-be-looked-at-ness” with crafted images?
Asian Influencers’ Self-Representation
If we take a look at some Asian influencers, we’ll find themes of passivity, helplessness, and childishness in their performance or speech (Abidin, 2022). According to Crystal Abidin, a well-known anthropologist and ethnographer of internet cultures, these influencers see themselves in the roles of sexual objects and objects of romantic desire. Thus they pose for photos with wide-eyed expressions, pouting lips, and doll-like dresses to show that they are overly submissive and want to be pampered romantically. Themes of Aegyo (Korea), kawaii (Japan), and sajiao (China) prevail, and what they mean is to act cute to persuade others by behaving like sweet, innocent kids in doll dresses.
Abidin’s claim that female Asian influencers show an imbalance of power aligns with Mulvey’s feminist male gaze theory. The man is strong and protective while she is needy, dependent, subservient, obedient, and unable to operate alone. As such, the Instagram pages of these influencers are a visual representation of a world ordered by the sexual imbalance that Mulvey refers to.
The Male Gaze and Social Media Marketing on Instagram
But this sexually imbalanced world is not limited to the Asian and Singaporean influencers that Abidin is referring to. Just as the vast majority of commercially successful films are shot in ways that appeal to men's sexual pleasure in looking, in today’s world of social media marketing, it is argued that the easiest and most potentially effective way to sell and market anything is by using an attractive woman in revealing clothing. The truth is that Instagram is big business. Many big brands sponsor influencer posts, encouraging Instagramers with large followings to sell fashion or beauty products. But the success of this marketing strategy depends greatly on these influencers’ bodies and poses, as well as their ability to meet strict beauty and femininity standards.
Take for instance Dolce and Gabbana’s #CiaoKim marketing campaign. Kim Kardashian is the face of this campaign in ads that give off Marilyn Monroe vibes, evoking a flashback to Monroe’s iconic flying skirt scene from “The Seven Year Itch”. She is surrounded by male photographers who snap pictures of her from every angle, while she wallows in the glory of her body. Dolce and Gabbana decided to spice it up a little more with Kim confidently eating her ice cream and covering the camera lens with it. So, even today, Instagram is used as a platform to recreate media that glorifies the male gaze and to revive the “blonde bombshell” and sex symbol, Marilyn.
The following videos were posted by Kim Kardashian for Dolce and Gabbana’s #CiaoKim marketing campaign:
On another note, let’s take a look at how Kylie Jenner tries to market her brand Kylie Cosmetics. She uses her own photos to promote her cosmetics line by appearing in ad campaigns and attracting fans with appealing poses and racy attire. We’ve internalized the male gaze to an extent that it is normalized to market and advertise a makeup brand by putting the female’s body on display as an attractive accessory.
Instagram and Self-Objectification
Social media consumption of sexually objectifying imagery increases the users' self and body comparison to the public figures on Instagram. For those who buy into Jenner's brand, it becomes possible to fantasize about emulating the Kardashians' flawless appearance. Young women are exposed to photoshopped images of models on social media, developing a false and harmful ideal of femininity. The self-value of users becomes dependent on the number of likes that they receive, provoking them to edit their images and to fashion their poses in ways that invite more attention from followers, thus, reinforcing the male gaze.
Mulvey argues that Hollywood sexualizes the female body, but today, Instagram influencers and their followers are willingly crafting their images to get more viewers to double-tap, gaining more popularity and fame. The attention that they are receiving is not only coming from men, female viewers' internalized male gaze is also a result of the patriarchal society's pressures and expectations.
Subverting the Power Hierarchy
If we try to look at the flip side of things, we’ll find that influencers could be subtly taking advantage of the male gaze to regain their power. Crystal Abidin explains that Asian influencers use their cuteness and objectification to quietly subvert power systems for personal gain as a form of “soft power”, hence, reinforcing power dynamics that portray them as docile and submissive when they’re the ones in control. Similarly, we could argue that female influencers have learned how to monetarily recompense men for objectifying them without having to engage with them, reclaiming agency and autonomy over themselves and commodifying the unavoidable male gaze. Hence, attaining their power through fame and money.
References
Abidin, Crystal. (2022, July 24). Agentic cute (^.^): Pastiching East Asian cute in Influencer commerce. https://wishcrys.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/abidin-2016-agentic-cute-5e.5e-pastiching-east-asian-cute-in-influencer-commerce.pdf
Osmidoff, Natasha.(2020). "Naked and Influential: The Blurred Lines of Self-Commodification and Instagram Models". Master of Arts in Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts. https://scholarworks.calstate.edu/downloads/3484zp10z.
Stringer, Victoria. (February 6, 2020) "Are Instagram models actually feminists?".TRINITONIAN. https://trinitonian.com/2020/02/06/are-instagram-models-actually-feminists/
Winner, Langdon. (1980).“Do Artifacts Have Politics?” Daedalus, vol. 109, no. 1, pp. 121–36. JSTOR. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20024652.