Beyond the shallows of physical attractiveness: Perfection and objectifying gaze on Instagram

Abstract

Due to the extensive use of highly visual social media platforms such as Instagram, body image exposure has become a common practice. Specifically, the use of idealized women’s bodies in different sectors of promotion and on social media has been subject to much criticism. The awareness of the negative outcomes of objectifying content triggered movements towards natural body exposure. However, empirical studies on the perceived effectiveness of this use are still needed. In this article, we compare how idealized versus natural women’s bodies are perceived by Instagram users by means of an experimental procedure conducted with 700 users of this platform. We apply the Mann-Whitney U test and PLS-SEM to evaluate how physical attractiveness and idealization are related to the objectifying gazes. Our results suggest that overall publishing potentially objectifying content online is an accepted behavior, especially for more active Instagram users. Besides, both extremes of attractiveness, i.e. idealized beauty and perceived lack of attractiveness are subjected to stronger objectifying, than more natural-looking models. Thus, our paper contributes theoretically and empirically to the research on objectification by extending our knowledge of the factors that drive objectification and its acceptance among social media users. The implications of the emphasis on female bodily appearance on digital presence and the practices of digital influencers are discussed.