Fitspo at Every Size? A comparative content analysis of #curvyfit versus #curvyyoga Instagram images

Abstract

ABSTRACTContemporary fat studies scholarship seeks to challenge and critique the normative weightist lens through which modern social media for example stereotypically represent the embodiment of higher-weight individuals or the typical underrepresentation of body diversity in the cases of mainstream Fitspiration and yoga lifestyle media. Simultaneously, proponents of the fat acceptance/body positivity movement are currently at odds over the increasingly expansive appropriation of the term curvy for self-identification. In light of these tensions, utilizing body conceptualization theory as a guiding framework, we examined the shared and distinct approaches used to exemplify and motivate fitness and health as reflected in 300 images sourced from #curvyfit and #curvyyoga on Instagram. Images were systematically coded for sociodemographic (e.g., race/ethnicity, gender), body-as-process (e.g., physically active portrayals), and body-as-object (e.g., weight loss, body modification) attributes. Results revealed that #curvyfit images featured a greater representation of physical appearance–oriented aspects of fitness; #curvyyoga images more often conveyed larger body sizes, shapes, and body-as-process characteristics. Preliminary findings have important implications for counteracting weight-biased perceptions equating thinness with physical fitness and promoting yoga as an important health practice among individuals with a range of body sizes. Our initial stage findings also raise areas of future critical inquiry surrounding the complex messaging at the intersection of fat embodiment, curvy identification, and healthism that are particularly ripe for subsequent qualitative investigation with actual digital media users.