Keeping it raw on the ‘gram: Authenticity, relatability and digital intimacy in fitness cultures on Instagram

Abstract

This article builds on a growing body of research on social media and authenticity through examining practices of ‘keeping it raw’ in fitness cultures on Instagram. Such practices include posting unedited or ‘realistic’ visuals of the body, storying the everyday and ‘real talk’ about topics such as mental health and body image. Drawing on empirical findings from my research with 21 Australian women aged 20–35 who use Instagram to post and engage with fitness inspiration – fitspo – content, I specifically trace how enactments of ‘raw’ cultivate digital intimacies between Instagram users. Here, I take up a feminist new materialist approach to consider how various body parts, objects, platform functionalities and discourses come together to create affective encounters between my participants and other Instagram users. The contribution of this article lies in attending to the work that raw does, to what end and for whom.