Selfie Objectification: Representation Of Hijabed Women In Instagram

Abstract

Selfie (self portrait) is both a discourse and a global phenomenon (Day, 2014; Veum and Undrum, 2017). as a phenomenon, selfie action has attracted the attention of researchers (Zhao and Zappavigna, 2017) to examine the selfie from the various perspective. Objectification against women has also become the focus in research from various disciplines. However, so far there have not many researches on the objectification of hijabed women’s selfie. Hijabed women face the tension between religious norms and the desire for self-actualization in the virtual realm. A piece of cloth called ”Hijab” brings the consequences of conduct for the wearers. This article discusses about the selfie objectification as representation of hijabed women in Instagram. Do they contribute to reproduce and sustain a representation of piety or are they constructed an alternative representation? This article analyzes selfie photos of hijabed women and captions using objectification theory and selfie objectificaton. This study uses social semiotics approach from Theo van Leeuwen which discusses representational meaning, interactional meaning, and compositional meaning. Selfie photos are selected based on celebrity on Instagram account or selebgram (Ind). They are @laudyacynthiabella, @zaskiasungkar15 and @dianpelangi. They are celebrity in offline and celebrity on Instagram. The account are choosen because they have over 4 million followers. Hijabed women posted selfie as a representation and selfactualization in Instagram to get recognition. Instagram is considered as a spaces that can sustain a discourse of piety. When they construct a piety self, they also objectify themselves. Selfie objectification is done to attract the attention of followers. Selfie objectification is done to facilitating their business.