Female athletes' self-representation on social media: A feminist analysis of neoliberal marketing strategies in “economies of visibility”

Abstract

Existing research into the depiction of female athletes has indicated that while they remain under-represented across traditional and online media outlets, social media is a potential tool for female athletes to redress this lack of coverage, and even contest and rework normative gender and sexual identities in sport. This paper challenges such arguments by offering a feminist thematic analysis of how five international female athletes are using social media to present their sporting and feminine selves within a neoliberal post-feminist moment characterised by individual empowerment and entrepreneurial subjecthood. Adopting a feminist critique of neoliberalism, and critically engaging Banet-Weiser's gendered “economies of visibility”, our findings demonstrate that, in a social media environment, female athletes are adopting new strategies for identity construction that capitalise on tropes of agentic post-feminist subjecthood to market themselves, including self-love, self-disclosure and self-empowerment. This paper advances the emerging field of inquiry into athlete social media usage by focusing on the ideological workings of neoliberalised gender discourse not only in the crafting of contemporary sporting femininities in digital spaces, but in recasting feminism as an individualised endeavour firmly located in the market.

The Professionalization of Action Sports: Mapping Trends and Future Directions

“…However, it has been argued that in the context of web 2.0 athletes are now facing new challenges with sponsors expecting them to engage in regular self-and brand-promotion on social media, and to craft an online identity that will build a large international following (see Dumont 2018;Pegararo and Jinnah 2012;Toffoletti and Thorpe 2018). For many action sport companies, the rise of social media has meant major changes in their marketing strategies, which has direct implications for their relationships and support of action sport athletes.…”

“…For instance, Thorpe, Toffoletti and Bruce (2017) offer a three-pronged feminist analysis of professional Hawaiian surfer and model Alana Blanchard's social media usage to reveal the different strategies available to female action sport athletes, with some embracing neoliberal, entrepreneurial, self-branding approaches via self-sexualizing strategies and others opting instead to focus primarily on promoting their skills, lifestyle and achievement without resorting to self-subjectification (also see Thorpe 2017b;Toffoletti and Thorpe 2018). As Toffoletti and Thorpe (2018) explain elsewhere, it is also important to consider how such images are being consumed and responded to by the large international followings of such athletes.…”

Economies of visibility as a moderator of feminism: ‘Never mind Brexit. Who won Legs‐it!’

“…(Vine in Ponsford, )Through a lens of economies of visibility, Vine's assumptions demonstrate

how it is women (and girls) under neoliberalism who are compelled to not only produce the self (both as visible feminine subjects and as empowered and entrepreneurial actors) but also to be seen as crafting body and self in branded terms. (Toffoletti & Thorpe, , p. 18)

This marks a profound shift away from objectification arguments that underpin most studies of women leaders’ representations; in a postfeminist age women leaders are now acknowledged for producing their own brand rather than being passive objects of the patriarchal gaze (Toffoletti & Thorpe, , p. 18). However, we see ambivalence in the responses from Sturgeon and May themselves to the gendered media constructions.…”

“…A fundamental assumption in this analysis is that economies of visibility act as a moderating force on feminism in that ‘a postfeminist cultural landscape, neoliberal capitalism and the normalization of the brand and lifestyle of “girl power” sees organizations treat girls and women as investments upon which organizations can thrive’ (Banet‐Weiser, , p. 64). Banet‐Weiser (, p. 55) distinguishes between a politics of visibility, which implies a ‘struggle, a recognition of inequity, and more importantly, a highlighting of dynamics of power’ and economies that define themselves as ‘sort of neutral’ (Toffoletti & Thorpe, ). Through economies of visibility an individual's visibility has become the new form of currency (Banet‐Weiser, 2015, p. 580).…”

“…Thus, economies of visibility ‘serve up bodies as commodities and the self as a brand (Banet‐Weiser, 2012)’ (Banet‐Weiser, , p. 57). Indeed, a key strategy through which women today make themselves visible, is by branding oneself (Banet‐Weiser, 2012; Toffoletti & Thorpe, ). Using economies of visibility as an analytical lens enables us to analyse media construction of women political leaders and to advance understandings of economies of visibility and moderate feminism.…”