The athletic labour of femininity: The branding and consumption of global celebrity sportswomen on Instagram

Abstract

This article explores the relationship between consumer culture, female athletic representation and online fan engagement on the photograph-based social media platform Instagram. It argues that social media interaction between female athletes and fans is governed by gender norms and arrangements that expect and reward female athletic articulations of empowerment, entrepreneurialism and individualisation in the context of postfeminism and consumer self-fashioning. Examining the Instagram feeds of five global sport stars, this study demonstrates that the feedback of fans and followers plays a critical role in influencing the gendered work undertaken by female athletes to present an appealing consumer 'brand', according to the desires of the market. We propose a new conceptual framework-the athletic labour of femininity-to understand the ways in which elite sportswomen cultivate an authentic brand in the sports marketplace. More than a type of 'bodywork', the athletic labour of femininity responds to consumer expectations that women demonstrate a successful feminine subjectivity characterised by notions of personal choice, individual responsibility and self-management. It takes the form of emphasising empowered femininity, celebrating hetero-sexiness and revealing personal intimacies as part of crafting a feminine sporting persona which draws online comment and likes from followers and fans. By focusing on the role online fan interaction plays in shaping the athletic labour of femininity, this research advances existing studies of how representations of sportswomen are produced and consumed by paying particular attention to the social conditions influencing how sportswomen represent

Muslim Sportswomen as Digital Space Invaders: Hashtag Politics and Everyday Visibilities

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Speaking Pictures, Silent Voices: Female Athletes and the Negotiation of Selfhood

“…The gendered double standard in advertisement and popular visual media is not unique. Recent feminist scholarship, however, has explored how female athletes prefer and choose to be visually represented in media (Smith and Sanderson 2015 ; Toffoletti and Thorpe 2018b ; Konjer et al 2019 ). For a comprehensive ‘serious engagement’ with the self – subjectification of women in the media, one ‘needs to address the extent to which the construction of active, desiring subjecthood within the verbal texts of such adverts may act as an alibi for visual representation’ (Gill 2008 : 438).…”

“…There have been feminist arguments, however, on how said sexualised female athletes have transposed such ‘hyper – sexuality’ to their financial advantage (Kim and Sagas 2014 ; Toffoletti and Thorpe 2018b ). Indeed, not only have they carved a space for ‘economical visibility’ but have also transfigured the discourse of sexualisation from problematic to a source of empowerment (Evans et al 2010 ; Hansen 2017 ).…”

ESPN's #BodyIssue on Instagram: The Self-presentation of Women Athletes and Feedback from their Audience of Women

“…However, it should be acknowledged that although the Body Issue and Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit Issue are both sports magazines, distinct differences exist regarding the phenotypes of these populations (i.e., one features athletes, the other featuring models). Yet, the finding from Smallwood et al 2014align with the desires of the featured athletes as Krane et al (2010) report that women athletes prefer to emphasize their physical power, strength, and athleticism versus sexuality when given a choice about self-representation (i.e., repositories of values, beliefs, attitudes and feelings that evoke affects for those consuming; Toffoletti & Thorpe, 2018). It has also been discovered that women athletes have a greater freedom with how they are represented when expectations of femininity are reduced (i.e., when sport is not contextualized within a masculine-dominated structure;Fink, Kane, & LaVoi, 2014).…”

“…Despite Instagram's popularity and effectiveness among women athletes with respect to controlling their image and brand, traditional gender stereotypes and gender roles (i.e., characteristics and traits believed to differentiate men and women and judgments about which behaviors are socially accepted and desirable; Ashmore & Del Boca, 1981) persist. Moreover, there is continued social pressure to adhere to societal norms and audience expectations (Toffoletti & Thorpe, 2018), as the coverage of women athletes tends to focus on traditional gender roles (e.g., being a wife or mother; Cooky, Messner, & Hextrum, 2013), feminine traits, and physical attributes (i.e., beauty, sexual attractiveness) instead of performance and skill (Ponterotto, 2014;Sherry, Osborne & Nicholson, 2016). In addition, women athletes have ascribed to the idea that "sex sells" and this ideal has been used to justify sexualized portrayals of women athletes on the basis that it draws attention to the sport and increases viewership or attendance (e.g., Kane et al, 2013).…”