Gender Display among Instagram Users: Performative Gender Approach

Abstract

n this qualitative study, by studying the car fans' pages on Instagram based on the Butler Performative identity approach, not only the way of performing the gender identity of the woman or the female subject was determined, but also an attempt was made to examine and argue the discourse shaping such performance. Findings based on participants' perceptions showed that women objectify their existence through their sexual body behaviors. They perceive their body as a commodity in which they can develop themselves and shape their feminine identity. Thus, gender performances often take the form of body shows and sexual performances. Such an understanding of the female gender and the performances is the main axis of the discourse of libidinal economy. A new economic discourse that is based on the intersection of gender and economics. An intersection in which the axis of the economy and the sexual body intertwine. The female sexual body is the link in this intersection. Therefore, a woman's sexual characteristics become her most important gender characteristics. That is, gender is more about sex and its reproduction.

Keywords

• : performative gender
• the intersection of sex and economics
• libidinal economy
• the sexual body