Influential Instagram Women; Femininity Portrayed on the Pages of Iranian Influencers

Abstract

Influencers, through their posts on social media, are the online thought leaders who influence the behavior and decision-making process of the mass. Many Instagram influencers are now women. The image they present as women is an influential image of femininity. This research attempts to analyze the femininity presented on Instagram. For this purpose, the pages of four Iranian female influencers were selected as a sample and the posts of these pages were analyzed using the social semiotics of the image of Cress and Van Livon. The research results show that there are four different ways of portraying femininity on these pages: “modern corporeal femininity”, “traditional femininity in new form”, “anti-dominant femininity”, and “femininity in public space”. These types have both similarities and distinct differences from each other. They pay attention to the two categories of “female body” and “traditional female roles”, and their representations are formed around these two categories. The female body and female roles are influenced by two processes of commercialization and socialization, one by capitalist discourse, the other by feminist discourse. Furthermore, in all the types of femininity presented, religious discourse is either completely rejected or ignored.

Keywords

• influencer
• women influencer
• femininity
• social semiotics
• instagram