title: Social media and body image: It's complicated

authors: Elliott, Darren Jack

subjects: Body image

abstract: Body image is an important dimension of life, and in a media-saturated world, we are supposedly surrounded by images of 'idealised' physical body types that are harmful to people's body image. Many theories have been put forward to account for the growing idealisation of 'thin' and 'toned' women and 'lean' and 'muscular' men. Historically, psychological body image research has reliably linked exposure to 'ideal' bodies in mainstream 'traditional' media (along with moderating processes of internalisation, self-comparison, and objectification) and experiences of body image dissatisfaction; for increasingly diverse populations of women and men across the lifespan. In recent years, researchers have turned their attention to social media's impact on body image. Some quantitative and correlational studies suggest that social media use is associated with body image dissatisfaction and, in some instances, further intensifies its scope and scale. Findings also contend that social media can promote body image satisfaction by enabling the distribution and consumption of alternative, 'realistic' body types and body positive content.

This thesis suggests inconsistent, and binary findings come from the limited and partial ways research often conceptualise and analyse the relationship between social media and body image. Studies are typically based on singular aspects of social media (i.e. exposure to particular pages or technological affordances) and often overemphasise body image as a static, cross-situational trait, ignoring its complex and situational-specific nature. The current study counters this by bringing together the critical psychological view that body image is complex, multidimensional, and fluid and contemporary Screen and Media scholarship that emphasises how people can simultaneously be users of and used by social media. I combine these two perspectives to critically explore how people experience their body image through social media in ambivalent ways and how social media can enable and challenge the process of developing positive body image experiences.

Specifically, I take a Critical Realist informed, qualitative approach to exploring how the social and technological affordances of social media ('Facebook' and 'Instagram') shape attitudinal body image (thoughts, feelings and behaviours relating to research respondents' physical appearance and embodiment) of adult, New Zealand and Australian women and men who are actively using social media to improve their body image. The research findings draw from an online survey of 552 respondents and 30 semi-structured interviews that highlight the simultaneous risks, rewards, and ever-present tensions - which, I argue, are inherently characteristic of the reflexive relationship between particularly situated individuals, social media, and body image.

text: Social media and body image: It's complicated Body image is an important dimension of life, and in a media-saturated world, we are supposedly surrounded by images of 'idealised' physical body types that are harmful to people's body image. Many theories have been put forward to account for the growing idealisation of 'thin' and 'toned' women and 'lean' and 'muscular' men. Historically, psychological body image research has reliably linked exposure to 'ideal' bodies in mainstream 'traditional' media (along with moderating processes of internalisation, self-comparison, and objectification) and experiences of body image dissatisfaction; for increasingly diverse populations of women and men across the lifespan. In recent years, researchers have turned their attention to social media's impact on body image. Some quantitative and correlational studies suggest that social media use is associated with body image dissatisfaction and, in some instances, further intensifies its scope and scale. Findings also contend that social media can promote body image satisfaction by enabling the distribution and consumption of alternative, 'realistic' body types and body positive content.

This thesis suggests inconsistent, and binary findings come from the limited and partial ways research often conceptualise and analyse the relationship between social media and body image. Studies are typically based on singular aspects of social media (i.e. exposure to particular pages or technological affordances) and often overemphasise body image as a static, cross-situational trait, ignoring its complex and situational-specific nature. The current study counters this by bringing together the critical psychological view that body image is complex, multidimensional, and fluid and contemporary Screen and Media scholarship that emphasises how people can simultaneously be users of and used by social media. I combine these two perspectives to critically explore how people experience their body image through social media in ambivalent ways and how social media can enable and challenge the process of developing positive body image experiences.

Specifically, I take a Critical Realist informed, qualitative approach to exploring how the social and technological affordances of social media ('Facebook' and 'Instagram') shape attitudinal body image (thoughts, feelings and behaviours relating to research respondents' physical appearance and embodiment) of adult, New Zealand and Australian women and men who are actively using social media to improve their body image. The research findings draw from an online survey of 552 respondents and 30 semi-structured interviews that highlight the simultaneous risks, rewards, and ever-present tensions - which, I argue, are inherently characteristic of the reflexive relationship between particularly situated individuals, social media, and body image.

year: 2022

title: Write the Body Bloody: Violence, Gender & Identity in the Poetry of Sylvia Plath & Ai

authors: Elliott, Rachael

subjects: Sylvia Plath

abstract: Poems that hang themselves on the rope of acts, apparitions and assertions of violence, voiced by a fierce ‘I’, are primary modes in the work of both Sylvia Plath and Ai.  Their violent ‘I’s burst the boundaries of acceptable poetic expression in moments of crisis, trauma and uncertainty, giving voice to the unspeakable. Yet critical analysis has made a habit of dividing these poets’ violent use of the first person, placing Plath firmly in the category of (naked) autobiographical confession and Ai in the tradition of (masked) dramatic monologue. This thesis highlights the links between the modes in which Plath and Ai inhabit the poetic ‘I’, exploring how they each use scenes of violence to perform and interrogate issues of gender and identity, expose the nexus of tenderness and cruelty and obscure the roles of villain and victim. It argues that neither the category of confessional poetry or dramatic monologue can cage these poets’ seizure of the ‘I’ or explain their emphasis on self as theatre and character as concert. It examines the ways in which selected poems from each writer’s work do violence to the gender and identity limits implicit in both labels.
The creative section which follows this legacy of ‘unacceptable’ women’s writing continues to agitate against the gender limits imposed upon women. It does not flinch from conflict and unpicks the body to discover what identity really means. It embodies the ghosts that haunt my writing self, demanding they be given a voice. My poetry is a breathing fusion of my personal and my dramatic selves. Like the poetry of Plath and Ai, my own creative work refuses to be caged.

text: Write the Body Bloody: Violence, Gender & Identity in the Poetry of Sylvia Plath & Ai Poems that hang themselves on the rope of acts, apparitions and assertions of violence, voiced by a fierce ‘I’, are primary modes in the work of both Sylvia Plath and Ai.  Their violent ‘I’s burst the boundaries of acceptable poetic expression in moments of crisis, trauma and uncertainty, giving voice to the unspeakable. Yet critical analysis has made a habit of dividing these poets’ violent use of the first person, placing Plath firmly in the category of (naked) autobiographical confession and Ai in the tradition of (masked) dramatic monologue. This thesis highlights the links between the modes in which Plath and Ai inhabit the poetic ‘I’, exploring how they each use scenes of violence to perform and interrogate issues of gender and identity, expose the nexus of tenderness and cruelty and obscure the roles of villain and victim. It argues that neither the category of confessional poetry or dramatic monologue can cage these poets’ seizure of the ‘I’ or explain their emphasis on self as theatre and character as concert. It examines the ways in which selected poems from each writer’s work do violence to the gender and identity limits implicit in both labels.
The creative section which follows this legacy of ‘unacceptable’ women’s writing continues to agitate against the gender limits imposed upon women. It does not flinch from conflict and unpicks the body to discover what identity really means. It embodies the ghosts that haunt my writing self, demanding they be given a voice. My poetry is a breathing fusion of my personal and my dramatic selves. Like the poetry of Plath and Ai, my own creative work refuses to be caged.

year: 2014

title: What (actually) matters in literacy education: Contributions from community psychology

authors: Furness, Jane Amanda

subjects: Family literacy

abstract: This paper describes the critical role community psychology theories played in reframing literacy research involving mainly Māori and Pacific peoples’ extended families and communities. Within a critical social constructionist paradigm, ecological systems theory and holistic, integrative theories of wellbeing brought much-needed new thinking to how family-focused adult literacy education might be theorised and practiced. This reframing marks a challenge to and movement away from still-dominant Western individualistic, behavioural orientated, skills-based and formal economy-focused ways of thinking about people’s literacy abilities. It highlights the important role of community psychology in developing theory, informing policy and enhancing practices in culturally diverse education settings to achieve both educational and quality of life aims. Improving quality of life is not possible through literacy education in and of itself, but rather through the inculcation in programme design and delivery of those things which are fundamental and critical to the participants’ overall wellbeing and welfare.

text: What (actually) matters in literacy education: Contributions from community psychology This paper describes the critical role community psychology theories played in reframing literacy research involving mainly Māori and Pacific peoples’ extended families and communities. Within a critical social constructionist paradigm, ecological systems theory and holistic, integrative theories of wellbeing brought much-needed new thinking to how family-focused adult literacy education might be theorised and practiced. This reframing marks a challenge to and movement away from still-dominant Western individualistic, behavioural orientated, skills-based and formal economy-focused ways of thinking about people’s literacy abilities. It highlights the important role of community psychology in developing theory, informing policy and enhancing practices in culturally diverse education settings to achieve both educational and quality of life aims. Improving quality of life is not possible through literacy education in and of itself, but rather through the inculcation in programme design and delivery of those things which are fundamental and critical to the participants’ overall wellbeing and welfare.

year: 2013