ABSTRACT
While women have long been judged for their appearance, the social media age appears to have intensified body image dissatisfaction as it encourages frequent comparisons and a heightened awareness of others’ evaluations. To a certain extent, these findings also apply to men, although most students agreed that women worried more about their appearance and felt more sensitive to online feedback than men did. Accordingly, this chapter explores a range of issues, including popular discourse about ideal body type, the ubiquity of social comparison, gender expression, and the impact of the body positivity movement on students’ body acceptance. This chapter highlights key themes that emerged from interview and focus group discussions on body image—authenticity, self-branding, surveillance, and the arduous work of beauty and identity among both women and men—paying credence to gendered presentations of self on social media as compared to offline contexts. Most student narratives draw on references to Instagram, the most visual and curated site.
