#Bopo: Enhancing body image through body positive social media- evidence to date and research directions
Introduction
Highly visual (i.e., appearance-oriented) social media use has been found to negatively impact body image due to the presence of idealized images that (a) lead to unfavorable appearance comparisons, (b) reinforce appearance as a central feature of identity, and (c) promote the pursuit of unattainable appearance ideals (Fardouly and Vartanian, 2016, Holland and Tiggemann, 2016). However, despite the predominance of idealized appearance-centered content on social media, other types of content are also present and may constitute a counter discourse and potentially protect body image. In particular, social media content identified as “body positive” (#bopo) may be beneficial. This paper aims to provide an overview of the historical context, presence, and characteristics of the online body positivity movement, as well as the evidence to date regarding how it relates to body image, and finally offer directions for future research.
Section snippets
Definitions
Over the last decade, there has been a proliferation of body positive content within social media campaigns and platforms (e.g., Instagram) that has developed into a body positivity (#bopo) movement. Body positive content encourages body acceptance and challenges the normalization and pursuit of sociocultural appearance ideals, often centering the voices of marginalized individuals and acknowledging their oppression.
The body positive movement was built on the foundation of previously
Presence and characteristics
The focus of the body positive movement on visual diversity and the concurrent rise of highly visual social media have contributed to its broad reach. At the time of writing, the hashtag #bodypositivity claimed 8936,218 posts, of which the top two1 illustrate some of the tensions described above. The first, a cartoon bearing the quote “Don’t hate your legs, they take you places” exemplifies the focus on
Potential effects and mechanisms
The potential benefits of body positive online content are framed within sociocultural theories of the development and maintenance of body image concerns as well as theories of the development of positive body image. Sociocultural theories of body image concerns posit that the unachievable appearance ideals that are conveyed by mainstream media and relayed by interpersonal influences, coupled with social consequences of the oppressive social system of body capital, place strong pressures on
Benefits to positive body image
An accumulating body of qualitative, cross-sectional, experimental, and emerging longitudinal evidence has investigated the relationships between body positive social media content and body image. As described above, body positive social media content is heterogeneous in its imagery, messaging, and philosophical underpinnings, and therefore the types of body positive content considered across these studies also varies, with some studies focusing on a very specific type of content while others
Future directions
Although a growing body of empirical evidence has supported an overall relationship between body positive social media content and lower body image concerns and more positive body image, many gaps in our understanding of the ways in which body positive social media content is related to body image remain. These gaps include clarifying both the types of body positive content and the dimensions of body image that might be most positively associated, as well as the individuals who may derive the
Conclusions
To conclude, body positive content aims to disrupt the monopoly of idealized media on the visual landscape, and to encourage individuals to adopt a positive stance towards their body and appearance by increasing diversity and inclusiveness on social media and rejecting harmful appearance ideals that perpetuate oppressive systems of body capital. The extant research provides support for the relationship between such social media content and lower levels of body image concerns and higher levels
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