The famous women of Instagram ‘can’t win’ because they are bullied no matter what they do, an academic has claimed.
Female influencers ‘endure criticism and harassment both for being too real and too fake’, a new study from Cornell University found.
This exposes women to an ‘authenticity’ bind’ which means that sharing too much personal information gets them as much abuse as presenting a ‘curated’ online persona that’s very different to their IRL personality.
‘People are compelled to be authentic and ‘real’ but in ways that are really narrowly defined,’ said Brooke Erin Duffy, associate professor of communication and co-author of the study.
‘If they’re too real, if they show too much of their inner thoughts or they express too much, they fear criticism.
‘But if they aren’t real enough, if they’re highly curated and very performative, or idealized and aspirational, they fear blowback.
‘So, a woman on social media, especially with a large following, essentially can’t win.’
Harassment on Instagram is ‘common’ and is a particular problem for people with a large following, the academics said.
Yet Duffy said ‘few controls and restrictions exist on Instagram, leaving harassment victims particularly helpless when the success of their businesses depends on social media prominence’ and the garnering of followers, views and likes.
During the study, Duffy and co-author Emily Hund of the University of Pennsylvania interviewed 25 professional or aspiring female Instagrammers in the areas of fashion, beauty and lifestyle.
They said the women ‘tended to censor themselves in anticipation of criticism’.
Source: Read Full Article