Embodying resistance : a discourse analytical study of the selfie as political tool within the fourth wave of feminism

Abstract

This Master’s thesis is exploring whether the selfie can be utilised as a political tool in order to challenge the stereotypical ideas of femininity and female beauty that currently dominate the visual social media landscape. Focusing on the photo-sharing application Instagram, the emphasis is here on how the selfie can position the portrayed subject’s body as a site of resistance. By publishing images depicting their non-normative physical appearances, social media-participating feminists are challenging gender stereotypes and simultaneously uncovering new feminist ideas and networks that differ from previous feminist activity. The thesis employs Foucauldian categories as a framework and utilises discourse analytical tools in its methodological approach in order to argue that this form of embodied subjectivity within the context of social media is the pinnacle of a new feminist movement; the fourth-wave.