Running Head: Woman-to-Woman
Woman-to-Woman: Visual Communication Through Fashion
and The Female Gaze on Instagram
Marymount Manhattan College
COMM 450
Gwendolyn Attridge
May 18th, 2021
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between women, fashion content on Instagram, and the lesser known idea of the female gaze. There are extensive studies on the male gaze, which is defined as the objectification of women’s bodies in media and real life as a product of a male perspective. Contrastingly, there is a gaping hole in research about the female gaze, a concept in which women appeal to other women platonically through their interests to form bonds and a sense of community. While many scholars have delved into the negative impacts of social media, there are also positive effects that it can have, especially on women, that remain underreported within communication academia. The research within this thesis dissects how visual fashion content on Instagram posted by women in turn results in female friendships and women empowerment, which is an outcome of appealing to the female gaze instead of the male gaze. The anticipation of connection between these concepts will give insight into the role of this phenomenon in women’s lives on and offline. Six interviews were conducted virtually and recorded, all participants being females in their early twenties who consider themselves active Instagram users and have an interest in fashion. The findings suggest women appeal to the female gaze by identifying commonalities and building community upon them while lessening the presence and effects of the male gaze on dress practices and creation of content.
Definition of Terms
Female gaze- “For many, the term alludes to the right of women to adopt the active and objectifying gaze that has traditionally and stereotypically been associated with males, undermining the dominant cultural alignment of masculinity with activity and femininity with passivity...The ways in which women and girls look at other females, at males, and at things in the world. This concerns the kinds of looking involved, and how these may be related to identification, objectification, subjectivity, and the performance and construction of gender” (Chandler & Munday, 2020).
Male gaze- “A manner of treating women's bodies as objects to be surveyed, which is associated by feminists with hegemonic masculinity, both in everyday social interaction and in relation to their representation in visual media” (Male Gaze, n.d.).
Social media- “Forms of electronic communication (such as websites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (such as videos)” (Definition of Social Media, n.d.).
Instagram- A social media platform in which photos are shared
Pinterest- Image sharing platform in which people can “pin” images to “boards” to create groups of images under a specified category
DM- A direct message on a social media platform, in which conversations happen one-on-one
Dress practices- Ways in which an individual interacts with clothing
Fashion content- Any visuals, including images and videos, that appeal to or involve an interaction with fashion, or what is trendy within dress practices, and clothing
Subject formation- A term used in fashion in place of “identity,” due to the changing nature of identity within dress practices (“becoming” over “being”) (Kaiser, 2013).
Subject position- categories that “organize identities, social relations, and the objects and images that culture produces” (Kaiser, 2013).
Subjectivity- “the agency to assert or articulate one’s own ways of being and becoming” (Kaiser, 2013).
Introduction
“A theory of the ‘male gaze’ tends to assume that this is the main system that defines how women dress and feel when dressed, yet empirical evidence presented...suggests that dressed experience for the wearer is much more complex than this – rather it is a multi-sensory act of self-creation, in which other meanings of dress also have importance”
On January 19th, 2021, a video was posted on the short-form video sharing platform TikTok by user Madison Wild. Wild, a female fashion content creator on the app and also on Instagram, posted a response, or a “stitch” as they refer to it on the platform, to another user’s video. The video she was responding to was originally posted by user @heritagin, who posts about “heritage studies and art ramblings,” according to her bio. She opens the video saying “Let’s talk about the female gaze.”
It then cuts to Wild’s part of the video, where she responds immediately saying, “I love this video, I thought it was so cool because I’ve literally never even considered the female gaze as a thing, but it definitely exists.” She continues on, stating her interpretation of the informational video about the lesser talked-about opposite of the male gaze: “The way I resonated with it is every time I get dressed, I’m appealing to women. Like, a guy doesn’t care that you’re wearing a new Paloma Wool pant but a girl would notice and be like, ‘Oh she’s probably cool.’...We get dressed to signal to other people who we are and what kind of person we are...That’s why so many things in fashion are considered ‘weird’ to guys...And that’s why fashion with women is so diverse and we wear so many different things that we know men aren’t gonna like but it signals to other girls like ‘Hey, I’m like you or we might have similar interests’, like, girls dress like girls they want to be friends with.” (@madisonxwild, 2021).
Madison Wild makes a good point about a subconscious practice of women, that practice simply being the decision to wear certain clothing based on how we want to be perceived by others. As written by fashion and design scholar Susan B. Kaiser, “...fashioning the body is one of the ways individuals can represent their momentary sense of who they are becoming. These representations through style allow individuals to combine, or move across, their subject positions with a sense of self-awareness and self-expression: processes of subjectivity—the ongoing, changing sense of exploring ‘who I am’ and ‘who I am becoming.’” Kaiser uses the term “subject positions” to refer to categories that “organize identities, social relations, and the objects and images that culture produces.” She also defines “subjectivity” as “the agency to assert or articulate one’s own ways of being and becoming” (Kaiser, 2013). This is true for everyone in society, as “Fashion parallels everyday life in creating, visually, materially and in writing ‘a reality readily available for scrutiny’” (Buckley & Clark, 2017). However, for women and femme-identifying folk, these everyday choices are subjected to sexualization and objectification due to the presence of the male gaze in society. There have been countless studies focusing on this phenomena, most of them falling in the category of film, the discipline in which the term “male gaze” was coined by feminist film critic Laura Mulvey (Oliver, 2017; Sassatelli, 2011). Other research covers the topic in categories such as advertising (Reichert et al., 2013) even early Internet culture (Sullivan, 1997).
Despite all this research on fashion identity studies and male gaze perspectives, there seems to be absence of research in academia that combine the two factors, which seems off-putting due to the fact that instances of rape among female victims have been justified by their clothing choices (Lennon et al., 1993). Sullivan’s study talks about cybersexism in the late nineties, there is a lack of studies that talk about the male gaze on social media in the 21st century. That may be because it is slowly being diminished, and women are using fashion and social media to appeal to each other, instead of to men. This is what is defined by many women as “the female gaze,” and it appears in both the fashion and communication disciplines. The only study to even touch on this is done by Dr. Sara Chong Kwan, who deconstructs “the [male] gaze” in regards to dress practices, and focuses on women’s agency and self-creation within the process of dressing rather than the appeal to men (2020). This study will delve further into this concept and frame it through the lens of social media, fashion imagery, and female relationships, which form through the sharing or admiration of one’s dress practices.
In the 21st century, with women becoming more independent than ever, we see the narrative of fashion and dress shifting, as mentioned by Chong Kwan in her essay. Fashion is also taking on new visual mediums such as Instagram, Pinterest, and TikTok, and the nature of these mediums is shifting. Unlike the earlier 2000s and 2010s, fashion platforms and publications are focusing more on the empowerment of women, rather than what they should wear to “get the guy.” However, the research on the negative impacts of social media on mental health and self-esteem (Poon & Jiang, 2020; Moningka & Eminiar, 2020) remains robust. Women interested in fashion these days tend to see the use of social media as a form of creative expression, and a hub of empowerment. This is mirrored in the exponential growth of female fashion content creators on each platform. With this new population of young women growing by the minute, it is important to start mirroring the academic research off of this budding generation of females, as we move away from toxic female narratives and create new ones. The study conducted is meant to represent this population and give recognition to the benefits the current social media sites can have on women and female relationships. Without the examination of this population, we are not accurately representing the presence of women on social sites accurately.
The purpose of this study is to research the presence and effect of the female gaze on women’s social media through the lens of fashion and dress practices, and examine the relationships women form as a result of its presence within fashion imagery. I will specifically use Instagram as my platform of study, as the evidence of this phenomenon is most prevalent there. Because our lives have become so dominated by social media and Internet use due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, it is essential to look into the reclaiming of women’s identities through online fashion discourse.
Literature Review
To understand the multiple layers embedded within this study, it is vital to break down each part. In simplest terms, the research boils down to how women communicate their identities through fashion and dress practices. The dissection and role of the male gaze in this communication is also essential to explaining the foundation of this research. The most detailed study on this combination of phenomena, done by Dr. Sara Jong Kwan (2020), examines the relation between the senses and the dressed body. While this topic may seem nonspecific to the topics mentioned prior, Kwan summarizes critical analyses from feminist and political theorist Iris Marion Young, which contribute to both the conversation of women’s dress practices and where the role the male gaze takes within those practices. “Young, in her seminal essay on women’s embodied experience, considers women’s intimate and emotional relationship with clothing...The exclusive focus on ‘the gaze’ and more specifically a ‘male gaze’ that acts upon women, denies the subjective perspective and agency of women – who are more than passive objects on whom meaning is imposed, but are themselves active agents in the process of meaning making” (Kwan, 2020). Due to women’s deep-seeded interest in clothing a representation of their identity, it is reductive to only speak of the male gaze in regards to their dress practices. Doing this denies the woman’s power to exert her identity or “subject formation” through fashion choices. Kwan’s study empirically proves the departing from this narrative and explains the starting of a new one, in which the dressed and fashioned self is seen as actively involved in the process of creating identity (Kwan, 2020). Understanding the absence of the male gaze in the dress practices of women is crucial to the comprehension of “the female gaze” as a real, acting phenomenon in society. The dissection of dress from this feminist perspective sets a framework to talk about how the female gaze is applied to fashion in digital media.
With the absence of the male gaze leading to the flourishing of female agency within dress practices, it is important to apply the same concept to social media in today’s society. Aforementioned, many studies like to point to the detrimental effects of social media on body images, self-esteem, et cetera. However, studies also point to social media as a source of empowerment for women. Riquelme et al. (2018) dissected this possibility by surveying 372 women on Instagram, and they found that “The indirect effect appears through two perceptual mechanisms: sense of self-efficacy and sense of community (SOC)... the SOC plays a more significant role in creating psychological empowerment. Having a sense of virtual community, as opposed to participating in real ones, can act as catalyst in creating empowerment” (Riquelme et al., 2018). The communication through images, text, commentary, and short personal messages combines to aid the sharing of interests between women. Sharing content allows for women to share a piece of themselves, and therefore find others in the online public space to connect with that are similar to them or have similar beliefs or hobbies. This creates community, which is defined by Oxford Languages as “a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals.” Community within the female population leads to empowerment by being a source of positivity, which originates in the comfort of shared interests. Having people to relate to, who are at your fingertips constantly due to the digital format of platforms like Instagram, provides women with a heightened sense of identity and positive reinforcement of that identity. This is the mechanism talked about within this study, as the female gaze produces these communities on Instagram by making women’s interests visible and able to be related to by others.
As previously stated, this is where the gap in research begins. There are little to no studies combining social media, the female gaze, and fashion and dress practices. It gets harder to find materials even written when narrowing the search to Instagram and the female gaze. However, Daher (2018) discusses her personal take on the two in an analysis on The Week. “What we less often explore, however, are the celebrations of womanhood: the female gaze” (Daher, 2018). In non-academia terms, she goes on to discuss the idea of women doing things to appeal to what women like and what women see. She makes a direct connection of this phenomena to Instagram: “Instagram, a social network predicated on users' desire to judge aesthetics, has emerged as the most effective platform for women to safely celebrate, well, women.” A note is also taken of Instagram’s ability to generate authentic connections more than other social platforms, due to the choice to accompany images or videos with short or long form commentary. This ability to contribute as much or as little to conversations that are formed through visuals creates a public forum for women to express themselves freely, and therefore put pieces of their personality or identity on the Internet.
Daher points to the visual-sharing app as an empowerment tool for women, referencing the “#MeToo” movement of 2017 as an example of how women used the app and its hashtags to expand the conversation of power abuse and sexual harassment in Hollywood. “As society re-evaluates masculine entitlement, the female gaze is sharpening,” says Daher. This is the pinnacle of the topic being discussed within this research. It discusses Instagram as a hub of reclamation within female communities, as they start to rewrite their own narrative of how they want to be perceived, slowly breaking down the toxic standards that have been put in place before them. Knowing that visual images and captions can foster this kind of change shows the shifting purpose of these platforms for women. This source details this shift from the male to the female gaze on Instagram in the most thorough way we have seen so far in academia. The link between Instagram and the female gaze will be examined in depth within the study through the niche of fashion and expression of identity through dress. A foundation to build off of is essential to producing concrete data from the study, and this source provides that foundation despite its lack of academic nature.
The research within this thesis spans almost every level of communication, from intrapersonal to mass. The other levels of communication within this study are derivatives of mass communication, since the main topic of conversation is visual material posted online to a large public audience. Intrapersonal communication, or communication with oneself, is a main focus within the data collection, as the questions participants are asked reveal their inner monologue regarding their dress practices, their absorption of other online material, and why they form the relationships they form. Interpersonal and small group communication, which happens with one or more people, are the basis of many of the questions about the interactions these participants have experienced within online spaces (direct messages, comments sections, story replies, et cetera). All of these types of communications are carried out through a public space, and this research explores the role of that public space in the phenomena of the female gaze and fashion content.
The feminist alternative to the male gaze also serves as a basis for this research as well. The female gaze will lend an explanation as to why posting images can have a profound effect on women’s sense of identity and community. By going through this lens, it guides participants through their own decision-making processes and gives them reasons why subconscious decisions are made. A solid, existing theory is necessary to make sense of the actions that seem subconscious to women in the age of social media.
RQ: How do women appeal to the female gaze on Instagram through fashion?
Method
To gather information for this study, six in-depth interviews were conducted over Zoom virtual meetings. Each participant was asked 10-15 questions concerning the topic at hand. This information was then analyzed to form conclusions that are summarized in the Results section that provide a further understanding and potential answers to the research question stated prior.
Procedure
Utilizing a phenomenology approach, participants were gathered based on their immersion in the world the topic regards, in which it is a lived experience for them on a relatively consistent basis. Each interviewee was sent 3 sample questions prior to the interview, and no written response to these questions was required before the scheduled interview. A questionnaire of 13 pre-written components was used as a structured framework for each interview. It acted as a guide amongst the tangents that were expected to arise and vary between each participant. This research design left room for differentiation between follow-up questions based on the answers given to the pre-written questions, which is fit for this particular study that focuses on qualitative rather than quantitative data.
Participants
The sample population consisted of six participants based in the New York City area, or other cosmopolitan areas, including Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Jacksonville, Florida. The geographical selection was chosen mostly out of convenience, due to the locality of the researcher — but also to acknowledge New York City and cities as hubs of fashion and creativity. All participants identified as female, as this study pertains specifically to the perspective of women. Four of these participants identified as white or caucasian, one identified as African American, and one identified as South Asian. The scope consisted of ages ranging between 20 and 222, all recorded having a college degree or pursuing a college degree. All have reported using Instagram for over seven years and creating fashion or lifestyle content for two years or more. When asked about their follower count, the answers ranged from 2,000 to 13,000. These subjects were found and recruited via Instagram, all being known solely online before any sort of in-person or virtual meeting. They were chosen based on the type of content posted and their high activity on the platform. The content that would fit the criteria of this study would be imagery that emulates fashion photography or reveals a creative approach to clothing and dress.
Interviews
Each interview remained fairly casual and conversational in nature, but followed a framework of 14 pre-written questions, which excluded demographic questions and follow-up questions. Prior to the interview, participants were sent the same three sample questions. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all interviews took place virtually through video conference. They were screen recorded on a laptop and audio recorded on a smartphone with the permission of the participant. Each interviewee was asked prior to the interview for permission to be recorded and given the option to use a pseudonym. All participants consented to being recorded and using their real names in this study. The interview length ranged between a half an hour to an hour and a half, the average interview time being 58 minutes.
After getting permission to record, each interview started with the same five warm-up questions. They were asked for their name, age, major or degree, how many years they have been on Instagram, and their follower count on Instagram. After the introduction, the framework of 14 pre-written questions was used to guide each interview (see Appendix A). The sample questions sent to the participants before were scattered throughout this framework. All questions were structured in an open-ended style, to leave room for participants to elaborate and form honest, authentic answers. Due to this format, different follow-up questions were asked to each participant, either for clarification or elaboration. These questions related to previously stated ideas or new concepts that arose from the topic the interviewee took the conversation in. This freedom allowed each participant to take the interview in the unanticipated directions, unique to each of their interpretations of each question and their perspective of the lived experience in question. All of the questions referred to either the participant’s use of Instagram as a mechanism of creative expression through fashion visuals, their lived experience as a woman on social media, and the interpersonal communication between themselves and other women on the platform. These questions allowed for the participants to critically think about their practices on social media, which are normally subconscious, and generated realizations of the relationship between fashion, feminism, and communication between women on the Instagram platform.
Data Analysis
All interviews were recorded via screen recording on a laptop and audio recording on an Iphone. Before transcription, open coding was used to brainstorm themes that could be recalled from all six interviews. They were then listened to carefully and transcribed digitally within an online document. The transcription was divided into sections by question, and then subdivided by participant, detailing each interviewee’s answer in detail. Keywords and themes were then highlighted within the document to see where there was repetition within the responses. These keywords and themes were determined based on the major concepts within the research question, including the female gaze and fashion content on Instagram. Axial coding was then used to solidify themes and give them official titles. With these in mind, the data was able to become more organized and concrete. Answers to the research question formulated and only differed slightly between interview subjects, and quotes were pulled based on relevance to the section at hand.
Results
As previously stated, the research question at hand explored how women appeal to the female gaze through fashion on Instagram. Overall, it is clear that this gaze is extremely prevalent on the platform and has generally affected women’s decision-making processes and relationships in a positive way. When questioning motives for posting, or what makes them form what they post, all participants agreed and the eyes of other women were inspiring and empowering. All have gained friendships with other women from posting fashion content online and feel it has improved their perceptions of themselves and other women. In some form, every interviewee’s response for how they view themselves and what they find inspiring in others started to emulate each other, thus proving that women appeal to women that they see themselves in, or identify with. This in turn creates community, which every participant felt and provided examples of. The answer to how women appeal to the female gaze is abstract and loaded. To best present the results of this question, and summarize the six interviews, themes were extracted from the responses and categorized. By doing this, the audience will truly understand the lived experience of a creative woman on social media.
Mirror Effect: Women appealing to other women with the same qualities, values, and interests as themselves
When defining the female gaze, most participants’ answers boiled down to women appealing to women. One participant, Nina (22), explains it as “the way women modify to appeal to one another, both with motive but also to connect and build community.” This definition encompasses the first answer to the research question, as it explains how women form their identities and why they form them in such ways. To get to this answer, the women in this study were first asked about what attracts them to inspiration content. In response, Madeline (21), states, “If it feels authentic to me…or it feels like something that could happen in my reality. That’s when I save something,” in regards to saving content using the Instagram saves feature, which compiles other users’ images into groups to look at later. Many other participants noted words such as “lifestyle-y” (Chloë, 21), “different” (Hayley, 22), “pushing the boundaries” (Niharika, 21), or “creative” (Samantha, 20). Mentions of color were repeated heavily amongst participants within this question as well.
Later in each interview, participants were asked about the relationships they formed from fashion content posted on Instagram. When asked about the qualities of the people they form relationships with, most participants used the words relating to “genuine” or “authentic.” Hayley (22) states, “The genuineness, I like it, and it feels like a friendship, it feels like a girl you meet in a bathroom at a bar, then you guys stick together.” Another participant, Chloë (21), says something along the same lines about how those relationships expand into real life.
“...Genuine and authentic are the biggest things, when it feels authentic and I can actually feel the person’s personality come out...They seem beyond [Instagram]. I know they don’t know me but maybe they’re reaching out because maybe they wanna get to know me in that way. And then [they’re] friendly and outgoing, and just like unapologetic in the way that they just are throwing it out there and being like, ‘Would you wanna get coffee?’ That's always so cool. [They’re] people that kind of humanize Instagram, because that’s my favorite part of Instagram.”
Participants also noted that the people they form relationships with will have similar interests such as shopping (Samantha, 20) or social issues (Madeline, 21). Madeline states, “The reason why I think they would be my friends is because they care about the things I care about.” With all of this being said, it is clear at this point that women look for themselves in other women, and have the desire to form relationships with those with similar interests or similar values, who seem to be authentic in the expression of themselves on the Internet.
This conclusion was solidified in the asking of what the participants feel comes through about their personality in the posts on their Instagram. Words and concepts were repeated, as the participants wanted “kind of be real” (Nina, 22), to “try to do a good job to be the same way I would in real life” (Hayley, 22), to be “...fun in real life [and] fun on the Internet” (Madeline, 21). That idea of authenticity echoes throughout the responses, as the fashion content community empowers one to be their truest form of self through their expression of clothing. If being genuine is something you value, it is something you will look for in the people you surround yourself by. All participants mentioned color again, and words like “outgoing” (Samanatha, 20) or “bold” (Niharika, 21).
The repetition and connections are clear, as the participants' responses to what they value ended up being the answer to what they see in themselves. This clearly describes the effect of the female gaze on content, and that women appealing to other women’s interests is extremely prevalent in the sharing of fashion content. The influence of a woman’s environment is internalized and then transformed. This means that they absorb what they find attractive or interesting, and then apply their personal touch to make it fit their own reality and persona. When posting on Instagram, this piece of oneself is left in the public sphere, and therefore will relay into another woman’s influence, who will identify with pieces of that person that they resonate with most. That is why women end up appealing to women similar to themselves, which is evident in the similar responses to questions about inspiration, their relationships, and the participant’s own influence on other women. One participant, Samantha (20), summarizes it: “We get inspiration from [content creators], we get inspiration into our own style, and take some of that and put it into our own style.”
Creativity as a commonground
Another trend noted throughout the discussions was the appearance of the word or derivatives of the word “creativity.” When dissecting the data, the word or a derivative of the word was seen over 20 times. It appeared in multiple different responses to different questions, and therefore it seemed like the commongroud between these women, and the communities they have formed online. Hayley (22), speaks on this in regards to how she finds her inspiration content.
“...When I see other girls think outside the box, I think ‘That’s smart, I want to do something like that.’ So I think that’s also where Instagram is really cool because we see a lot of different types of content, and some people are really fricking creative! I’m also drawn to how someone will style something different, that’s not the usual trend or whatnot.”
The female gaze is in action here, as Hayley is seeing something she is interested in, which she will then enact by putting that influence into her content or dress practices. The cycle continues, and Hayley says how she hopes to be “That inspiration type...that is thinking outside the box,” making, “other people want to create that content.” When Hayley influences other women, the cycle repeats itself, and creativity is clearly at the root of that cycle.
One participant, Chloë, explains why this phenomenon happens between women in regards to the creative process. She explains how “you know what it feels like to put on an outfit, to shoot it, to edit it, to think about it...all of it, you know what goes behind it, so when you see someone post a really good fit or having fun, it’s like you resonate with that, and you respect the work and the grind that goes into that.” Creative people understand the “behind-the-scenes” of making art, whether that be putting together an outfit, taking pictures, making music, or even knitting a sweater. There is thought and careful consideration behind every detail, and it is noticed more by those who are familiar with the process of creativity.
Reclamation of the Body From The Male Gaze
In its definition, the male gaze “treats women's bodies as objects to be surveyed” (Male Gaze, n.d.). This is degrading to women, reducing them to devices of physical and visual benefit of men. In 2021, “It's a flip of the script here that's key. From lifestyle bloggers to art curators to celebrities, these women aren't on Instagram to be looked at or evaluated by men” (Daher, 2018). The word “reclaim” was repeated multiple times throughout interviews, along with the terms “empowerment” and other feminist-related concepts. To reclaim means “to recall from wrong or improper conduct” (Reclaim Definition, n.d.). In this age of social media, fashion content creators are derailing the male gaze, and they are first reclaiming their bodies from the sexualization they have tolerated for years.
A participant, Madeline (21) talks of the experience of the sexualization of her body type by men and how she is turning the narrative on its head. “I’m very top heavy, [my chest] was oversexualized my entire life even when I’m just walking down the street. So I’m very conscious of the way my boobs look in pictures, but I also think I embrace them. So it’s kind of like a feminist movment of women taking back who they are...but because we live in the patriarchy, it’s impossible to be empowered by your body that men will use for the betterment of themselves because, even though you feel empowered, they still get their satisfaction. But I’d rather be empowered myself than try to cover who I am.”
These are standards women have dealt with for centuries, and even in the age of feminism, still exists. However, the thought process of young women is changing, and it is especially evident in fashion content. Women are owning their bodies, and their personal styles, despite what a man may think when he looks at a photo on Instagram. While many of the participants noted that the standards of beauty men impose upon women do cross their mind, they are “actively letting them pass,” as Nina (22) remarks.
Many remarked that the type of content they post is not made in the likes of men, since it is more focused on women’s interests. One participant, Chloë, even says that “my style...sometimes bridges ugly, but this is me,” as she elaborates on her dress practices that are the opposite of appealing to the male eye. It is clear that these participants and the communities they fall into value true self-expression and empowerment over falling victim to toxic beauty standards. Chloë gets even further into the idea of reclamation, and she cites a certain fashion piece that is forging this movement forward.
“I love girls when they wear ties. I feel so cool when I wear a tie, and it stems from what a tie represents, that it’s linked to masculinity and strength and power (which is appalling). But if you’re reclaiming it and being like ‘Girls can wear this too’ and stripping away the power from them, it’s really cool.”
Taking a piece that represents such values that are considered “masculine” and incorporating it into a fashion photo is the exact embodiment of this phenomena. Reclamation begins where stereotypes end, and fluidity flourishes. A woman wearing a tie, and making it a part of her outfit, and putting it on a public platform that influences other women, is the domino effect that will in turn cause the breakdown of these gender barriers and the male gaze. While they are not shy to admit that they cannot escape them (“Who am I to say that the male gaze does not influence me?” says Chloë), it is this pushback on these standards that will lead to progress in the future, so the younger generation only knows a world of women wearing ties, without any connotation in connection with it.
In regards to women reaching out to her after a fashion focused piece of content, Niharika states, “I don’t play into typical Instagram posts that play into the male gaze...it’s me just being as me as possible as a female and I think there’s a lot more comfort in [women] reaching out.” Women bond over the fact that they are not falling victim to the male eye, which makes the spaces seem “safe” and “comforting.” These are also words that were repeated multiple times throughout the interviews, as participants reflect that their online spaces do not contain anyone who would make a situation toxic or uncomfortable. In regards to that kind of community, Madeline (21) concludes: “...by posting the way I post, weeds out men, and therefore women come flocking, and the energy is safe. It’s a safe space, it makes the Internet safe, I’d rather be on the Internet and have only women think that I’m pretty or worthy...than have to appeal to men. It’s fashion content, weeding out men, and female gaze coming to the top.” The link is undeniable, and the repetition of such warm words speaks for itself. As women resist the urge to do what men want them to do, and prioritize their interests and self-expression, the female gaze, and women appealing to women, becomes the main functionality of this kind of communication. Which is ironic, as Chloë (21) remarks, “That’s crazy, I don’t think I’ve ever been taught the female gaze before.”
The Creation of Community through the Female Gaze
The final, and most important, trend to note within this study is the formation of a community. Throughout the data, the reference to community is scattered within the responses received. The answers containing this reference tended to be more profound in nature, as it pointed to a more emotional component of an overall light-hearted topic. “There’s this innate desire to build up and support one another, to connect and create together, and grow,” says Nina (22). Hayley (22), repeats, “it’s like meeting girls in the bathroom again!”bar This is a reference to the instant connection and understanding between women. As females “no matter how much your Instagram grows,” we’re all “still dealing with the same tasks, and questions and thoughts that come up,” as Nina (22) puts it. These responses detail the inner workings of why these communities form, and it has less to do with fashion and more to do with how women function. Women want to feel seen, feel heard, and feel represented. When they appeal to each other, this want is satisfied, all as a result of the female gaze. Samantha (20) touches on this in regards to seeing women who look like her and connect with them on a more personal basis.
“I think that makes it easier on myself, I feel like especially now with the body positivity thing, I’m seeing a lot more people that look like me and just knowing your body is normal, and you can wear something and still look fashionable...To be able to find more content creators that I relate to that are not just so unreachable, like a celebrity….I like to follow people like that, and I think that has done a lot for me on social media.”
The mental and emotional benefits from this are apparent, and it was evident in the reactions from participants. While the pressure to compare themselves was acknowledged, most noted the online community as a positive force in their life. Niharika (21) even explains how it mended her view of women after high school.
“I had a really bad relationship with the idea of female friends, then, once I got more involved on Instagram, I was like...there are females out there that I could get along with and they are just within digital reach...When I started building a community and getting more content creator friends, and just...spreading love and getting love between female creators, I definitely became more confident in who I was...it’s just been really great and I think it has changed how I view creativity and being an individual.”
Through women appealing to each other through online platforms, users are able to see women who closely identify with their own values, appearance, standards, and interests, in a much wider sphere than just the physical space they are in. All of the participants note having “Internet friends” who are constantly giving positive feedback and being a motivation to keep creating. Some even note being able to relate to their Internet friends more, as Hayley (22) states people in her area of Wisconsin don’t really “get” what she wears. “My outfits won’t get the appreciation here as I would on Instagram,” she says. It goes back to the sentiments of “comfort” and “safety” that have echoed throughout this research, due to the fact that women support each other when they are their most authentic self on the Internet, making it easier to do so yourself. Women’s eyes, within this study, are seen as a positive, as a reason to be nothing other than one’s true self. The feeling of the joint experience, as a woman in society, is felt deeply, and fashion content and Instagram are just instruments for that joint experience to then forge community.
Discussion
The results of this study prove that women appeal to the female gaze through fashion by way of identifying common interests and diminishing the effects of the male gaze through the basis of empowerment within dress practices and reception of content. The results point to women identifying parts of themselves or things they like in others, which is the female gaze in action. They then incorporate it into their own identity, and the process repeats as women view other women. Creativity is seen as a commonground, and sets itself as a foundation for these women to create bonds. Fashion content, and the nature of the community, represses the male gaze, and the idea of women as sexual objects of men, and allows for feminism and female empowerment to flourish. Due to this, women feel deep connections to each other, and safety and comfort become central attributes within online spaces. Women then feel more free to be themselves, and to act with their own values in mind, instead of what society tells them they should value (which is based in patriarchal standards).
The ideas of intrapersonal and interpersonal communications are spoken of subconsciously throughout the research. The intrapersonal framework of this research allowed for the dissection of inner dialogues, which delved into deeper thoughts of self, perception of others, and internalized influence of societal or niche standards. The discussions of interpersonal communications within this research question revealed emotions and reasons as to why this phenomenon takes place, as conversations about relationships formed triggered smiles, laughter, and audible inflections that were evidence of thought-provoking questions. This practice is normally subconscious, especially in 2021, and frameworks such as these were needed to be able to create data from unspoken practices. The female gaze acts in a similar way, as it is a lesser-talked about feminist ideology that, evidently, is very prevalent in many women’s lives. Using these theories to open up the conversation on things people normally keep to themselves is the first step in acknowledging the positive effects of social media on our society.
The results of this study imply that women are on their way to reclaiming their narrative. After years of misogyny, a concept very far from being completely diminished, steps are still being taken in the right direction. And it’s not just celebrities and influencers with millions of followers making the noise (i.e. #MeToo), it is women in these smaller niche communities, who are wearing ties or posting themselves in what they want to wear because they feel good in it. Studies like these are the steps we as a society need to take to recognize the work women have been doing to become equals and to flip the male gaze on its head. Changing this narrative with research will make room for a new set of standards that the younger generation will regard as the only set of standards, free of the ideas of misogyny and women as objects of male pleasure.
There were a few limitations within this study that should be recognized. The study consisted of a relatively small sample population, and that population identified as predominantly white. The COVID-19 pandemic presented interview restrictions, therefore limiting access to more subjects that may have identified with this topic. The whiteness of the sample population is recognized, but the perspectives of the diverse participants are valued and present within this study.
The gap within research, which has been mentioned multiple times throughout this study, needs to be filled. Modern perspectives on the female gaze are lacking, and that provides an inaccurate representation of the way social media is used by younger populations today. To keep this momentum going, research should start to examine the effects of the female gaze on every social media platform, including new ones such as TikTok, as women remain the predominant users of most of these apps (Auxier & Anderson, 2021). The gap in research is also present in regards to the female gaze in dress practices, which seems like it should be a given based on women’s involvement in fashion. Conducting studies in these areas that apply to the everyday life of 21st century women will take steps towards the change women have been fighting for decades. Any ignorance of those steps within research will be reductive and slow the change for future generations. We cannot afford to have women not knowing the impact of their own gaze anymore.
Conclusion
“I’ve never even considered the female gaze as a thing, but it definitely exists,” states Madison Wild in the TikTok that inspired this research study. It is time for women to stop thinking their perspective does not exist and does not have influence in every aspect of society. Too many times throughout this study, the participants and people who were told the topic of this study were in shock, or bewildered, by the idea of the female gaze. If we teach women the value of their “gaze,” they will learn just how powerful they are. The purpose of this study was to reveal that power by examining fashion content on Instagram through the female gaze. The results show positive societal values, such as community and empowerment within groups of women. If the female gaze can do such amazing things for a niche group like fashion content creators, imagine the things it can do for the women of the world.
APPENDIX A: INTERVIEW PROTOCOL
SAMPLE QUESTIONS SENT PRIOR:
1) Why do you post the content you post?
2) Have you gained any relationships from posting fashion content on Instagram? If so, what are the qualities of the people you have formed relationships with?
3) There are many standards of beauty that men impose on women in society. Do any of those cross your mind when posting a piece of fashion content?
Virtual Interview Framework
Warm-Up Questions: Name, Age, How many years on Instagram, major/degree, Instagram followers
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