#bodypositivity: A Content Analysis of Body Positive Accounts on Instagram
Open accessAbstract
In the last decade, the body image literature has begun to extend beyond a primary focus on body image disturbances and examine the construct of positive body image. Similarly, "Body positivity" is a growing social media trend that seeks to challenge dominant societal appearance ideals and promote acceptance and appreciation of all bodies and appearances. The present study provides a content analysis of body positive posts on Instagram. A set of 640 Instagram posts sampled from popular body positive accounts were coded for physical appearance-related attributes and central themes featured. Results showed that body positive imagery typically depicted a broad range of body sizes and appearances. Additionally, while a proportion of posts were appearance-focused, the majority of posts conveyed messages aligned with theoretical definitions of positive body image. This study clarifies body positive content on Instagram, as well as highlights points of overlap and distinction from academic principles of positive body image and other appearance-focused social media content. Accordingly, the results offer theoretical and practical implications for future research and prevention efforts.
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In cultures prioritizing communal values over individual physical appearance, the gender gap in body dissatisfaction tends to be less pronounced.
“For example, in cultures that prioritize communal values and collective well-being over an individual’s physical appearance, the gender gap in body dissatisfaction tends to be less pronounced.”
These communal cultures provide a protective buffer against negative impacts of body dissatisfaction.
“This cultural framework can provide a protective buffer against the negative impacts of body dissatisfaction, as the focus shifts away from individual appearance toward more holistic measures of value and identity [170].”
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- Authors
- Cohen, R., Irwin, L., Newton-John, T., & Slater, A.
- Affiliations
- University of Technology Sydney (AU)
- The University of Sydney (AU)
- University of the West of England (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Cohen, Rachel
- Venue
- Body Image
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2019-06
- Volume
- 29
- Pages
- 47-57
- ISSN
- 1740-1445 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2918731349
- Cited by
- 401
- References
- 74
- Citations by year
- 2026: 38 · 2025: 55 · 2024: 69 · 2023: 64 · 2022: 55 · 2021: 73 · 2020: 38 · 2019: 9
- FWCI
- 51.10
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- eprints.uwe.ac.uk
- Licence
- Locations
- Body Image (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UWE Research Repository (UWE Bristol) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- UTS ePRESS (University of Technology Sydney) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Eating Disorders and Behaviors
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Body Image and Dysmorphia Studies
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender, Feminism, and Media
- Keywords
- body positivity, positive body image, Instagram, social media, appearance ideals, body size, body acceptance
- MeSH terms
- Body Image, Humans, Social Media
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
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