Empowered or objectified? Cyberfeminities analysis on fashion influencers.

Abstract

This paper shows an exploratory research in which new jobs performed by women through new technologies and social networks are analyzed. Starting from the topic: “influencer”, we try to delimit who they are, and synthesize the previous studies on the profession. Subsequently, we review different feminist positions regarding the body instrumentalization, grouping them into two groups, which have been called as "hegemonic feminism" and "dissident feminism" or "pro-sex feminism". We also summarizes the main studies on influencers who specify their profiles and the topics they deal with in their collaborations, as well as their communication skills and the transmission, or not, of gender stereotypes. Based on a selection of the fourteen most important influencers in Spain and the content they publish, we try to understand, on the one hand, whether traditional models of femininity are reproduced and, on the other, whether these professions really empower women, objectify them, or if both phenomena occur simultaneously. The results show that, in the selected sample, all the women correspond to the western “ideal of beauty”. In addition, the “male gaze” is present in the posts, through the frequent images sexualization, despite the fact that their readers are mostly women.