A feminine burden of perfection? Appearance-related pressures on social networking sites

: Erica Åberg, Aki Koivula, Iida Kukkonen

Publisher: Elsevier Ltd.

: 2020

: Telematics and Informatics

: Telematics and Informatics (JOURNAL)

: 101319

: 46

: 1879-324X

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2019.101319

: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/telematics-and-informatics

This study examines how social networking sites (SNS) are experienced as a source of appearance-related pressures for men and women in Finland. We explored the differences between two platforms, Facebook and Instagram, in the probability be linked with experiences of social media -caused appearance-related pressures, and tested if these experiences are gendered. Finally, we investigated whether the number of friends or followers affected the probability of experiencing appearance-related pressures for men and women. We approach these questions with unique data nationally representative of the Finnish population aged 18-74 (N=3,724), and offer insights into the discussion on the relationship between social media and appearance-related pressures. Our findings suggest that both gender and age are associated with experiences of appearance-related pressures engendered by social media. The propensity to report social media as a source of appearance-related pressures is higher particularly for younger women. The preferred social network site was connected to experiencing appearance-related pressures. Both male and female Instagram users were more likely to perceive appearance-related pressures than male and female Facebook users. The number of followers increased the likelihood of Instagram users to perceive social media -caused appearance-related pressures, however, the effect was apparent only for women.