Whose ideal is it anyway? Religious women’s negotiations of beauty and multifaceted, ethnic identity on Instagram

Abstract

The concept of beauty is persistently debated across disciplines. Beauty is nevertheless upheld as a measure of women’s social capital. Ubiquitous social media usage, particularly of visual platforms like Instagram, now disseminates beauty ideals on a more rapid, global scale. These ideals adhere to Western standards, to the detriment of minority ethnic groups. This thesis therefore examines how religious identity influences minority ethnic women’s conceptualisations of beauty on Instagram.

This thesis expands scholarship on Instagram, beauty, and ethnicity, which often conflates race with ethnicity; limits definitions of beauty to body size and shape; and largely centres on solely White Christian or Muslim experiences. Guided by feminist frameworks, this thesis endeavours to make space for the narratives of women who are marginalised both within research and in the wider social context. A combination of online focus groups and semi-structured, individual interviews was conducted with sixteen women, located globally, who identify as Christian, Jewish, or Muslim. Critical Thematic Analysis (CTA) and Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis (FCDA) were used to present a detailed, intersectional exploration of religious women’s criteria for beauty.

The findings demonstrate the complex negotiations that guide religious women’s conceptualisations of beauty on Instagram. Striving for beauty emerges as inevitable; yet visual markers of race and religion remain obstacles to finding belonging within mainstream standards of beauty and femininity. The discussions reveal religious identity’s crucial influence on more holistic criteria for beauty, which move beyond physical qualities to reconcile religious duty with contemporary beauty trends. The research ultimately proposes that beauty is the ability to express nuanced, multifaceted identity. While Instagram’s tools for self-representation allow religious women to contribute to hybrid expressions of femininity and religiosity, these self-expressions are ultimately constrained. Efforts to broaden the scope of what it means to be a beautiful woman must therefore extend beyond social media.