JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Background:

Fitness inspiration or “Fitspiration” is a term used to describe online images of fit people, people in the gym, photos of health foods, or inspirational quotes relating to diet and fitness being shared and consumed via visual social media. The popularity of this content is most notable via the “Instagram” platform. Currently the majority of fitspiration research has focused on women’s experiences however increasingly studies have pointed to the need to explore the gendered ways by which people engage with this content.

Objective:

Objective:

The aim of this study was to explore how young men and women experience engaging with Fitspiration content on Instagram, and provide a gendered analysis of how and why they consume this content.

Methods:

Methods:

The research employed a cross-sectional online survey (N=1213) of 18-24 year old UK based fitspiration users consisting of closed-ended questions to capture quantitative data.

Results:

Results:

The majority of participants actively using Instagram for fitspiration (therefore eligible participants) were female (70.30% (826/1175). Males were more likely to view content posted by athletes (X² (1, N = 1153) = 71.84, p = .00) and bodybuilders (X² (1, N = 1153) = 32.82, p = .00) whereas females were more likely to view content relating to weight loss (X² (1, N = 1153) = 36.81, p =.00), diet plans (X² (1, N = 1153) = 11.90, p < .00), and content from celebrities (X² (1, N = 1153) = 33.48, p = .00). Males were more likely to use fitspiration as a source of inspiration to exercise to gain muscle / get stronger (X² (1, N = 1147) = 17.92, p < .00) whereas females were more likely to use fitspiration as inspiration for healthy eating (X² (1, N = 1147) = 37.69, p = .00), or as inspiration to exercise to diet or lose weight (X² (1, N = 1147) = 13.49, p < .00). Women were more likely to engage in passive behaviours such as viewing content on their feed (X² (1 N=1139) =7.93 p=0.005) or scrolling through accounts (X² (1 N=1139) =15.15 p=0.00) whereas males were more likely to engage in active consumption by tagging fitspiration accounts in posts (X² (1 N=1139) =7.20 p=0.007), commenting on posts (X² (1 N=1139) =8.12 p=0.004, and posting fitspiration content (X² (1 N=1139) =6.42 p=0.01).

Conclusions:

Conclusions:

Female fitspiration consumers engaged with content that reinforced the feminine “thin but shapely” ideal, whilst male users sought out content that reinforced the masculine “muscular” ideal. Male users were more likely to engage actively with content (e.g. posting fitspiration content) whilst female users were more likely to engage passively (e.g. scrolling through accounts, posts or images). Future research should consider how fitspiration consumption reflects and reproduces oppressive gender ideology