Arab Athletes’ Gender Displays as a Form of Self-Presentation on Instagram during Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics

Abstract

Drawing on Goffman’s (1959, 1979) influential work on self-presentation and gender displays, this study was designed to analyze the differences between Arab athletes’ self-presentation on social media based on gender. It used content analysis to examine the self-presentation styles of Arab athletes of both genders by analyzing photographs and captions on Instagram. Surprisingly, this study did not find a difference between Arab male and female athletes regarding gender displays. The vast majority of the pictures of both genders did not suggest sexual activity. This study extends the literature by analyzing Arab athletes’ self-presentation across gender, comparing males’ and females’ self-Presentation on Instagram during Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics. Contrary to previous research that noted that female athletes emphasize sexuality on Instagram, we argue that Arab female athletes used Instagram to create a contemporary image of sporting femininity image as enabled, empowered, and strongly individualized. As women’s representation in sports media coverage seems to remain at a disadvantage compared with men’s, social media can be exploited as an effective tool for Arab female athletes to redress this shortage of coverage and challenge the normative gender and sexual identities in sports.

Keywords:

• Self-presentation
• Arab athletes
• Instagram
• gender displays
• content analysis

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

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Additional information

Notes on contributors

Moeen Koa

Moeen KOA is an assistant professor in the Modern Media Institute at Al-Quds University. His research focuses on sports communication, political communication, public relations, and media studies. He holds a PhD in Strategic Political Communication from the University of Reading in the UK, an MA in Public Communication and Public Relations from the University of Westminster, UK, and a BA in Media and Journalism from An-Najah National University. Koa is a skilled professional who has over 18 years of experience in media, training, and consultancies. He has experience developing strategic communication plans for NGOs and governmental entities; facilitating training for groups including youth, refugees, company employees, and more; conducting mapping and needs assessments for local organizations; and acting as an Assistant Professor with several MA programs in Palestine, including MA program of digital media and communications at Al-Quds University, MA program of contemporary public relations at An-Najah National University, MA program of Media Institutions Management at Al-Quds Open University.

Hind Abu Issa

Hind ABU ISSA is a lecturer in the media school at Al-Quds Open University. Her research focuses on public relations and communication studies. She holds an MA in contemporary Public Relations from An-Najah National University.