Male bodybuilders on Instagram: negotiating inclusive masculinities through hegemonic masculine bodies

ABSTRACT

Gender is performative and embodied. This is especially apparent when we consider activities such as male bodybuilding, through which men pursue very muscular, hyper-masculine bodies. In this article, we examine the hybridized masculinities practised by male bodybuilders on the objectifying, image-based social media website, Instagram. Contrary to past research, which has almost exclusively characterized male bodybuilders as hegemonically masculine, we reveal ways in which male bodybuilders practise inclusive masculinities on Instagram through emotional expressiveness, emotional intimacy with other men, and extreme self-objectification. We attribute these inclusive masculinities to the cultural movement towards softer masculine ideals, which has been argued to challenge male hegemony. However, we also demonstrate how male bodybuilders continue to project hegemonic masculine dominance, mental strength, and socioeconomic success on Instagram through representations of their lean and muscular bodies. We argue that these hegemonic masculine embodiments operate as forms of ‘hegemonic masculine negotiation’, in that they function to counteract, or compensate for, the inclusive masculinities practised by the male bodybuilders in our study. Our findings demonstrate contemporary ways in which the hegemonic function of dominant masculinities can adjust to, and endure in spite of, the cultural changes that threaten it.

KEYWORDS:

• Gender
• hegemonic masculinity
• inclusive masculinity
• hybrid masculinities
• bodybuilding
• social media

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kayla Marshall

Kayla Marshall is currently a Psychology Instructor at St. Thomas University, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. She was awarded a PhD in Psychology from Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand in 2019. Kayla’s PhD research demonstrates how heteronormative expectations of the body are (re)produced and challenged by gender-subversive groups on social media through (self-)surveillance, and how this is implicated in gender inequalities. She is currently interested in examining how harmful notions around sexual assault and consent and related gender inequalities are being challenged and (re)produced on social media, including through the #metoo campaign.

Kerry Chamberlain

Kerry Chamberlain is Professor of Social and Health Psychology at Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand. His research interests are in health and the everyday, with a specific focus on inequality and disadvantage, medications, media, materiality, mundane ailments, food, and in innovative qualitative research methodology. He is co-editor of the book series Critical Approaches to Health (Routledge; with Antonia Lyons), co-author of Health Psychology: A Critical Introduction (Cambridge; with Antonia Lyons), and co-editor of Qualitative Health Psychology: Theories and Methods (Sage; with Michael Murray).

Darrin Hodgetts

Darrin Hodgetts is Professor of Societal Psychology at Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand, where he teaches applied social work and health psychology. Before taking up his current post, Darrin held positions in Community Medicine at Memorial University in Canada, Social Psychology and Media at the London School of Economics and Political Sciences in England, and Community Psychology at the University of Waikato in New Zealand. Darrin is a review editor for the Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology and an Associate editor for Sage Communication. His recent books include the Social Psychology of Everyday Life, Asia-Pacific Perspectives in Intercultural Psychology, Urban Poverty and Health Inequalities, and the Sage Handbook of Applied Social Psychology. Darrin’s primary areas of research are societal and health inequalities, urban poverty and homelessness.