Instagram and gender inequalities: the discourse of young women regarding social networks

Abstract

This research explores the discourse of the use of social networks perceived by young women between 18 and 25 years old, specifically on their Instagram profiles. The main objective is to detect what is the discourse of young women regarding social networks and analyze how they transfer their position towards feminism into their Instagram profiles. To do this, we analyze the discourses of young women participating in two cultural youth groups without a strictly feminist agenda. These are: a group of castellers from a Catalan university and a youth orchestra from Barcelona. To respond to the stated objective, we have carried out eight semi-structured interviews and four life histories with these young participants. The results show that social networks and, specifically, Instagram make the daily practice of feminism more complex and contradictory, consequently it generates a more critical discourse regarding the use of social networks by young women who have an active profile.