Facebook stalking at its best - a reflection on modern day feminism

Scrolling through Facebook, trying to brainstorm ideas...

Collecting photos now, decided to analyze comments of Facebook pictures.

Finally decided to analyze modern day feminism through the lenses of Facebook profile pictures. I believe Facebook and other social media sites are a great way to understand the workings of societal expectations and individual expression. Also, I am very curious about the topic of feminism, how it contributes to gender roles within society as well as the change undergone throughout the course of history.

After picking 50 photos of my female Facebook friends, I decided to organize the pictures into the following categories, which all are terms of what an "ideal" woman is like.  I also picked people I actually talk to in real-life, not only so I respect the privacy of the people who don't know me as well, but also to be able to discuss more about the meanings behind the profile pictures.

***I use quotations around ideal, because I do not believe in a singular portrayal of a desirable woman. But so often, the media plays a big role in feeding into our ideas of how woman should look, act and behave, even if that is not the intended effect. Hence, I want to explore this information, and hopefully bring awareness to the degree the media may influence our perceptions.***

After getting the photos, I then organized the pictures into categories, which are terms that can be used to describe an impression of an attribute of a person when taking a glance at their profile picture. While I only have each of the pictures shown only once, many if not all of the pictures can fit into more than one category. However, the point of the categories is to identify common themes/ideas that persist when observing these profile pictures.

A quick glance of the women of the past, when photography was a pretty new technology. This inclusion of the collage in my project is meant to evoke thoughts about the history of feminism, but is not a complete  discourse on the topic.

The following categories are...

Pictures in this group may show, but not necessarily, my female friends courageously overcoming challenges of the outside world. Adventurous implies that someone is out-and-about, getting a feel for the world, and capturing some of those sensory experiences on digital media. Hence, this reflects how females in our particular modern society have the freedom to be visible in public and taking on a variety of recreational activities to cultivate their experiences/wisdom and feed their curiosity for the world. This is quite different from long ago, when women not to be active participants in the public space.

Creative pictures depict how my friends, as well as the women of today, can have the power to imagine, to think freely. The ideas of females are not as stifled as they were before, and as a result, we have girls/women who have the ability to express themselves in unique, different ways from the ordinary profile picture.

The following two categories are more broad...

My Facebook friends in the bold category have profile pictures that represent confidence, independence and dominance of surroundings. The images above either convey a sense of non-conformity with the usual profile picture, or convey a sense of ease of oneself, even if that may not always be the case. Either way, the images above give more flavor to Facebook friend's perceived personality, and it is not afraid of being eccentric. Hence, these pictures depict how women have more freedom to be themselves, and genuinely express themselves, more than they were permitted in the past due to the constraint of societal expectations. 

Everyone cares about something I believe, or so I shall hope so. Hence, passionate profile pictures indicate a Facebook female friend's love of a hobby, fictional characters and even close friends/ family. Women are often thought as nurturers, and these pictures convey that idea. But rather than them being at the house or taking care of children, my female Facebook friends are all out and about doing activities that bring meaningfulness to their lives.

Beauty has often been associated with femininity. I selected these photos because I believe that the profile picture is oftentimes a best representation (as in, the most pleasant representation) of how a person is like, many times at one of their best moments. These photos didn't exactly fit to any of the other categories, but I also placed them there because they belong here. I believe that there is no true standard of beauty, that there are many ways to be a beautiful person, which many organizations are trying to send a message to women out in the world. The idea of femininity is altering as a result of this challenging of the so-called ideal standard of beauty.

One thing that all the above photos have in common - everyone is smiling.

I also made a Wordle of all the different adjectives used to describe some of the profile pictures that I had collected. These comments are not only supportive, but they also praise the beauty of the person, showing that a sense of beauty plays a great role in defining femininity, and what traits an ideal woman would have.

After going through this assignment, I had the experience of critically analyzing media on my social network, trying to understand the social constructs behind the photos, and learning alot along the way.

The end!