Fitspo at Every Size? A comparative content analysis of #curvyfit versus #curvyyoga Instagram images

ABSTRACTContemporary fat studies scholarship seeks to challenge and critique the normative weightist lens through which modern social media for example stereotypically represent the embodiment of higher-weight individuals or the typical underrepresentation of body diversity in the cases of mainstream Fitspiration and yoga lifestyle media. Simultaneously, proponents of the fat acceptance/body positivity movement are currently at odds over the increasingly expansive appropriation of the term curvy for self-identification. In light of these tensions, utilizing body conceptualization theory as a guiding framework, we examined the shared and distinct approaches used to exemplify and motivate fitness and health as reflected in 300 images sourced from #curvyfit and #curvyyoga on Instagram. Images were systematically coded for sociodemographic (e.g., race/ethnicity, gender), body-as-process (e.g., physically active portrayals), and body-as-object (e.g., weight loss, body modification) attributes. Results revealed...