The Grotesque Protest in Social Media as Embodied, Political Rhetoric

2017 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristin Marie Bivens ◽  
Kirsti Cole
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Political Rhetoric ◽  
The Body ◽  
Political Movements ◽  
Social Media Use ◽  
Bodily Fluids ◽  
Communicative Act ◽  
The Grotesque

The grotesque protest—emboldened through social media—employs the body’s fluids to push back against attempts to legislate bodies. Although social media use is commonly understood as engaging audience members who share ideological frames, it can instead diversify protest networks and encourage discourse. Social media provides individuals opportunities to resist attempts to control bodies and to reinsert individuals’ voices in political discourse aimed to exclude those bodies. The body functions as the modality in which the communicative act occurs, and the body’s fluids function as the medium for inventing disruptive, grotesque protest strategies. Activists such as Rupi Kaur, The Satanic Temple’s Jex Blackmore, and those using Twitter hashtags #periodsforPence and #PEEOTUS use bodily fluids and tissues to emphasize resistance to political movements attempting to control and legislate bodies. The protest campaigns show that the grotesque can be an effective tool for opening space, transgressing boundaries, demanding attention, and equalizing differential political power relations.

scholarly journals ‘I feel the irritation and frustration all over the body’ Affective ambiguities in networked parenting culture

2021 ◽  
pp. 136787792110035
Author(s):  
Mari Lehto ◽  
Susanna Paasonen
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Research Data ◽  
The Body ◽  
Social Media Use ◽  
Working Through ◽  
Media Research ◽  
Social Media Research ◽  
Study Participants

This article investigates the affective power of social media by analysing everyday encounters with parenting content among mothers. Drawing on data composed of diaries of social media use and follow-up interviews with six women, we ask how our study participants make sense of their experiences of parenting content and the affective intensities connected to it. Despite the negativity involved in reading and participating in parenting discussions, the participants find themselves wanting to maintain the very connections that irritate them, or even evoke a sense of failure, as these also yield pleasure, joy and recognition. We suggest that the ambiguities addressed in our research data speak of something broader than the specific experiences of the women in question. We argue that they point to the necessity of focusing on, and working through affective ambiguity in social media research in order to gain fuller understanding the complex appeal of platforms and exchanges.

scholarly journals THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON BODY COMPARISON TENDENCY, BODY-ESTEEM AND SLEEP QUALITY AMONG FEMALE STUDENTS IN A PRIVATE UNIVERSITY IN SHAH ALAM/ MALAYSIA

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 229-234
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Sleep Quality ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Body Esteem ◽  
Private University ◽  
Female Students ◽  
The Body ◽  
Social Media Use ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Body Comparison

Introduction: Based on many studies probing the spectrums of social media, it has become evident that social media has changed a variety of human interactive activities such as communication, shopping, source of influence on perception, and even search for knowledge. The study aims to find the relationship between social media usage with the body comparison tendency, body esteem levels, and sleep quality. Methodology: a cross-sectional study design using quantitative data conducted among female students of a private university with a sample size of 267 and using a self-administered questionnaire for data collection. A convenience sampling was used from different faculties of the university. Results: It was found that excessive use of social media significantly predicted that participants engage in body comparison behaviours P<?0.001. It was also found that social media use influenced body esteem levels significantly. Higher social media use influences sleep quality significantly, as well. Conclusion: The results showed that social media use for more than 3 hours had a significant impact on body comparison tendencies among those female university students. It was also concluded that body esteem levels among those that fell into this category who used social media for more than 3 hours were lower compared to those who used social media for lesser than 3 hours in general. In evaluating the impact of social media on sleep quality, it was found that nearly half is at high risk of suffering from insomnia or sleep-related disorders.

Social Media Use and Students’ Health-Lifestyle Modification in University of Calabar, Nigeria

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 47
Author(s):  
Ntongha Eni Ikpi ◽  
Veronica Akwenabuaye Undelikwo
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Lifestyle Modification ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Survey Design ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Positive Health ◽  
Social Media Use ◽  
Health Lifestyle ◽  
Use Of Social Media

The use of social media platforms has over the years become a veritable tool for individuals, groups, institutions and corporate bodies for the promotion of health and wellness. In recent times, social media has become one of the most potent agents of the media through which health issues are addressed as well as generated and disseminated to different populations in society. The study was conducted to examine social media use and students’ health lifestyle modification in the University of Calabar, Nigeria. It sought to determine the extent to which students’ use of social media (Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp) influences the modification of their health-related lifestyles such as eating habits, sexual behaviour, cigarette and alcohol consumption, drug use and the engagement in fitness activities. The study adopted a randomized descriptive survey design and used a sample of 300 undergraduate students. The questionnaire was the main instrument used for collection of data while simple percentages and means were used to determine the difference between the expected mean of 2.50 and the observed means across various items in the questionnaire. The results showed that apart from Twitter, social media use by University of Calabar students has significantly influenced the modification of their health lifestyles. Since social media has become a veritable tool for the promotion of positive health lifestyle, effort should be made by government through the health sector to create more awareness among students and the entire population of social media users, on the health benefits accruing from use of social media.

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