Plus Size Models and Body Positivity: Focusing on Online Discourses around #Plussizemodel

Abstract

The body-positive movement is defined as accepting bodily appearance and challenging the normalization of thin bodies. One of this movement’s goals is deconstructing the body ideal. This has led to plus-size models gaining widespread attention. The aim of this study is to assess the online discourse on plus-size models by exploring hashtags(#) concerning plus-size models via text and network analysis. Netlytic, an open-source software program, was used as an analytic tool. The researcher collected 10,000 recent Instagram posts, each under the #plussizemodel and #플러스사이즈모델 (“plus-size model” in Korean) hashtags. The results indicate that #plussizemodel is frequently used in conjunction with positive feelings and attitudes and is highly related to body positivity. Plus-size models in English-speaking communities embrace the body-positive movement through their posts, delivering messages of self-love, body acceptance, self-respect, and rejection of body ideals. In contrast, #플러스사이즈모델 (Korean) is more associated with perspectives on the commercial market. The plus-size community appears to be much more popular in English-speaking communities than their Korean-speaking counterpart. In sum, the result sheds light on the connectedness of the body-positive movement and plus-size models.