Guest Lecture by Jwana Aziz at the MA 'Media, Power and Difference'
05.11.2018
Jwana Aziz has given a lecture on Social Media and Body Image in Adolescent Males in the Master programme 'International Studies on Media, Power and Difference' (Communication Department, UPF). Jwana Aziz is Ph.D Researcher of Critical Communication (CritCC) and she is conducting the research SOMA (Social Media and Adolescence), which investigates the influence of Instagram use on Drive for Muscularity and Body Esteem in adolescent males.
More specifically, her lecture was about the following: Hegemonic and traditional standards of masculinity stipulate the need for dominating male personas where the body plays an integral role in mediating success, power, social status, and self-esteem. Social media has further perpetuated this ideal where the main consumer is the youth demographic. Recent reports suggest a growing pressure on adolescent males to achieve a muscular body ideal. Experts point to social media and gender norms as contributing factors to this social phenomenon.