Self-objectification on Instagram : A qualitative study of the phenomenon's impact on young women's self-esteem

Instagram is one of the biggest social media platforms today, affecting a large portion of the Swedish population. Studies have shown that social media can affect the mental health of the users. Many of the pictures posted on Instagram are objectifying, meaning that they focus only on appearance. Objectifying pictures can cause women to self-objectify. This study aims to gain a more nuanced understanding surrounding the phenomenon and examines self-objectification among young women (18-24 years) and the effect on their self-esteem through 10 semi-structured interviews. Results show that young women self-objectify when choosing the best pictures to upload on Instagram. Furthermore, they have developed a lower self-esteem from using the application, since they compare their looks to others self-objectifying pictures