A Qualitative Exploration of Social Media Consumption and Use Among Everyday Women Who Participate in CrossFit
Main Article Content
Keywords
Social media as a protection, consumption of media, experiences of women.
Abstract
Introduction: Social media allows a user to be a content creator and consumer. This paper focuses on the social media engagement of everyday women who participate in CrossFit, exploring differences in how they consume and use social media content. CrossFit women are celebrated for their strength, power, and fitness in the social media community, which is not consistent for all women.
Methods: This study used semi-structured focus groups with 47 participants between the ages of 18-54 who were everyday women who participate in CrossFit. The participants self-identified their level of CrossFit as recreational, semi-competitive, competitive, or high-level competitors.
Results: Findings reveal two major themes: consuming corporate messaging and using social media for their own benefit, included the subthemes of social support and shifting perceptions. The findings, including supportive quotations from the participants, reveal that these women are critical consumers of social media who express disapproval of traditional media portrayals of women’s bodies.
Conclusions: Women’s experiences with CrossFit seem to offer some protection from the negative outcomes associated with consumption of traditional media messaging about women’s bodies.
References
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32. Wilkinson S. Focus groups in health research: Exploring the meanings of health and illness. Journal of Health Psychology. 1998;3(3):329-348. doi:10.1177%2F135910539800300304
33. Elo S, Kyngäs H. The qualitative content analysis process. Journal of Advanced Nursing. 2008;62(1):107-115. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2648.2007.04569.x
34. Myers TA, Ridolfi DR, Crowther JH, Ciesla JA. The impact of appearance-focused social comparisons on body image disturbance in the naturalistic environment: The roles of thin-ideal internalization and feminist beliefs. Body Image. 2012;9(3):342-351. doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2012.03.005
35. Rubin LR, Nemeroff CJ, Russo NF. Exploring feminist women's body consciousness. Psychology of Women Quarterly. 2004;28(1):27-37. doi:10.1111/j.1471-6402.2004.00120.x
36. Podmore M, Ogle JP. The lived experience of crossfit as a context for the development of women’s body image and appearance management practices. Fashion and Textiles. 2018;5(1):1-23. doi:10.1186/s40691-017-0116-y
37. Heywood L. ‘Strange borrowing’: Affective neuroscience, neoliberalism and the ‘cruelly optimistic’gendered bodies of crossfit. Twenty-first century feminism. Springer; 2015:17-40.
38. Holland G, Tiggemann M. “Strong beats skinny every time”: Disordered eating and compulsive exercise in women who post fitspiration on instagram. International Journal of Eating Disorders. 2017;50(1):76-79. doi:10.1002/eat.22559
39. Tiggemann M, Zaccardo M. “Exercise to be fit, not skinny”: The effect of fitspiration imagery on women's body image. Body Image. 2015;15:61-67. doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2015.06.003
40. Halliwell E. The impact of thin idealized media images on body satisfaction: Does body appreciation protect women from negative effects? Body Image. 2013;10(4):509-514.
41. Alleva JM, Martijn C, Van Breukelen GJ, Jansen A, Karos K. Expand your horizon: A programme that improves body image and reduces self-objectification by training women to focus on body functionality. Body Image. 2015;15:81-89. doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2015.07.001
42. Avalos LC, Tylka TL. Exploring a model of intuitive eating with college women. Journal of Counseling Psychology. 2006;53(4):486. doi:10.1037/0022-0167.53.4.486
43. Homan KJ, Tylka TL. Appearance-based exercise motivation moderates the relationship between exercise frequency and positive body image. Body Image. 2014;11(2):101-108. doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2014.01.003
44. Vartanian LR, Wharton CM, Green EB. Appearance vs. Health motives for exercise and for weight loss. Psychology of Sport and Exercise. 2012;13(3):251-256. doi:10.1016/j.psychsport.2011.12.005
2. Azzarito L. Future girls, transcendent femininities and new pedagogies: Toward girls' hybrid bodies? Sport, Education and Society. 2010;15(3):261-275.
3. Krane V. We can be athletic and feminine, but do we want to? Challenging hegemonic femininity in women's sport. Quest. 2001;53(1):115-133. doi:10.1080/00336297.2001.10491733
4. Lin L, McFerran B. The (ironic) dove effect: Use of acceptance cues for larger body types increases unhealthy behaviors. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing. 2016;35(1):76-90. doi:10.1509%2Fjppm.14.020
5. American Medical Association. Body image and advertising to youth. AMA. 2011. http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/news/news/a11-new-policies.page
6. Kristjánsdóttir H, Sigurðardóttir P, Jónsdóttir S, Þorsteinsdóttir G, Saavedra J. Body image concern and eating disorder symptoms among elite icelandic athletes. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2019;16(15):2728. doi:10.3390/ijerph16152728
7. Lunde C, Gattario KH. Performance or appearance? Young female sport participants’ body negotiations. Body Image. 2017;21:81-89. doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2017.03.001
8. Kantanista A, Glapa A, Banio A, et al. Body image of highly trained female athletes engaged in different types of sport. BioMed Research International. 2018;2018doi:10.1155/2018/6835751
9. de Oliveira GL, de Oliveira TAP, de Pinho Gonçalves PS, Valentim Silva JR, Roquetti Fernandes P, Fernandes Filho J. Body image and eating disorders in female athletes of different sports. Journal of Exercise Physiology Online. 2017;20(2)
10. De Bruin AK, Oudejans RR, Bakker FC. Dieting and body image in aesthetic sports: A comparison of dutch female gymnasts and non-aesthetic sport participants. Psychology of Sport and Exercise. 2007;8(4):507-520. doi:10.1016/j.psychsport.2006.10.002
11. Kong P, Harris LM. The sporting body: Body image and eating disorder symptomatology among female athletes from leanness focused and nonleanness focused sports. The Journal of Psychology. 2015;149(2):141-160. doi:10.1080/00223980.2013.846291
12. Robbeson JG, Kruger HS, Wright HH. Disordered eating behavior, body image, and energy status of female student dancers. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism. 2015;25(4):344-352. doi:10.1123/ijsnem.2013-0161
13. Petrie T, Greenleaf C. Body image and sports/athletics. Encyclopedia of body image and human appearance. Elsevier; 2012:160-165.
14. Hodler MR, Lucas-Carr C. “The mother of all comebacks” a critical analysis of the fitspirational comeback narrative of dara torres. Communication & Sport. 2016;4(4):442-459. doi:10.1177%2F2167479515583480
15. Coyne P, Woodruff SJ. Examining the influence of crossfit participation on body image, self-esteem, and eating behaviours among women. Journal of Physical Education and Sport. 2020;20(3):1314-1325. doi:10.7752/jpes.2020.03183
16. Dawson MC. Crossfit: Fitness cult or reinventive institution? International Review for the Sociology of Sport. 2017;52(3):361-379. doi:10.1177%2F1012690215591793
17. Heinrich KM, Becker C, Carlisle T, et al. High‐intensity functional training improves functional movement and body composition among cancer survivors: A pilot study. European Journal of Cancer Care. 2015;24(6):812-817. doi:10.1111/ecc.12338
18. Herz JC. Learning to breathe fire: The rise of crossfit and the primal future of fitness. Harmony; 2015.
19. Heywood L. ‘We’re in this together:’neoliberalism and the disruption of the coach/athlete hierarchy in crossfit. Sports Coaching Review. 2016;5(1):116-129. doi:10.1080/21640629.2016.1198581
20. CrossFit. What is crossfit? . CrossFit. 2018. Accessed August 08, 2021. https://www.crossfit.com/what-is-crossfit
21. Myers TA, Crowther JH. Social comparison as a predictor of body dissatisfaction: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Abnormal Psychology. 2009;118(4):683. doi:10.1037/a0016763
22. Pempek TA, Yermolayeva YA, Calvert SL. College students' social networking experiences on facebook. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology. 2009;30(3):227-238. doi:10.1016/j.appdev.2008.12.010
23. James EP, Gill R. Neoliberalism and the communicative labor of crossfit. Communication & Sport. 2018;6(6):703-727. doi:10.1177%2F2167479517737036
24. Washington MS, Economides M. Strong is the new sexy: Women, crossfit, and the postfeminist ideal. Journal of Sport and Social Issues. 2016;40(2):143-161. doi:10.1177%2F0193723515615181
25. Swami V. Is crossfit associated with more positive body image? A prospective investigation in novice crossfitters. International Journal of Sport Psychology. 2019;50(4):370-381. doi:10.7352/IJSP.2019.50.370
26. Knapp BA. Gender representation in the crossfit journal: A content analysis. Sport in Society. 2015;18(6):688-703. doi:10.1080/17430437.2014.982544
27. Engeln R, Loach R, Imundo MN, Zola A. Compared to facebook, instagram use causes more appearance comparison and lower body satisfaction in college women. Body Image. 2020;34:38-45. doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2020.04.007
28. Prichard I, Kavanagh E, Mulgrew KE, Lim MS, Tiggemann M. The effect of instagram# fitspiration images on young women’s mood, body image, and exercise behaviour. Body Image. 2020;33:1-6. doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2020.02.002
29. Saunders JF, Eaton AA. Snaps, selfies, and shares: How three popular social media platforms contribute to the sociocultural model of disordered eating among young women. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking. 2018;21(6):343-354. doi:10.1089/cyber.2017.0713
30. Chase SE. Narrative inquiry: Multiple lenses, approaches, voices. In the sage handbook of qualitative research. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications Ltd.; 2005.
31. Polkinghorne DE. Language and meaning: Data collection in qualitative research. Journal of Counseling Psychology. 2005;52(2):137. doi:10.1037/0022-0167.52.2.137
32. Wilkinson S. Focus groups in health research: Exploring the meanings of health and illness. Journal of Health Psychology. 1998;3(3):329-348. doi:10.1177%2F135910539800300304
33. Elo S, Kyngäs H. The qualitative content analysis process. Journal of Advanced Nursing. 2008;62(1):107-115. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2648.2007.04569.x
34. Myers TA, Ridolfi DR, Crowther JH, Ciesla JA. The impact of appearance-focused social comparisons on body image disturbance in the naturalistic environment: The roles of thin-ideal internalization and feminist beliefs. Body Image. 2012;9(3):342-351. doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2012.03.005
35. Rubin LR, Nemeroff CJ, Russo NF. Exploring feminist women's body consciousness. Psychology of Women Quarterly. 2004;28(1):27-37. doi:10.1111/j.1471-6402.2004.00120.x
36. Podmore M, Ogle JP. The lived experience of crossfit as a context for the development of women’s body image and appearance management practices. Fashion and Textiles. 2018;5(1):1-23. doi:10.1186/s40691-017-0116-y
37. Heywood L. ‘Strange borrowing’: Affective neuroscience, neoliberalism and the ‘cruelly optimistic’gendered bodies of crossfit. Twenty-first century feminism. Springer; 2015:17-40.
38. Holland G, Tiggemann M. “Strong beats skinny every time”: Disordered eating and compulsive exercise in women who post fitspiration on instagram. International Journal of Eating Disorders. 2017;50(1):76-79. doi:10.1002/eat.22559
39. Tiggemann M, Zaccardo M. “Exercise to be fit, not skinny”: The effect of fitspiration imagery on women's body image. Body Image. 2015;15:61-67. doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2015.06.003
40. Halliwell E. The impact of thin idealized media images on body satisfaction: Does body appreciation protect women from negative effects? Body Image. 2013;10(4):509-514.
41. Alleva JM, Martijn C, Van Breukelen GJ, Jansen A, Karos K. Expand your horizon: A programme that improves body image and reduces self-objectification by training women to focus on body functionality. Body Image. 2015;15:81-89. doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2015.07.001
42. Avalos LC, Tylka TL. Exploring a model of intuitive eating with college women. Journal of Counseling Psychology. 2006;53(4):486. doi:10.1037/0022-0167.53.4.486
43. Homan KJ, Tylka TL. Appearance-based exercise motivation moderates the relationship between exercise frequency and positive body image. Body Image. 2014;11(2):101-108. doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2014.01.003
44. Vartanian LR, Wharton CM, Green EB. Appearance vs. Health motives for exercise and for weight loss. Psychology of Sport and Exercise. 2012;13(3):251-256. doi:10.1016/j.psychsport.2011.12.005
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Jan 10, 2022
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Gipson, C. (2022). A Qualitative Exploration of Social Media Consumption and Use Among Everyday Women Who Participate in CrossFit. Research Directs in Health Sciences, 2(1). https://doi.org/10.53520/rdhs2022.10425
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