1 - Just for Content: Neo-Objectification of the Female Body in Crossdressing Content on Social Media

Social media allows anyone to become a producer, consumer, and distributor of content visually. It provides a new platform for crossdressers to move from static physical performances on stage to visual content narratives that can be consumed by mobile audiences through smartphones. This paper focuses on the content of heterosexual male crossdressers who dress physically as women from head to toe. The act of self-objectification performed by crossdressers has implications for new forms of objectification of women without having to present their bodies directly. Previous studies of women's objectification have often directly placed women's bodies. This study uses a neo-objectification perspective to find explanation of why cross-dressers (male-to-female) use themselves to parody female bodies through content on Instagram. How is objectification constructed in the crossdressing content? What narrative is being constructed through the content? This Netnography research found that crossdressers construct the female body from the perspective of the male gaze without having to present the female body directly. The abundance of female commodities is an opportunity taken by hetero men as crossdressers. This finding reinforces the consumerist narrative behind this phenomenon. This is evidenced by the flow of content that is constructed around the imperfect appearance of the female body and ends with certain products as a solution to imperfection. This research seeks to add to the discourse on the dynamics of new objectification issues, particularly those that may arise in the social media spectrum.

Co-Author 1
Siti Putri Lestari, Universitas Gadjah Mada