RESULT AND DISCUSSION
2. Indetity Politic in Instagram Social Media
Discuss about identity from the perspective of Media and Cultural Studies is talking about how this concept is understood in an anti-essentialist. Identity is not a fixed entity, but is a descriptive discourse of self that changes according to cultural and social condition (Barker, 2008: 174).
Identity is formed always in a discourse. The discourse itself produces subject such as the label of the body of a slender, fat, beautiful person, and so on. Identity is not a stable one, so that it will be disqualified through social practices and various social regulations. Giddens calls identity as a project, what is meant by identity is something that we create along with what we expect in the future (Giddens in Barker, 2008: 175).
The construction of personal identity in social media virtual space can be related to identity as a self project. As expressed by Giddens said that identity as a project, what is meant by identity is something that we create together with what we expect in the future (Giddens in Barker, 2008:
175). What Giddens conveyed can be related to the formation of identity in cyberspace. A person can form his personal identity by expressing herself in the virtual world freely. This can be seen through @ririebogar's upload.
Picture 3.2. Photo about body positivy in Instagram Ririe Bogar. Source: Instagram RB.
In picture 3.2, RB re-uploads the photo reposted by the @effyourbeautystandards account. The account was created by activist Tess Holiday’s body positivity. Tess is an American plus size model.
In picture 3.2, the medium long shot technique shows the RB head to the knee part. RB uses open clothes on the top of her body and her face looks smiling. She wants to show that she was confident to show her fat body. She did not feel ashamed of her size. In addition to upload the photo, RB also wrote several sentences. The sentences contained that she would not give up doing body movement in Indonesia. Even though sometimes her action did not get support, She
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continued to strive for body movement. RB feels proud when the photo upload is re-uploaded by the @effyourbeautystandards account. She felt proud because the body positivity movement that she did would be more known by friends in the world.
This action of movement to counter the notion that the normal body is a straight body. This movement is driven by the assumption that slender body are constructed as attractive, beautiful, disciplined, and the like. Fat woman is often constructed lazy, unhealthy and undisciplined. The term that is constantly repeated creates its own image of something in the eyes of society. As O'Brein Said, (2009: 200),
‚Regardless of social location, the thinbody is often assumed to be a healthy body. Whether thin bodies are athletic or sedentary, slenderness is frequently conflated with good health. This attitude is exemplified through the extensive use of the weight-based body mass index (BMI).
Individuals who are ‚overweight‛ according to BMI are frequently advised by physicians and diet programs to lose weight to improve health. As a result, the heavy body is often depicted as unhealthy, unvalued, unattractive, and, sometimes, diseased. The portrayal of fatness as a medical and aesthetic failure helps to both create and reinforce fat stigmatization‛.
As mentioned above, in the social life, a slender body is often assumed to be a healthy body. This assumption is caused by the assessment of a person body measured by medical discourse about the Body Mass Index (BMI). Normal female BMI is at least 18.5 to 24.9. This mean that the BMI that is below the standard number 18 is in the category of underweight and more than 24.9 is in the category of overweight. Someone is said to be slender if she has a number between 18 and 24. Someone with a BMI above 30 is obese.
Fat body also is imaged as a body that is unhealthy, unattractive, lazy, and sick. On the other hand, slender people are constructed active in their live and discipline. Imaging is embedded in the minds of the people, and then develops into stereotypes. The Stereotypes about women body size often have a practical impact on the daily lives of women, especially those who are obese.
Someone who does not have an ideal body will be labeled with terms that tend to be negative, such as ugly, lazy, not disciplined, not attractive, and so on. As expressed by Malson and Ussher said that, one of the most dominant constructions is a slender body constructed beautifully and fat is ugly constructed (2005: 104).
Construction of the ideal body shape from time to time was also created by the mass media. As expressed by Grad and Wright (2005), a slim body is promoted in various mass media. Grad and Wright stated,
‚The images promoted as desirable through women’s magazines, health and fitness magazines, fashion models, television and movie stars are of young, beautiful, and thin women‛ (2005:157).
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Gambar 3.3, Source: Instagram Ririe Bogar
Picture 3.3 with a full shot technique shows the whole body of the RB in a bikini. She did not attempt to cover her fat body parts. She looked confident showing her body. RB suggest fat people to remain proud and confident in their bodies. RB who has a fat body often uploads photos and writes words in the form of motivation and an invitation to change the stigma of a fat
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body. RB suggests women who have been marginalized to be able to appear in the Instagram social media representation space without thinking about their body shape. From what was written, RB wanted to convey that she did not care about her fat body size. she remains confident using in a bikini.
In addition to uploading the photo, RB wrote the sentence:
"Usually if I upload a photo from the one who scorned it to the one who scorns it, I wear a bikini at the place ... not at the market or at a house of worship, why upload it ... I don't see many people ... I use the closed one ... wellll I just want to share its okei to wear a swimsuit or bikini even if you are fat ... on the beach or in a swimming pool there is no problem ..., and you want to wear a closed suit if you see that you have an evil and dirty mind but it gets ugly ... it all depends on how people look huh‛.
Instagram is used by individual to voice their interest. Instagram has become an alternative media for individual by voicing discourse that has not been the main focus of mainstream media.
Alternative media as opposed to mainstream media focus on topics that have not been communicated in mainstream media so far. As expressed by Mitzi Waltz (2005: 2).
‚They are all alternative in the simple sense of covering topics that are not an everyday focus for typical newspapers, magazines, or broadcast media‛.
New media is a medium to communicate in different ways and try to change the dominant culture in society. There is no limit for user to upload and share stories about daily activities, experiences and expectations. Instagram has become a popular platform because it utilizes visual power.
Through this facility, RB tries to construct herself identity as expected. Instagram is used as a medium to form new identities through visual and text as a construction of identity created.
Instagram social media, as a cyber space, provides its own space for user.
The emergence of action taken by RB by uploading Instagram photos is a response to dominance and injustice. RB's actions as individuals, who have experienced oppression and then carried out a movement to fight domination, can be said to be an act of identity politic. They are oppressed people becaouse of particular discourses. In the concept of Kathryn Woodward (1997), identity politics is a movement whose starting point is on identities that are marginalized or oppressed.
Thus, identity politic aims to free a person or group from a marginal or marginalized situation.
The tendency of RB to upload photos of fat bodies, write writing, and hashtags can be linked to acts of identity politics. From the observations that have been made, uploading on Instagram RB tends to try to free fat women who are often identified with negative stigma. RB uploads are interesting to study and analyze more deeply. Another interesting thing is that in carrying out its political identity, RB uses Instagram social media. Here Instagram social media is not only a space for various photos and the like, but also a means of carrying out identity politic. This study is intended to analyze how form of identity politics in Instagram is coming out by @ririebogar Instagram account.
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CONCLUSION
Instagram social media was born as the development of internet technology has been used by some people, especially woman. The facilities provided by Instagram are used for expression.
Besides that, Instagram is used as a space for women to voice their interests for those who have not been able to express herselves and not get a portion in the mainstream media. With the presence of Instagram, marginalized individual can display and construct new identities to the public in the hope of negosiation the dominant identity.
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