APRESENTAÇÕES DE SI E ESTIGMAS DE PESO PARA MULHERES USUÁRIAS DE AMBIENTES DIGITAIS

Abstract

This thesis aims to compare the process of self-presentation between users of digital environments who are stigmatized for their weight and those who are not. To this end, it is explained the importance of weight as a strategy for self-presentation, and what the particularities of this process are for women who do not conform to current cultural standards of beauty. It is proposed a historical revival of weight as a defining element of beauty and good impressions, including in contexts mediated by digital technologies. Considering the particularities of self-presentation in digital environments, a different impression management was noticed by stigmatized users to deal with stigma. Semi-structured interviews and non-participant observations were carried out with women between 18 and 24 years of age, users of digital environments and of different weight ranges (based on the Body Mass Index - BMI): thin, with adequate weight, overweight and obese. The data obtained was analyzed using Content Analysis and categorized based on the main concepts of Erving Goffman's Dramaturgical Theory. Firstly, it was analyzed how digital environments can be understood as an interactional stage, and, thus, how they are configured to support women's self-presentations. It was noticed that the platforms Instagram, WhatsApp, TikTok and X are considered the most relevant and that the technical and social particularities of each of them influence the development and maintenance of the performances carried out there. It was also investigated the backstage context, which encompass the elements that should not be exposed to the audience and where stigma management takes place. Our findings demonstrate that the way users deal with their body weight stigmas influences directly the way they work with their bodies in their performances in digital environments. In relation to the process of self-presentation, it was identified significant differences in the choice of strategies, the number of performances carried out in digital environments, motivations and monitoring between participants stigmatized and not stigmatized by body weight. Finally, it was observed several psychosocial effects that permeate social interactions when weight is considered an element that integrates self-presentations, as well as self-concept and self-esteem. It was shown that stigmatized women are more concerned with the negative returns derived from their performances, which makes them direct stigma management in this sense as well, adopting measures to segregate the audience or restrict self-presentations. We conclude that, as happens without the mediation of digital technology, women stigmatized by body weight suffer more from the negative effects of their status in digital environments than those who do not experience this condition. However, digital environments also reconfigure the manipulation of stigma through the process of self-presentation by expanding the possibilities of strategies and by offering a space that facilitates phenomena such as acceptance, inspiration and identification, which generates more security and empowerment for women to play their roles in this context and beyond.