If it's mostly about competition for mates rather than, say, status among women, do we then see women's behavior on Instagram change significantly when they enter or leave relationships?
To me it feels more like a beauty competition with other women. I don't think it's to attract men.
The following is based on my (anecdotal) observations and conversations within my social group: with my wife, my male friends, and my female friends: Current obsession with eyelashes, nails, and lots of makeup are kind of seen as too much by men, whereas women find it indications of extreme beauty.
It wouls appear that the things women value in female attractiveness and beauty don't exactly match what men value in female attractiveness and beauty (and also, what men believe makes a man attractive, doesn't totally match what women value).
Even though attractiveness should be towards finding a mate, I would think this makes sense from the stand point of gender homophily.
As usual, this post is very interesting. Spending time with professional women in the Emirates who wear chadors in mixed company but remove them in female only settings: their makeup, jewelry and clothing are knockouts. Clearly with for themselves or for competition with other women.
My wife has taken up Tiktok, so I glean info through her. It seems quite different to Instagram (which I've also never used): She describes it as quickly linking like-minded people. She was on it for days or weeks before she had several friends, and started a business inside this warm crafting sub-culture living on TikTok, with even sub-identities finding it easy to specialise. The likes, which all the members know everybody likes to receive, are doled out with ritualistic gaity. It's kinda beautiful, for Chinese spyware. Social media doesn't bring her down anymore, instead she tries new things like doing Live videos. She's cool.
Maybe other social media will follow suit toward less anxiety-inducing experiences, assuming my little perspective is similar to how TikTok works on the whole.
Re. the poll, I'd think of social media + fashion industry more as intensifying factors.
Combination of social media + fashion industry $ being handed to influencers (perceived as peers) creates the chance of a tangible short term financial payoff from sexual competition, in addition to the long term chances of finding a good mate. Someone aspiring to become a micro-influencer with 5k followers is in a competitive environment where they get instant feedback and can adjust their strategy based on likes + engagement
Regarding your proposal about regulating algorithms, this not so far from what TikTok does (compared with Instagram), with the feed showing about 40% of content from creators you're not following. It also guarantees views for videos from new creators, and will quickly distribute them widely if they get good engagement. Very different from the oligopoly of large creators on Instagram
Changes to algorithms have a big influence on 'metas' on social media where a particular kind of content becomes super popularised. e.g. 'Shein hauls', twitch's infamous hot-tub meta etc., so attempts to regulate may well be beset with unintended consequences!
Men will indeed judge women's faces, since people naturally focus on each other's faces... but shoes seem to be another story. Do men even notice them? When women say "Eyes up here", it's usually not because a man is looking at her shoes instead of her face.
The reasoning Mina Le uses there focuses more on class and showing off status, or "conspicuous leisure". She's not a social scientist though and more interested in reeling off different historical examples than anything numerical (the exception being a study of the higher prevalence of bunions in Cambridge graves after pointy shoes became popular).
Possibly, but that makes me think of what we do with delicate objects: we surround them with soft packaging like styrofoam "peanuts" when moving them. Some of the reasoning she uses is that shoes difficult to walk in send a signal that you don't have to walk a lot and might instead be riding in a cab.
If it's mostly about competition for mates rather than, say, status among women, do we then see women's behavior on Instagram change significantly when they enter or leave relationships?
Very interesting!
To me it feels more like a beauty competition with other women. I don't think it's to attract men.
The following is based on my (anecdotal) observations and conversations within my social group: with my wife, my male friends, and my female friends: Current obsession with eyelashes, nails, and lots of makeup are kind of seen as too much by men, whereas women find it indications of extreme beauty.
It wouls appear that the things women value in female attractiveness and beauty don't exactly match what men value in female attractiveness and beauty (and also, what men believe makes a man attractive, doesn't totally match what women value).
Even though attractiveness should be towards finding a mate, I would think this makes sense from the stand point of gender homophily.
Do you see this plausible?
As usual, this post is very interesting. Spending time with professional women in the Emirates who wear chadors in mixed company but remove them in female only settings: their makeup, jewelry and clothing are knockouts. Clearly with for themselves or for competition with other women.
My wife has taken up Tiktok, so I glean info through her. It seems quite different to Instagram (which I've also never used): She describes it as quickly linking like-minded people. She was on it for days or weeks before she had several friends, and started a business inside this warm crafting sub-culture living on TikTok, with even sub-identities finding it easy to specialise. The likes, which all the members know everybody likes to receive, are doled out with ritualistic gaity. It's kinda beautiful, for Chinese spyware. Social media doesn't bring her down anymore, instead she tries new things like doing Live videos. She's cool.
Maybe other social media will follow suit toward less anxiety-inducing experiences, assuming my little perspective is similar to how TikTok works on the whole.
Re. the poll, I'd think of social media + fashion industry more as intensifying factors.
Combination of social media + fashion industry $ being handed to influencers (perceived as peers) creates the chance of a tangible short term financial payoff from sexual competition, in addition to the long term chances of finding a good mate. Someone aspiring to become a micro-influencer with 5k followers is in a competitive environment where they get instant feedback and can adjust their strategy based on likes + engagement
Regarding your proposal about regulating algorithms, this not so far from what TikTok does (compared with Instagram), with the feed showing about 40% of content from creators you're not following. It also guarantees views for videos from new creators, and will quickly distribute them widely if they get good engagement. Very different from the oligopoly of large creators on Instagram
Changes to algorithms have a big influence on 'metas' on social media where a particular kind of content becomes super popularised. e.g. 'Shein hauls', twitch's infamous hot-tub meta etc., so attempts to regulate may well be beset with unintended consequences!
Men will indeed judge women's faces, since people naturally focus on each other's faces... but shoes seem to be another story. Do men even notice them? When women say "Eyes up here", it's usually not because a man is looking at her shoes instead of her face.
heels make women's legs look longer
Also arch the back and push out the butt - both sexual cues.
That seems like something that should gotten an optimal solution long ago, so there's no longer any way to outcompete others on it.
I'm nearly a year late in necromancing this thread, but I came across a video titled "why do we wear impractical shoes?" and flashed back to this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayOS3iRgoUk
The reasoning Mina Le uses there focuses more on class and showing off status, or "conspicuous leisure". She's not a social scientist though and more interested in reeling off different historical examples than anything numerical (the exception being a study of the higher prevalence of bunions in Cambridge graves after pointy shoes became popular).
Non academic reply: women’s shoes are uniformly awful and uncomfortable. I think it’s a performance of femininity: appearing delicate.
Possibly, but that makes me think of what we do with delicate objects: we surround them with soft packaging like styrofoam "peanuts" when moving them. Some of the reasoning she uses is that shoes difficult to walk in send a signal that you don't have to walk a lot and might instead be riding in a cab.