Digital Sexualization and the Representation of Women on Social Media: A Content Analysis of 2023 Platform Data
Abstract
This paper examines the digital sexualization of women on social media platforms during 2023, focusing on how visual framing, pose conventions, and caption discourse construct and normalize sexualized representations of women across Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter/X. Grounded in objectification theory (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997) and Goffman's (1979) framework of gender advertisements, the study employs a mixed-methods design combining quantitative content analysis with critical discourse analysis of a stratified sample of publicly available posts. Findings indicate that sexualization indicators — including body exposure, self-touch gestures, and body fragmentation — appear with notable frequency across lifestyle, fitness, and advertising content, and that such content is frequently reframed through empowerment or body-positivity discourse even where visual conventions replicate long-standing patterns of objectification. The study argues that algorithmic amplification and platform monetization structures incentivize sexualized self-presentation regardless of stated intent, producing a paradox in which individual agency and structural objectification coexist. Implications for media literacy, platform policy, and future research are discussed.
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