When the results of a new study about female self representation on Social Media started popping up in the news last week I wasn’t surprised. In summary it revealed that young girls who follow female influencers have a higher tendency to be unhappy with their looks, to retouch themselves in photos and to compare themselves to their Social Media idols. The German study focused mainly on fashion, beauty & lifestyle influencers.
Yet, the travel blogger scene isn’t much different (unfortunately) and shares a part of the blame.
Source: Screenshot Search results #femaletravelbloggers on Instagram.
This is how many female travellers present themselves on Social Media.
Female travellers and their image on Social Media
While male travel bloggers represent the destinations they visit, work for the outdoors industry and go on adventures – the female travel bloggers seem to travel elegantly in floaty dresses and bikinis and rather present themselves as an object of discovery than being the subject who actively discovers a place and shares her perspective.
This behaviour results in a perception of female travellers, which not only misrepresents women but increase pressure on a younger generation of girls.
So with everything we post on Social media we have to ask ourselves:
Is this how we as women want to be represented on Social Media?
Source: Screenshot Search results #femaletravelbloggers on Instagram.
#femaletravelbloggers for more diversity
Before I go on and on as to why these photos are a problem, I came up with a solution 🙂 I started this project to spread a more authentic and diverse image of women who travel on Social Media. And to share this as far as possible I ask you to join (it doesn’t matter if you’re a travel blogger or just a private traveller)!
The idea is simple
Let‘s take over the #femaletravelbloggers hashtag to create a more diverse, inclusive and empowering image of female travellers on Social Media. Simply use the hashtag #femaletravelbloggers on your posts and stories to shed a new light on women who travel.
You can also use this template on Insta Stories to invite others to join:
Let’s start by sharing more diverse, realistic and empowering photos of our travels. By using the #femaletravelbloggers hashtag on a more diverse and wider range of photos we can make a difference!
This is me in Namibia – how I actually look when I travel!
Find more about this project on my Instagram account @ladyvenom.