Two elite swimmers’ ‘presentation of self’ through Instagram and Twitter and how they might re-produce, negotiate or contest dominant discourse: A sensory presentation

This research utilizes sensory methodologies to present Instagram images and sound excerpts (voices) presented to the general public by two high profile elite Australian swimmers. This research investigation focuses on if and how the two swimmers may contribute to the proliferation of ‘slim to win’ via two social spaces (media and Instagram). ’Slim to win’ is a deeply entrenched ideology within the Australian swimming culture and is based on the notion that the swimmer body needs to be lean in order to achieve competitive performance. This ideology pervades the culture despite a lack of scientific research. As a result of this ideology, practices such as excessive exercising, low caloric intake and disordered eating became prevalent within the culture. While ‘slim to win’ was enforced within the culture by coaches and team managers through the use of various practices, recent research revealed that the media has contributed to the proliferation of ‘slim to win’ to outsiders of the culture via photographic images and headlines. Subsequently, the ‘slim to win’ ideology has come to be played out in the everyday lives of people. Attention is now focused on the swimmers and how they might contribute to the proliferation of the message through media sound bites and Instagram images. While the media has been a well represented social space investigated in sport research, the use of Instagram is a form of communication which has seen rapid growth, becoming the most popular photo capture and sharing application, however has resulted in little attention in the research sense. While the author of this research has drawn her own conclusions from the images and sound excerpts, the audience of this presentation may come to alternate conclusions and as such, the researcher’s findings will not been shared until the conclusion of the presentation to limit possible influence