Submission Date
4-27-2015
Document Type
Paper- Restricted to Campus Access
Department
Media & Communication Studies
Second Department
Sociology
Adviser
Dr. Lynne Edwards
Second Adviser
Dr. Jasmine Harris
Committee Member
Dr. Regina Oboler
Committee Member
Dr. Louise Woodstock
Committee Member
Dr. Jasmine Harris
Department Chair
Dr. Regina Oboler
Department Chair
Dr. Louise Woodstock
Project Description
The purpose of this study is to understand how African-American women’s hairstyles in Facebook profile pictures are a means of self-presentation. The research questions are: 1) How do hairstyles enable Black women to create specific identities on Facebook? 2) Why do Black women choose certain hairstyles but avoid others in their Facebook profile pictures? 3) How do Black women perceive their negotiations between Black cultural ideologies about hair and American standards of beauty? No study has examined how Black women wear their hair in profile pictures on Facebook and how this personal choice is shaped by socio-cultural ideas regarding Black women’s hair. Between October 2014 and December 2014, 18 African-American females participated in one-on-one qualitative interviews with the researcher. Hairstyles were found to be important to Black women when choosing a particular profile picture for Facebook. Black women want to give the impression that they are physically attractive and actively represent their racial and gender identity through hairstyles. They also seek to control the image others have of them by choosing and refusing to wear particular hairstyles in their Facebook profile pictures. Black women also identify societal beauty standards for hair as being Eurocentric and that they overwhelmingly reject through hairstyles worn online. Overall, Black females see their hairstyles as a critical means of self-presentation on Facebook. Future research should examine how Black women wear their hair in other social media spaces online, as well as audience perception of these styles, to produce a broader, comprehensive understanding of this topic.
Recommended Citation
Forsythe, Janel, "The Way I Wear My Hair: Black Women’s Hairstyles and Self-Presentation in Facebook Profile Pictures" (2015). Sociology Honors Papers. 1.
https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/soc_hon/1
