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.

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