Many of the poets on Instagram are women who express themselves, their experiences, and ideas helping to make the voice of women accessible. This easy accessibility makes it a useful venue for a variety of feminist positions, from subtle comments on gender roles to straightforward protests against gender discrimination, thus providing a platform for different voices, and, more importantly, the voices of the marginalized. By posting their personal and sometimes very personal verses to thousands of followers, these poets play a significant role in demystifying the traditional barriers that have kept women from telling their stories. This has also made it easier for the voices of women who have been marginalized to be heard and validated.
As a form that is rooted in the presentation of the author’s personal feelings and taboo subjects, confessional poetry is an important part of this digital trend. The traditional confessional style that Instagram poets use to express themselves often deals with issues that would normally be considered controversial including mental illness, trauma, body image, and sex. This genre uses a very intense method of writing that makes the discourse very personal, thus enabling the readers to relate with the authors emotionally and intellectually. This act of sharing these poems develops a new space through which image, identity and the self can be discussed and performed. In Kate Ott’s essay titled “Social Media and Feminist Values: Aligned or Maligned,” she discusses how social media can both supports feminist values through offering spaces for marginalized novices, challenge social norms, and engages in a public discourse while also offering an opposition to this that social media offers commercialization of these women while pushing curated, performative content that aligns with stereotypes and silencing dissenting voices. Ott states that “Digital social media invites participation based on the values of openness, collaboration, and networking, which in theory align with feminist values such as access, cooperation, and inclusion” rooting the basis of instagram poetry as a platform for such ideals (93). The authenticity of such posts, however, can be contested by some critics, as the editing of both the visual content and poems are curated to each poet’s aesthetic. Though, this editing helps with the unique portrayal of both their ideas and who they are as individuals. With these ideas, confessional feminist poetry has been redefined and revived through Instagram poetry in the fourth wave feminism era.
Confessional poetry has a strong alignment with second wave feminism. A statement that second wave feminism uses is “The personal is political,” meaning that everyday aspects of women’s lives, such as relationships, sexual experiences, and body image are directly influenced by the system of power that is around them (Grant 278). Though confessional poetry started around the 1950s, it coincided with second wave feminism which started roughly around the 1960s. The modern day movement of Confessional Instagram Poetry coincides with fourth wave feminism as Sofia Caldera discusses in her essay “Exploring the Politics of Gender Representation on Instagram: Self-Representations of Femininity.” Her study reflects on the complexity of gender representations on Instagram through how the online space promotes individual empowerment while also perpetuating societal breathy standards, showing how it can be both a challenge and reinforce traditional gender roles, resulting in a view of how femininity is constructed. She states: “understanding of the political goes beyond the overt online activism of the still-contested notion of ‘fourth-wave feminism’, which calls for active participatory engagement and uses social networking sites to call out injustices and inequalities” (24). Women like Rupi Kaur, Victoria Hutchins, Elise Powers, and Lauren Bowman discuss body image issues, sexual experiences, and their relationships, both romantic and non-romantic.
Of all the things that Instagram poetry does, perhaps the most subversive is to break down barriers of traditional publication. It was not until recently that writers could get their work published and reach out to many people. Currently, through Instagram, one can post their work without having to pay or be published. This makes the literary world more accessible, as anyone can be part of it. Anyone can share their story and contribute to the current discussion of the self, feelings, and the world. This digital space is not regulated by the filters of traditional publishing houses and thus, it is a place where a person, be it an aspiring poet or a seasoned writer, can post their work, ideas, and opinions. Accessibility is not just through posting of works. The extent to which poets have been able to reach a broader audience through the posting, sharing, and concepts like hashtags, has allowed their communities to spread throughout the world. Each of these poets signs their posts with their names, whether it is their initials, or first, middle, and last, denoting the pride and time they have in their creations, allowing the sharing of their work to always be aligned with their name.
In this way, the poets on Instagram have been able to develop a forum through which women’s empowerment, emotional expression, and feminism can be combined. When women poets write about their experiences and put them into words, they not only give voice to their own experiences but also give voice to the experiences of other women who may be going through similar experiences. What has happened is that the consumption, creation, and understanding of poetry has been revolutionized in this virtual space and women are able to reclaim their narrative and defy stereotypes.
A main example of reclaiming of narratives and defying stereotypes is Rupi Kaur. As a Canadian woman, who was born in India, she is one of the most widely known Instagram poets to date. She began her career through self publishing and started a journey in authenticity through a public space. Her first collection of works Milk and Honey is a work that presents the pain and trauma of being sexually assaulted and how one processes such a horrible event. Eventually on Instagram, she discusses menstrual periods, as she was known for being transparent about her personal experiences. Opening the public eye to the discussion of seeing blood, in a simple format such as a spot between her legs, created censorship issues on the platform. She was met with aggressive feedback where trolls said comments like “come over here and let me make your vagina bleed” and “fuck your feminism” (Faust 164). Instagram censored this post, not because of the horrible comments, but because the photo was deemed against community guidelines.
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After pushback against Facebook and Instagram, Kaur’s post is eventually restored, which she tied to the poem
“ apparently it is ungraceful of me
to mention my period in public
cause the actual biology
of my body is too real
it is okay to sell what’s
between a woman’s legs
more than it is okay to
mention it’s inner workings
the recreational use of
this body is seen as
beautiful while
it’s nature is seen as ugly”
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Her poetry does not include capital letters or even punctuation, which is consistent in every post during this time and eventually in her published works. As she is not the only instagram poet to do this. These poets use several types of art to develop their works and, at the same time, demonstrate that poetry is not limited to certain conventions, which makes their approach to feminism productive and more effective. They emphasize the diversity of women’s experiences and create a platform for the performance of intersectional identities, affective states, and acts of resistance.
This diversity includes images and texts. She individually includes a singular drawing or no drawing with each poem she curates. In this case is a vine or tree in the shape of a uterus. This visual element of Instagram poetry makes the reader understand the identity of Kaur not only as the text, but as the combination of the image and text. From the literary point of view, sign, signifier and signified are closely related: sign – a word, a symbol; signifier – that what the sign stand for; signified – that what the reader understands from the sign. The Instagram poets harness this relation by using multimodality where their audience gets to understand the meaning of the texts through different senses. The visual references also serve as signs which have their own significance to make the text more effective. But, leaving it to the reader’s interpretation, the emotional aspect of the work is left intact making the poetry relatable. This interplay of the poets’ intentions and the readers’ interpretations creates a closer and active relationship between the poet and the reader where meaning is not set in stone but rather depends on the reader’s perceptual and personal experience. These Instagram poets are also doing this in many aspects that are not only limited to the written words that they post. With videos, photos, collages, and stories, they create a more holistic view of the poems and share their audience more thoroughly. Though Kaur recently started using videos to promote books and tours, she does not include her poetry in this format. This is important as the visual, auditory and textual aspects in combination help to reinforce the emotional impact of the poems and contribute to a better understanding of the poems’ content. In this way, the poets give their audience a better idea of what they are trying to communicate while still leaving it up to the audience to feel. Kaur uses this combination, as she discusses a unique, binding experience with a visual image that each reader can interpret for themselves. The vines wrapped around a tree in the shape of a uterus can represent growth and a flourishing life, or it can be seen as choking the life out of oneself. Depending on how an individual with a menstrual cycle sees this, the visual image can be represented different, yet the poem shares the universal experience of how society has an aggressive problem with the presentation of women’s bodies. Kaur stated that “…she is aware that some communities and cultures go out of their way to shun and oppress a woman for the duration of her period” (Faust 164).
Many of the Instagram poets are against the society’s norms and the roles that are assigned to women. They perform the role of feminists who expose the problems that women have to face in a chauvinistic society and very often demand emancipation from the oppression. As Caldeira notes, “Such self-representation on Instagram can thus be viewed as performances of gender,” which means that these spaces are not only where one presents him or herself, but they are also shaped by binaries of gender norms and expectations (27). This self-representation is a deliberate act of resistance, and these poets reclaim their voices and the poets, the marginalized, disputing the dominant discourse that has not included them. Thus, sharing their poems, photos and videos in the social networks, they perform, claiming their identities and resisting the narratives that have been imposed upon them. In this way, they break through the binaries that have been imposed on them and assert their identities in a way that goes against the traditional narratives about women.
Victoria Hutchins, who goes by @thedailyvictorian, approaches her portrayal of her poetry in a different fashion than Kaur. Hutchins mixes a variety of videos, with her slowly talking while doing yoga with her coffee cup in hand, and weaves a moment in time with the listener. As a whole, her poetry is verbally communicated, with the occasional poem posted in word form. Her poems that are presented in word and image format are few, but some of her most relatable pieces. One of her most popular poems titled “Natural Remedies” which focuses on the comparing ones body to nature which says
“If you want to fix your stretch marks,
watch lightning stretch across the sky when it rains.
When you want to fix your crooked bottom teeth,
hike until you can see a jagged mountain range.
When you want to fix your acne scars,
run your hand across the bark of a tree.
When you want to fix your thigh fat,
dive into the rippled, massive sea.
When you feel an urge to fix your body,
Cast yourself into the rough of this world.
Send a day in her peaks and plans and valleys.
Run your hands through her sand, shells, and pearls.
Feel how hairy and bumpy and big she is.
Do you think that she needs to be fixed?”
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Hutchins continues the representation of women’s body and image issues. As Rupi discusses the anger behind the disgust of a normal autonomic function as she was met with in regarding to her menstrual cycle, Hutchins addresses the deep-rooted image issues woman are constantly met with. The barrage of constantly edited images and videos has created a generation of individuals who have unrealistic expectations for their bodies, while simultaneously are trying to accept them. Her address of the dislike of one’s body can be understood by generations, where even though it is an online discourse, does not mean individuals in the real world feel the ramifications. Caldera discusses how “…Instagram does not exist in a cultural void. It is intertextual, embedded in popular culture, and thus re-appropriates, often unconsciously, the texts and conventions of the film and television industries, of women’s magazines, and of the fashion and beauty industries to enable one to construct one’s own image through a process of ‘bricolage’” (25). In this context, the “bricolage” of images on social media—where users combine elements of various beauty ideals to construct a curated version of themselves—only reinforces unrealistic expectations. Women, as users of these platforms, are both consumers and creators of these idealized images, participating in a cycle that perpetuates body dissatisfaction. This dynamic shows how deeply embedded these cultural pressures are, as they are not just imposed from external forces, but are also self-reinforced within the ecosystem of social media.
The ideologies of perfection, which have been constructed through media and perpetuated online, filter into the real world, influencing everything from how women present themselves in the public sphere to how they view their bodies in private. “Correlational and longitudinal research finding reveal that exposure to the media’s portrayal of the ideal physique is positively associated with body dissatisfaction and eating disorder symptoms” states DeBraganza in her article “Media Exposure of the Ideal Physique on Women’s Body and Dissatisfaction and Mood” (701). In her study, she addresses the growing body dissatisfaction among women who are repeatedly exposed to the idealized images and videos that media presents to them, in the constant barrage of online scrolling. This presentation of what the idealized body looks like, has created severe eating disorders and mental health issues, as these bodies are almost unattainable for most women, or the result of severe dieting and aggressive work out plans. Hutchins repeatedly talks slowly, in an attempt to give her listeners a calm atmosphere, while she is attempting to have them accept themselves and their bodies for who they genuinely are. She actively does not use filters though when she does edit her videos as you can clearly see the breaks when they do occur. As a whole, she tries to record these sessions in one go while doing the same yoga practices. Using yoga as one of her repetitive mannerisms helps the listener to connect the practice of mind and body awareness with self acceptance. Never does she negatively talk about others, but addresses the ideas and issues in media that present these unrealistic standards. Her curated image does not perpetuate the unattainable beauty standard that can affect self-esteem and self-image, but instead attempts to create a space of acceptance and love. As she addresses hunger issues, body image issues, and even topics like heartbreak, she keeps her same peaceful mannerisms.
Elise Powers echos the body image and feminism theme, through her poem titled “I Do Not Order Two Raw Sugars In My Americano”
“But the barista at my local spot
doesn’t know that. Or, otherwise,
she doesn’t care. I’ve tried to tell her,
but she sees my face and laces my cup
in sweetness like a grandmother
who won’t take no for an answer.
Despite myself, I soften into this small insistence.
Did you know a black coffee
has just two calories?
Add cream and it swells to forty two.
Sugar, and it surges another hundred.
This information matters only when
the size of your body is more important
than the size of your joy.
All this to say, even when we don’t ask for it,
even when we insist against it,
joy always finds us again.
One day soon it will sweeten your coffee,
or curl into the crook of your elbow,
or nest in your magnolia,
and you’ll say yes, yes, I remember.”
This poem represents body image issues with the consumption of food. In America, the early 2000’s calorie counting issues and how it has trickled into today’s society still ripples across society today. The reference to calorie counting and subsequent understanding of how each simple addition increases both the calories and the stress that comes along with it help s emphasize the stress and lack of joy that comes with having to critique every food intake. The lines “This information matters only when/ the size of your body is more important/ than the size of your joy.” The size of your joy can be referenced to food size, coffee size, and even sugar size whereas the size of your body is specific to every individual who consumes the poem. Societal pressures often prioritize a woman’s physical appearance over mental health, physical health, and significantly over her well-being and happiness. Women’s desires, including the simple pleasure of a coffee, are often subordinated to the obsession of achieving an idealized body. Though the barista is seemingly like a “grandmother who won’t take no for an answer” there is still an aspect of lack of control over ones body and the choices they have made. The barista’s oversight of her decision might be in good in nature but taking away her control still. Her reflection on softening herself reflects back on to traditional feminist ideas. Women tend to be seen as soft, loving, and nurturing, where as a black bitter coffee tends to contradict this. Confessional poetry challenges the ideas that the patriarchal society has put in to place, this including the idea of women being soft and sweet as a sole form of existence. Powers uses this idea of a black americano to push against these ideas, simply wanting the choice to add sugar and cream if she so chooses.
Lauren E. Bowman, whose bio states “I will not be less” writes her poem YOU’RE SO PRETTY UNRULY as her introduction to her third poetry collection titled “Shapeshifter.” Bowman uses the strikethrough feature as an interesting twist on how to read her poem.
“Look at you, you savage woman.
You, hair untamed, hands calloused woman.
You, go-ahead-and-pull-me-down woman.
You, I’ll just rise again, and again, and again.
Look at your
thickfull belly that keeps you moving.Look at your
flawedreal skin that tells your story.Look at the love in your thighs, the way they
kiss each other.
Look at the fire in your eyes, with their
Medusa-stone power.
Turn around, look at the art you left in your wake.
The collection of beats that stood in your way.
Monuments to the trouble you’ve made.”
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Once again the theme of body image resurfaces. The untamed and calloused woman is directly against the ideal woman that has been portrayed religiously across media. These are usually attributes that are used to describe men, yet she changes it into a badge of honor. The defiance the woman has of rising again, whether polished or not, exemplifies her freedoms and strength in the face of hardships. Using the strikethrough feature, she uses the words thick and flawed, both which have negative connotations attached to the nouns they are describing: thick belly and flawed skin. She strikes through thick and flawed reminding the reader that they are full and real, not negative traits. Restrive diets and perfect skin are prominent on social media, mainly because of eating disorders paired with filters. Address the idea that one is not perfect, which is simply unobtainable, but are normal and everyday creates an open, accepting space for the reader.
The usage of hashtags enhances this process and makes it easier for readers to stumble upon poems and poets that they would not have otherwise come across, thus providing a platform for more voices in the society. Hashtags which are commonly used to define certain topics or issues help to classify poetry and help people to find the pieces that are relevant to them, which also increases the feeling of being part of a larger community on the platform. Hashtags have been used for feminist debates and conversely, starting with Twitter and continuing in to TikTok. On Instagram, you can scroll easily through the poets and poems of feminist writers by searching #poetry and #feminist. Powers uses hashtags such as #dietculturedropout and #eating disorderrecovery while Kaur and Hutchins do not use any at all. Bowman subsequently uses her title of new sections of poetry as a hashtag and includes in most of her posts #poetry, #prose, and #quotes. Through the additions of hashtags, it creates an opportunity for those who do post on social media. Like Kaur, a lot of woman have begun expressing themselves through poetry onlines and, following in her footsteps, are using this platform to spread their poetry. The accessibility that comes with being able to search and browse poems through both directly the poet and through hashtags allows for a larger community to recognize and share in their writings.
The method of posting poetry on Instagram is also unique in the sense that it opens up another platform where people from different parts of the world can meet and interact with each other more closely. Women from all over the world can comment and discuss their mutual understanding of these seemingly universal experiences from a simple scroll and the comfort of their own home. As the community expands, we see its impact throughout the world. Social media plays a part in reclaiming women’s bodies, if viewed and used with the purpose of individual power and the defiance of stand society’s norms. Though some individuals may fall prey to posting for likes and shares to promote their poetry, most do so in attempt to share experiences and create a collective, inclusive space. Social media “may not topple capitalist industries running on racist ideas of beauty yet, and it may not entirely uproot a society’s tendency to delineate some bodies as superior to others, but it contains a richness of space and voice for those who wish to reclaim their identities and bodies” states Mehreen Kasana whose article discusses how women, especially marginalized women, are using social media to create a sphere of acceptance and understanding (224). She includes discussion on how women are criticized for posts like these poets have created, through harsh cruel comments telling those individuals how their feelings and experiences should be, not wanting the reality of what women are facing to be expressed. Feminism has a strong hold in the internet sphere, yet “the effectiveness of feminism in the blogosphere is inherently dependent on how active we feminist are in taking these issues to the offline world and spreading the same messages in those spheres as well” ( Kansana 248). Each poet is breaching real life issues, though expressed online, have very real reflections of what the daily lives of women experience.
The authenticity of each poet’s presentation of their poems can be called into question, as editing clearly goes on behind the scenes. With Rupi Kaur, her photos are clearly professional and staged. Victoria Hutchins attempts to post unedited videos, yet it is obvious when a cut has been made. Lastly, Elise Powers posts videos based on her poems which show short clips combined into one video. Lauren Bowman is the only author who constantly only posts just her writing. She does not post any personal images or photos on her poetry page. These other three poets, though, never add filters into their images regarding themselves. For women who are advocating for authenticity and realism in women’s lives, the addition of said filters would contradict their efforts in an overt manner.
Each of these four poets–Rupi Kaur, Victoria Hutchins, Elise Powers, and Lauren Bowman–use Instagram as their platform to showcase their confessionary poetry. Though they may not actively classify themselves as such, their raw, unfiltered emotions shown through their everyday experiences such as body image issues, trauma, and the active fight against patriarchal ideals align with the confessional poets. The modality in which they share these poems creates a new space where identity, image, and the self can be explored and accepted. Fourth wave feminism will eventually be defined by their works, as they have brought confessional poetry into a more accessible and widely known space.
Cited Works:
Caldeira, Sofia. “Exploring the Politics of Gender Representation on Instagram: Self-Representations of Femininity.” DiGeSt. Journal of Diversity and Gender Studies, vol. 5, no. 1, 2018, pp. 23–42. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.11116/digest.5.1.2. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.
Faust, Gretchen. “Hair, Blood and the Nipple: Instagram Censorship and the Female Body.” Digital Environments: Ethnographic Perspectives Across Global Online and Offline Spaces, edited by Urte Undine Frömming et al., transcript Verlag, 2017, pp. 159–70. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1xxrxw.14. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.
Grant, Catherine. “Fans of Feminism: Re-Writing Histories of Second-Wave Feminism in Contemporary Art.” Oxford Art Journal, vol. 34, no. 2, 2011, pp. 265–86. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41315381. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.
Kasana, Mehreen. “Feminisms and the Social Media Sphere.” Women’s Studies Quarterly, vol. 42, no. 3/4, 2014, pp. 236–49. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/24365006. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.
Manning, Maria. “Crafting Authenticity: Reality, Storytelling, and Female Self-Representation through Instapoetry.” Storytelling, Self, Society, vol. 16, no. 2, 2020, pp. 263–79. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.13110/storselfsoci.16.2.0263. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.
Ott, Kate. “Social Media and Feminist Values: Aligned or Maligned?” Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, vol. 39, no. 1, 2018, pp. 93–111. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.5250/fronjwomestud.39.1.0093. Accessed 9 Dec. 2024.
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