Coffey, Julia; Kanai, Akane; Dobson, Amy S; Gill, Rosalind and White, Niamh. 2025. ‘Hang on, why am I editing my photos?’ Disrupting the virtual gaze through selfie-editing workshops. Qualitative Research, ISSN 1468-7941 [Article] (In Press)

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Abstract or Description

This article presents findings from a qualitative study which aimed to provide some of the first detailed accounts of how young people use selfie-editing apps, and the implications for young people’s embodiment, body concerns, and wellbeing. In particular, the article discusses the methodology and method of selfie-editing workshops as a way of studying the actual practice and meanings associated with editing in ‘real time’ with small groups of young people, that can also work to unsettle the normalisation of a ‘forensic gaze’ (Lavrence and Cambre 2019). Participants described how the process of editing ‘out loud’ altered their understanding and experience of editing. Some registered a new sense of ‘strangeness’ about their self-talk while editing. Others described the method as assisting them to feel a sense of solidarity and unity with others: ‘I’m not alone’. Other examples showed how the process of editing alongside someone else helped them to see how critical others are of themselves, and to interrupt their own critical reading of their ‘flaws’ while editing: ‘I don’t see what you see’. Overall, through aspects of the workshop’s collaborative processes, including collective discussion and analysis, the selfie editing workshop method indicated possibilities of interrupting the silent, closed loop of identifying ‘flaws’, then resolving them through ‘correction’, again and again. This method, we suggest, could thus open up the individualising impacts associated with selfie editing, which is usually viewed as a pathologized or risky practice harmful to body image and self esteem for young people.

Item Type:	Article
Identification Number (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1177/14687941251341994
Additional Information:	Funding: The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the Australian Research Council Discovery Project (grant number DP220100152).
Keywords:	selfie, gender, images, qualitative, feminism
Departments, Centres and Research Units:	Institute for Cultural and Creative Entrepreneurship (ICCE) Media, Communications and Cultural Studies
Dates:	Date Event 25 January 2025 Accepted 19 June 2025 Published Online
Item ID:	38380
Date Deposited:	10 Jul 2025 08:48
Last Modified:	10 Jul 2025 08:48
Peer Reviewed:	Yes, this version has been peer-reviewed.
URI:	https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/38380

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