Abstract

The present study aimed to explore the phenomenon of sexualization on Instagram. The level of sexualization of the images posted (April-May 2018) by 7 top international influencers was measured. Three independent judges used the Hatton and Trautner scale (2011) to classify the images; the agreement between them was evaluated through the multivariate index “iotaµ. The scores allowed classifying the analysed photos in: non-sexualized, sexualized, hyper-sexualized. The results showed that the most commonly shared photos by influencers belongs to the sexualized images category in line with previous studies conducted in newspapers and TV.