Yoga and Female Objectification: Commodity and Exclusionary Identity in U.S. Women's Magazines

摘要

Using textual and visual media framing analysis, this research examines contemporary depictions of yoga in U.S. general interest women’s magazines. Critique of narrative and images from three leading magazines demonstrates how the representation of yoga depicts and positions tropes of female objectification that reify values of commodity, consumerism, and divisive exclusionary identity. Narrative and images dominated by bodies of slim, White, upper-class women perpetuate not only the commodification of yoga but also media framing of its appropriation and negotiation to support a multimillion-dollar industry. Two threads of research dominate this study: (1) how do today’s media representations of yoga practice in the United States foster critical and cultural understanding in light of yoga’s long history, and (2) how does the objectification of women’s bodies in this context contribute to ongoing conversations about commodification, exclusion, and identity in contemporary media depictions of women?