Big Butt Ideology’: Digital gaze and evolving normative beauty constructs for Black women

Quindelda “Q.” McElroy (Ph.D. student) (Accepted). “‘Big Butt Ideology’: Digital gaze and evolving normative beauty constructs for Black women.” Howard Journal of Communications. DOI: 10.1080/10646175.2025.2567330  

Abstract: By applying methods of ideological criticism to the Instagram accounts of three of the most influential Black women in Hip Hop – Nicki Minaj, Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion – I have identified the big butt ideology that perpetuates a potentially harmful standard of beauty for women of color. The ideology espouses amplified ideals of feminine attractiveness that some scholars argue can motivate women to seek procedures such as the Brazilian Butt Lift, which has a significantly high mortality rate. The ideology is supported by a broad body of scholarship citing the effects of digital content and influencers on women’s self-identity and body-image beliefs, with research showing that social media can affect women’s desire for cosmetic surgery. This study also reframes the definition of the digital gaze, which acts as a co-constructed conduit to transmit the ideology’s visual codes and messages and is an instrument of persuasive visual communication within social media. Additionally, counter-narratives of agency and self-empowerment are contextualized through the theoretical lens of intersectionality, Black feminist thought and Hip-Hop feminism.