Masculinities and counselling in digital media: subjectivation and self-entrepreneurship on Instagram pages

Abstract

This article analyses two Instagram pages managed by digital influencers who present reflexive content for men about the construction of masculinity. It addresses the forms of subjectivation immanent in the content publicised. The analysis was focused on biographical descriptions, imagery and audiovisual content, and monitoring of posts in their user profile and stories during one year. The themes identified as central were the control of emotions and romantic relationships, associated with the construction of the so-called “healthy masculinity”. That construction requires the consumption of therapeutic practices offered in courses and products through the platform. The media consumption of masculinities requires, from their followers, financial investments and it is articulated to the logic of entrepreneurship of the self. Those investments work towards an ideal of autonomous and self-realised subject embodied in the individual construction of a “healthy masculinity”.