Mia Westrap

Profile

Mia is currently focusing her PhD research on postfeminist sensibilities and neoliberal embodiment within Instagram’s ‘intuitive eating’ community. As an undergraduate student, Mia developed an interest in women’s studies, feminist theory, postfeminism and the sociology of the body, concentrating her BA (Hons) research on the gendered experience of religious veiling and feminist narratives associated with these experiences.

Through the use of discourse analysis and semi-structured interviews, Mia aims to explore how ‘intuitive eating’ communities are presented online as a part of a wider anti-diet movement, how women navigate and negotiate their involvement within these communities, and the ways in which neoliberal attitudes and postfeminist sensibilities are adopted and promoted through content-sharing within these communities.

Education

PhD (in progress) – Sociology, University of York

PGDip – Global Health, University of Southampton

BA (Hons) – Sociology, University of Winchester