Postfeminist heroines: Contradictions of female audiovisual production on YouTube

Abstract

This article investigates the contradictions and ambiguities of the representation of women in vlogs published by ordinary women on YouTube. The paper examines the origins of amateur videos on the Internet and the relationship between TV and web, discussing the characteristics of the television of intimacy. More specifically, the research analyses Flavia Calina's channel, which has nowadays more than 800,000 subscribers and 130 million views. The investigation examines videos, comments from viewers and a meeting between the vlogger and her audience, in view of postfeminist criticism. The findings suggest that Flavia Calina, famous because of her digital reality show, synthesizes a kind of neoliberal middle class heroism, in which feminine empowerment is associated with the display of intimacy and the celebration of individual choices.