What it means to be a bodybuilder: social media influencer labor and the construction of identity in the bodybuilding subculture

ABSTRACT While recent research has explored influencers within the fashion, beauty, fitness, and travel industries, few studies have examined influencers within physique sports like bodybuilding. Drawing on observation, informal interviews, and semi-structured interviews with members of Gold’s Gym Venice, this study analyzes how bodybuilders, trainers, and influencers define labor and how they construct their identities as members of the bodybuilding subculture. The findings suggest bodybuilders and trainers believe influencers are not authentic members of the subculture and instead are sexualized laborers. The findings also explicate a misunderstanding among bodybuilders and trainers about how social media use is a productive form of labor for influencers. Influencers attempt to insert themselves into the subculture while bodybuilders and trainers simultaneously attempt to discredit their digital labor in favor of the physical. Gold’s Gym Venice connects these stakeholders by offering both a symbolic and historical credibility, validating forms of labor through subcultural belonging.