Navigating Expressions of Femininity in Online Influencer Culture: A Content Analysis of Collegiate Women Athlete Branding in the Age of “Name,Image,and Likeness”

Abstract

The National Collegiate Athletic Association’s 2021 “name, image, and likeness” policy granted athletes the right to their own publicity and allowed them to build complex, digital brands. Using Goffman’s theory of self-representation, this article analyzes how three women athletes—Olivia Dunne, Haley Cavinder, and Hanna Cavinder—represented themselves on Instagram and TikTok during the first year of this policy. Findings show that these athletes portrayed themselves primarily in backstage settings; however, they also acknowledged their athleticism through competition-adjacent photographs and videos that complicate Goffman’s binary understanding of self-representation. These findings advance understandings of women athlete self-expression in the influencer economy.