How Muslim Women in Jakarta Negotiate the ‘My Body, My Rules’ Narrative on Social Media: A Communication Perspective on Feminism and Islamic Values

Authors

  • Naya Adisti Prameswari Putrie LSPR Institute of Communication and Bussines, Jakarta, Indonesia
  • Feri Fahrianto Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University of Jakarta, Indonesia
  • Rino Febrianno Boer LSPR Institute of Communication and Bussines, Jakarta, Indonesia
  • Ajif Yunizar Pratama Kyushu Institut of Technology, Fukuoka, Japan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15408/mimbar.v43i1.51639

Keywords:

bodily autonomy, Digital Feminism, Social media, Islamic Values, Negotiated Agency, Jakarta

Abstract

A global wave of digital feminism has emerged, and the slogan “My Body, My Rules (abbreviated MBMR)” has spread widely across social platforms including TikTok and Instagram. However, after this discourse entered Indonesia’s Muslim communities, it required reinterpretation through integration with three core Islamic values: amanah, iffah, and maslahah, and the framing of bodily autonomy thus generated cross-cultural tensions. The author team of this paper centered their research on the core question of how Muslim women aged 20 to 40 in Jakarta negotiate and address this tension. Under a qualitative research framework, the study adopted a dual-path approach combining semi-structured interviews with digital discourse analysis. The study found that participants developed a form of negotiated agency, and that social media holds the dual attribute of being both an empowerment space and an arena for ideological contestation. This study supplements relevant research outcomes in the field of communication studies, proving that after localization, global feminist discourse can generate a hybrid agency that integrates individual empowerment and religious responsibility, and reshape the identity construction logic of contemporary digital communication.

References

Abu-Lughod, L. (2013). Do Muslim women need saving? Harvard University Press.

Baker, S., & Walsh, M. (2018). Scripting identities: From the performing self to digital narratives of the everyday. New Media & Society, 20(4), 1365–1382. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444818777514

Banet-Weiser, S., Gill, R., & Rottenberg, C. (2019). Postfeminism, popular feminism and neoliberal feminism? Sarah Banet-Weiser, Rosalind Gill and Catherine Rottenberg in conversation. Feminist Theory, 20(4), 455–470. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464700119842555

Barizi, A., Rohmah, S., Kholish, M. A., & Hikmah, N. (2024). Islam, visual morality and gender identity in cyberspace: The agency, controversy and popular piety of Ria Ricis. Journal of Religion, Media and Digital Culture, 13(1), 20–42. https://doi.org/10.1163/21659214-bja10113

Baulch, E., & Pramiyanti, A. (2018). Hijabers on Instagram: Using visual social media to construct the ideal Muslim woman. Social Media + Society, 4(4). https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305118800308

Beta, A. (2019). Commerce, piety and politics: Indonesian young Muslim women’s groups as religious influencers. New Media & Society, 21(10), 2140–2159. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444819838774

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2021). One size fits all? What counts as quality practice in (reflexive) thematic analysis? Qualitative Research in Psychology, 18(3), 328–352. https://doi.org/10.1080/14780887020.1769238

Crawford, K. (2017). The anxieties of algorithmic power: Digital feminism and platform culture. Information, Communication & Society, 20(6), 831–848.

Daniah, I. A., & Pribadi, Y. (2023). Digital feminism in Indonesia: The counter-narratives to gender inequality on Instagram. Jurnal Penelitian, 20(1), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.28918/jupe.v20i1.1097

Dobson, A. S. (2015). Postfeminist digital cultures: Femininity, social media, and self-representation. Palgrave Macmillan.

Dwifatma, A., & Beta, A. R. (2024). The "Funny Line Veil" and the mediated political subjectivity of Muslim women in Indonesia. Asian Journal of Communication, 34(3), 284–297. https://doi.org/10.1080/01292986.2024.2320900

Goffman, E. (1959). The presentation of self in everyday life. Anchor Books.

Hall, S. (1997). Representation: Cultural representations and signifying practices. SAGE Publications.

Hartono, H. (2018). Virtually (im)moral: Pious Indonesian Muslim women’s use of Facebook. Asian Studies Review, 42(2), 213–231. https://doi.org/10.1080/10357823.2017.1407290

Hefner, C. M. (2022). Morality, religious authority, and the digital edge. American Ethnologist, 49(3), 361–373. https://doi.org/10.1111/amet.13088

Kamali, M. H. (2008). Maqasid al-Shariah made simple. International Institute of Islamic Thought.

Kloos, D., & Ismah, N. (2023). Siting Islamic feminism: The Indonesian Congress of Women Islamic Scholars and the challenge of challenging patriarchal authority. History and Anthropology, 34(5), 818–843. https://doi.org/10.1080/02757206.2023.2249495

Mahmood, S. (2005). Politics of piety: The Islamic revival and the feminist subject. Princeton University Press.

Mendes, K., & Ringrose, J. (2019). Digital feminist activism: #MeToo and the everyday experiences of challenging rape culture. In #MeToo and the Politics of Social Change (pp. 37–51). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15213-0_3

Nisa, E. F. (2019). Muslim women in contemporary Indonesia: Online conflicting narratives behind the Women Ulama Congress. Asian Studies Review, 43(3), 534–554. https://doi.org/10.1080/10357823.2019.1632796

Nisa, E. F. (2022). Face-veiled women in contemporary Indonesia. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003246442

Nurmila, N. (2011). Women, Islam and everyday life: Renegotiating polygamy in Indonesia. Routledge.

Nurani, S., Maulana, L., & Marom, N. (2025). Contestations of women's body autonomy on TikTok: A study of ideology, Qur'anic interpretation, and gender identity among Indonesian Islamic organizations. Digital Muslim Review, 3(2), 48–62. https://doi.org/10.32678/dmr.v3i2.48

Rifai, A. (2021). The discourse of women's piety and gender bias construction on Muslimah websites in Indonesia. Al-Balagh: Jurnal Dakwah dan Komunikasi, 6(2), 273–304. https://doi.org/10.22515/al-balagh.v6i2.3402

Scharff, C. (2023). Creating content for Instagram: Digital feminist activism and the politics of class. Astrolabio, (31). https://doi.org/10.55441/1668.7515.n31.39411

Shin, J., Lew, Y. K., & Seo, M. (2023). Between fashion and piety: Hijab influencers and religious communities in the consumer socialization of Indonesian Muslims. Clothing and Textiles Research Journal, 43(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1177/0887302X231191238

Tufekci, Z. (2017). Twitter and tear gas: The power and fragility of networked protest. Yale University Press. https://doi.org/10.25969/mediarep/14848

Wulandari, C. T. (2021). Perempuan dalam media online: Antara identitas dan politik Islam. Jurnal Kajian Islam Interdisipliner, 4(1), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.14421/jkii.v4i1.1110

Downloads

Published

2026-07-13

Issue

Section

Article (January - June)

How to Cite

How Muslim Women in Jakarta Negotiate the ‘My Body, My Rules’ Narrative on Social Media: A Communication Perspective on Feminism and Islamic Values. (2026). Mimbar Agama Budaya, 43(1), 301-314. https://doi.org/10.15408/mimbar.v43i1.51639