What stories do our bodies tell?

My dissertation projects

My research explores the intersections of body, media, and culture, focusing on how gendered ideals are constructed and resisted within everyday life in Singapore. Drawing on feminist and qualitative methodologies, I examine how women articulate and perform beauty through both digital and embodied practices. My work aims to document and give voice to these lived negotiations, and to make visible the social and affective labour that sustains, but also subverts, dominant gendered ideals.

Doctoral Project (in preparation)

Proposed title: Beauty and the Bride: Unveiling Bridal Ideals and Practices in Singapore through its Construction, Commodification and Consumption

This research aims to investigate how bridal beauty ideals are shaped and portrayed in Singapore, acknowledging locally evolving wedding trends and their alignment with or divergence from Western-centric narratives. Using an ethnographic approach, and the lenses of subjectivity and heteronormativity, the study aims to unveil how Singaporean brides navigate societal pressures related to gender, beauty, and deeply entrenched patriarchal wedding practices. The research will offer insights into how brides today use their bodies as sites of both reflection and resistance against traditional norms in multi-cultural Singapore.

Master's dissertation (completed, 2025)

Title: From Global to Local: Undressing #BodyPositivity through Instagram Content Creators in Singapore

This thesis investigates how body positivity in Singapore has evolved within the country’s socio-political context, tracing how fatness has been historically policed and reframed through digital and feminist practices. Based on interviews with seven body positive Instagram content creators, the study finds that body positivity in Singapore functions primarily as an individualised practice of self-acceptance rather than a collective political movement. Positioned within transnational feminist scholarship, the research highlights how local advocates negotiate visibility and care within cultural constraints, demonstrating that resistance in Singapore often takes quieter, less confrontational forms.

For a copy of my work, please reach out to me here.

Supervisors: dr. sylvia ang & dr. claire tanner

Supervisors: dr. SHOBHA AVADHANI & dr. MICHELLE HO

Selected Conferences

Ho, C., & Avadhani, S. (2025, May 9) Labels That Chafe: How #BodyPositive Influencers in Singapore Navigate Activism and Feminism [Conference paper presentation]. Influencer Ethnography Research Lab (Curtin University) and Asian Cultural Research Hub (University of Melbourne), Virtual.

Ho, C., & Chaidaroon, S. (2023, May 25-29). (GIFTS) Between the Lines: Evaluating Authenticity through Close Reading of Leadership Discourse [Great Ideas for Teaching Students [[GIFTS]] Conference presentation abstract]. International Communication Association, Toronto, Canada.

Ho, C., & Chaidaroon, S. (2024, June 20-24). (GIFTS) Beyond the Exit Row: Navigating Passenger Rights and Airline Policies [Great Ideas for Teaching Students [[GIFTS]] [Conference presentation abstract]. International Communication Association, Gold Coast, Australia.
*Recognised as a Highly Rated paper and awarded conference registration fee waiver

Ho, C., Teo, E., & Chaidaroon, S. (2021, October 28–30). Cultured Meat in Singapore: The Moral and Practical Paradoxes [Film Submission]. Association for Consumer Research, Seattle (Virtual), USA.

Ho, C. (2023). From Global to Local – Undressing the Body Positivity Movement through Instagram Content Creators in Singapore. 5th Annual Graduate Conference (gCON 2023), Singapore. https://fass.nus.edu.sg/cnm/gcon2023/

Zhan, J., Fu, G J., & Ho, C. (2024, June 20-24). Evaluating Influencing Factors in College Students' perception and Attitudes Towards ChatGPT misinformation. [Conference presentation abstract]. International Communication Association, Gold Coast, Australia.

Writing and Forthcoming Work

Published Writing

Chaidaroon, S., & Ho, C. (2024, February 6). Digital Disruption in Strategic Communication. NUS News & Stories. https://masters.nus.edu.sg/news-and-stories/detail/digital-disruption-in-strategic-communication

Forthcoming Publications

"Labels That Chafe: How #BodyPositive Influencers in Singapore Navigate Activism and Feminism." Book chapter, under review with Influencers and Gender Politics in Southeast Asia (IER Lab).

Image source: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/240701960_Scientific_Writing_for_Computer_Science_Students