Written by: Krishnaja Karri, Ishita Khambete, Sneha Malneedi, Noemie Durand, Ciara Balanzá
Body standards apply to women and men, but in the scene of influencers and social media, women have faced a lot of pressures on conforming to this ideal. This reflects the societal notion that women’s most important assets are their physical appearance. The role of social media influencers seems to be one of perpetuating and defining body standards, but they also have the power to break them. Since, influencer’s are admired and trusted by their following, their recommendations, views, and behavior may be emulated by their followers.
Body standards have a negative effect on mental and physical health. It creates a toxic culture, where people that do not fit into these standards are not perceived as beautiful. This creates pressure for people to conform to these ideals, causing a negative relationship with food and losing or gaining weight. The normalization of dieting and food preoccupation by social media influencers have contributed to the rise in eating disorders.
With the growth of the internet, female influencers have become more important than ever in shaping body standards and showing resilience in the face of body-shaming. Celebrities, although the cause of many harmful body standards, are also victims of society. They are constantly being shamed for being too fat, being too skinny, having too drastic of a weight gain or loss, or simply not fitting society’s expectations for what a woman’s body should look like. Many celebrities that are known for being overweight, such as the pop star Lizzo and plus-size model Ashley Graham, who have faced criticism and hardships throughout their entire life due to their size. For example, Lizzo received huge lash-back for wearing a thong to a basketball game, while many people noticed that the skinny cheerleaders are showing just as much, if not more, skin than Lizzo, but they are accepted due to their “attractiveness” and “ideal body type”.
Body shaming people for being “fat” is the most common type of body shaming, and it takes a toll not only mentally and emotionally, but also in many parts of their lives, including their careers. Many studies show that professionals are much less likely to hire obese candidates, due to the stereotypes that they are “lazy” and “unprofessional”. Some other influencers, such as Madison Beer, are shamed for being too skinny. This is also a problem, as no one should be shamed for their body. However, it is worth noting that a bias against skinny people is much less impactful in our society because it rarely deprives them of a job opportunity, service in a public place, or other such things. It is still a huge problem though because it still makes that person feel bad and can make them develop an extremely unhealthy relationship with food.
Some celebrities, such as Adele, or Chadwick Boseman (Rest In Power), are ridiculed for losing (or gaining) too much weight, and Boseman’s case shows exactly why we shouldn’t judge these people; often, they are going through huge life changes or events, whether health, emotional, or other-related and drawing our conclusions never helps. Lastly, some women like Serena Williams are often deemed too manly because of her muscles and power, and which is completely misogynistic. Women’s bodies come in all shapes and sizes, and no woman should ever have to change herself to fit someone else’s views of what she should look like. What a woman looks like only affects her, and people voicing their negative opinions about it only spreads more hate in the world.
As seen on a large number of news outlets, many celebrities endorse weight loss products. Unfortunately, this has become a very common thing, from Cardi B selling Teami brand diet teas to Khloe Kardashian endorsing Premadonna waist trainers. Even though these endorsements can have innocent intentions, they’re more damaging than many would think. These advertisements can be very misleading because they lead people (especially young women) to think that if they use this product that this celebrity is endorsing, they will look like that said celebrity. What many don’t consider is that before that picture of that celebrity posing with the product they’re endorsing, they may have had a personal trainer, a chef, plastic surgery, and that in many cases, the photo was airbrushed or photoshopped. Also, many of the products endorsed by celebrities are not FDA approved, meaning it has not proven to be safe or effective.
The effect of seeing images of celebrities photos on body image, particularly in women, has been extensively researched over the years. One of the more popular studies is one led by Taryn A. Myers, Ph. D., chair of the department of psychology at Virginia Wesleyan University and a body image research. Her study involved researchers showing young children pictures of thin celebrities and models. The boys were more light-hearted about the situation. However, the young girls were saying things like “You would have to not eat” and “You would have to eat and then throw up”. These endorsements don’t help the situation that many young girls face in today’s society to try to get the “ideal” body. Additionally, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, research shows that young girls and women who begin to use these weight loss techniques are at a high risk of developing eating disorders and they recommend that young kids completely avoid them. Pictures of celebrities make women insecure about their bodies from a very young age, and then adding on the shameless endorsement of potentially harmful products to encourage weight loss contributes to the increase of poor self-body image.
Some celebrities, however, work against the harmful actions of other celebrities. A prime example is Jameela Jamil, a British actor and the host of a podcast called I Weigh with Jameela Jamil. Like many other naturally skinny actresses, she has been offered numerous diet products to advertise as something she has taken to help her gain the body that she has. “People wanted me to attribute my naturally slim physique with their dodgy products and powders,” states Jamil in an Instagram video. However, she has refused all of them, often addressing her past insecurities on her active social media accounts, which includes the eating disorder she had when she was younger, and understanding that many girls suffer from the same problems today. Jamil even calls for social media platforms to ban these ads, as she describes them as “glossy paid adverts by celebrities and influencers with no expertise or authority in nutrition/medicine/biology.”
In calling out other women on social media, Jamil receives a lot of hate: after all, if you look only at the surface, a woman is criticizing another woman for something that happens all of the time. But Jamil fires back with an argument of accountability, as she believes more celebrities should claim: she’s not insulting another’s body, line of work, or personality, she’s fighting against the acceptance by the general public of the other’s potentially harmful actions and pleads for them to be more transparent.
It’s easy to fat shame or skinny shame someone, but that’s very harmful, and to end body-shaming culture, women need to come together to actively fight it. One of the biggest ways to start that is to continually encourage each other and say that we’re beautiful no matter what. This builds self-confidence so that it becomes easier to take the next steps of breaking down body-shaming culture, and women don’t succumb to the pressure of trying to fit the norm.
Another great way to end the cycle of body-shaming is to teach young girls about the difference between fit and fiction. It’s common to see very skinny models featured on social media, magazines, etc., and that’s usually the only body type that people see. This is very problematic because the average American isn’t that skinny, so seeing those skinny models can make slightly chubbier people idealize this skinny body type, which can become unhealthy very quickly. Not only does this behavior normalize dieting and skinny talk, but it also contributes to the idea that being skinny is healthy, and being chubby isn’t. The media often portrays being skinny as the “ultimate goal” in terms of body weight and looks. This is harmful because it causes people, especially women to start favoring being skinny as they think becoming skinny will help them be healthier. By striving to be skinner so one can be “healthier”, which says that being chubby is unhealthy, which isn’t always true. Just because someone is chubby doesn’t mean that they’re unhealthy, the same way being skinny doesn’t always mean that they’re healthy. After all, a chubby person might naturally be chubby, and a skinny person might have an eating disorder, and that’s the complete opposite of what one would expect their health to be like. The key fact to remember here is that the image of the “ideal” body type which is portrayed in the media isn’t an accurate representation of reality.
Lastly, influencers also have a huge role to play in getting rid of these harmful stereotypes. One of the best ways for influencers to do this is by being honest about any plastic surgery, as well as professional cooks/dieticians/trainers, etc. that are constantly helping them keep their body fit and “desirable” for the media. Simply having a disclaimer in the caption or being unashamed of telling media outlets about those things can easily help many girls see that their body isn’t the norm and that it’s not realistic and shouldn’t be every girl’s ultimate goal in life. However, being open about their plastic surgery requires getting rid of the stigma around that, too. It’s normal for many people to want to change their body, and they have the choice to do it any way they like, whether it’s by working out or eating healthier or taking pills or getting plastic surgery. No matter what those individuals decide to do, it doesn’t affect anyone else, and it doesn’t make them “fake”. It makes them a normal human being with emotions and insecurities and goals of a body that they are more proud of, and if they decide to go through with plastic surgery, people shouldn’t feel the need to voice their negative opinions about it. Getting rid of this stigma will also help everybody who’s gotten plastic surgery done to come forward and be more open about it, which will bolster the body positivity movement.
Works cited:
“Following Your Favorite Celebs On Instagram Might Be Bad for Your Mental Health.” Shape, https://www.shape.com/lifestyle/mind-and-body/celebrity-social-media-affects-mental-health-body-image. Accessed 22 Sept. 2020.
Golden, Neville H., et al. “Preventing Obesity and Eating Disorders in Adolescents.” Pediatrics, vol. 138, no. 3, Sept. 2016. pediatrics.aappublications.org , doi:10.1542/peds.2016-1649.
“Jameela Jamil’s ‘I Weigh’ Movement and Its Weight on Society.” Diggit Magazine, 25 Apr. 2019, https://www.diggitmagazine.com/articles/jameela-jamils-i-weigh-movement-and-its-weight-society.
“Link Between Social Media & Body Image.” King University Online, https://online.king.edu/news/social-media-and-body-image/. Accessed 22 Sept. 2020.