Shaela Dansereau photography
Body image is something that many people struggle with. From elementary school to university and beyond, society’s impressions about the ideal female body leaves an impact on woman far beyond their adolescent years.
Models in magazines and television and movie starlets used to be the fodder that pushed women to change what they viewed as the ideal body. Striving for standards projected into their homes on glossy covers or t.v. screens. Now the main influencers? Social media stars.
The status of Instagram famous personalities have skyrocketed in the past few years. From models known to the world through magazines and celebrity status such as Gigi Hadid (72.6 million followers) and Kendall Jenner (220 million followers), to women who have risen to stardom from social media such as Elizabeth Turner (1 million followers) and Emily Ratajkowski (28.9 million followers).
UPDATE: Social Media follower count updated as of Feb. 27, 2022
Gigi Hadid/ pinterest.com
Kendall Jenner modelling for Victoria’s Secret. Image/ revelist.com
Emily Ratajkowski/ emrata.com
It is the stress of scrolling through your Instagram feed and seeing bodies like these that has young women questioning their own bodies.
MacEwan University student Mariann Roberts, 21, explains how seeing perfect body’s and perfect lives portrayed through Instagram can take a self-positive day and turn it sour, “as if somebody else’s image takes away from your accomplishments.”
She feels that a major part of the social media problem is the unwillingness for social media personalities to shed a light on their realities. That it is their “responsibility to quit with the facade” of the perfect life.
Her solution? Don’t follow Instagram models. It is not worth ruining your day comparing yourself to others. Self image blogger Michelle Elman @scarrednotscared says “self care is not looking at the explore page on your Instagram.”
Olivia Wik, 23, believes there is “so much outside pressure just to be acceptable.” Wik’s struggle with media’s portrayal of ideal female body’s has been a major part of her life. She battled an eating disorder for years trying to conform to society’s visions of women, and knows the media was a major affecter of her eating disorder mindset.
She states that media messages are “pervasive and invasive,” and that corporations take advantage of women struggling to be like the images they see in the media. Wik says, “corporations prey on a woman’s insecurity.”
Body positivity activist Dana Suchow aims to promote self love and take down the consumerist society that promotes the model body as being perfect. In a recent post she makes a collage pointing out just how corporations prey on insecurities with diet culture in advertising.
Wik notes although the topic of body image is becoming more normalized with more people speaking out and lots of body positivity activists such as Suchow stepping forward in the fight against the media’s version of perfect, the body image discussion is far from over.
A new problem that is a arising within the body positivity community is the use of a topic becoming a trend. Where it used to be a way for the marginalized to speak out and promote confidence, certain individuals are abusing the concept of inclusion to gain attention for more followers.
One example of this is the Instagram trend of “fitspiration” posts or more commonly known as #fitspo. It has become a widespread trend of showing off one’s body and while many promote fitness, others become quite representative of a statement from Suchow: “fitspo is just thinspo in a sports bra.”
However, the more troubling issues are body image trends that arise from social media such as the ‘thigh-gap’ and now ‘toblerone tunnels‘. “The “Toblerone tunnel” refers to a gap near the top of a woman’s thighs resembling a triangular shape similar to a Toblerone candy bar”, and is now being considered 2018’s ‘thigh-gap’.
Woman with Toblerone tunnel in bikini over blue sea background./ People.com
MacEwan Communications student Emily Vilcsak, 20, feels that we are absolutely surrounded by a society that idealizes being thin. She says that as individuals we are “not viewed as ideal if you are not the model and t.v. body.” More so, she believes that this representation of the ideal body and being thin, is largely idealized in Western cultures rather than all over the world.
Vicsak, Roberts and Wik all note that although it is largely kept hush-hush, there are characteristic tells if someone is not confident in their body, regardless of its size. For example, whether you are larger or skinny or in-between, it was noted that people not comfortable with their body wear looser clothes, as if to hide their bodies. The way people hold themselves and talk about themselves is also an indicator of struggling with body image, for example if one only talks about themself in a self-depricating manner.
Roberts says, “no matter what what you are, there is somebody telling you your body is wrong.” She also comments on the fact that “we are in the really weird time where everybody struggles with body image, and everybody is aware but nobody lets on about it.” She poignantly points out that “we don’t like to show anyone a chink in our armour.”
It seems that the only way to stop comparing ourselves to the media is to take note that most social media is a facade, and that we need to focus on being real, and learning to be kind to ourselves and others.
Robert’s among many others is trying to open up the discussion for positivity and sharing the struggles of everyday, because being real is a big step towards being confident in not only our bodies, but who we are. Her new positivity platform is free for all to use and even if you wish to be anonymous, is a great way to share your story and find support in a community of like minded people.
At the end of the day it is important to be mindful of the power social media and body image has over our lives. Sometimes to feel positive, all it takes is unfollowing the pages that you know will cause you to be overtly critical of yourself, or negatively impact your mental health.
Take care of yourselves and know that there is no one definition of “perfect”. Trying to mold yourself into something that the media tells you is perfect won’t necessarily bring you happiness- that is something you have to find in yourself.