In the United States, 61% of women considered themselves feminists in 2020 according to a Pew Research Center survey. Even though so many people consider themselves feminists, very few of them truly uplift women and strive for gender equality. One of the biggest ways people online bring others (and it’s usually women) down is body shaming online.
Online discourse about feminism is ubiquitous, with some male influencers like Andrew Tate and Adin Ross, and even some female influencers like Hannah Neeleman and Nara Smith, voicing their disdain for the belief, but progressive content creators like Jameela Jamil and Gina Martin fully supporting the cause. Nevertheless, in the 21st century, negative consequences such as body shaming have persisted. From the Kardashians getting plastic surgery and denying it to fans on TikTok crying over beauty standards they set, it has become just as easy to add to the anti-feminist movement online as it has been to speak out against it.
The Kardashians in particular have been in the spotlight for a long time now, even going as far as getting a Brazilian Butt Lift (BBL). In the newest season of “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” while simultaneously getting emotional over the concept of “toxic beauty standards.” The irony, however, is that they set those standards.
For example, a couple of years ago the BBL was trending, and influencers were getting BBLs like no tomorrow because everyone was getting them like Kim Kardashian and other celebrities. Now, in 2024, BBL isn’t trending anymore, and being slim and skinny is the new “it thing” again. Influential people like Kardashian are removing their BBL and filler for a more natural look, inspiring their followers to do the same. Celebrities then wind up either literally or figuratively crying over the money they spent to be more confident only to turn around and get shamed online because they are removing it to fit the more recent trends and beauty standards.
This BBL epidemic also collides with body shaming. Two of the most important types of body shaming are fatphobia vs. body checking, or when someone is “showing off” their body for clicks or views, or worse — as a part of the eating disorder community (also known as ED). People’s looks can get criticized online even if they aren’t asking for it. Just as an example, I watched a video on Annelise Asch account commenting on how beautiful their body is and how they love themselves. This resulted in the creator getting only negative comments. These types of encounters happen under the comments sections of videos where self-female empowerment is shamed despite the creator’s intention. Compared to someone just posting a dancing or outfit of the day (OOTD) video, they’ll get comments saying they’re body checking or need to lose or gain weight. Why can we not just let people be happy the way they are? Why do we have to turn off or restrict comments just to avoid hate?
“In terms of comments, I typically get support from other plus-size creators,” social media content creator Annelise Asch said in an interview with The Heights Herald. “When a post goes viral, I get an influx of gym bros who are just determined to misunderstand me. I used to respond, but it feels better when they’re just yelling into the abyss.”
A plus-size content creator who mostly posts her outfits and little vlogs, Asch believes confidence and ignoring discrimination can only go so far.
“In terms of general inclusivity, it’s really hard to understand the ways in which our society is just blatantly not built for larger bodies, [whether in the] medical system [or public] physical spaces,” Asch said. “Haters like to say I’m comparing [myself] to smaller bodies when I’m literally just creating space for larger bodies.”
American society just isn’t built for plus-size bodies, and many trendy brands like Lululemon don’t give people the option to buy sizes like 2XL or even XL in some cases. One popular brand that has gotten criticism for its “small sizing” at Target is Wild Fable. Built for petite or smaller bodies, videos of women online asking for more size inclusivity have recently gone viral. Samyra on TikTok and Nada Ayoub on Instagram have both spoken out about how stores need to cater to a wider range of sizing beyond the “average” small, medium and large that many brands offer at face value. On the contrary, our world isn’t built for slim or skinny bodies either. Brands like Old Navy and Banana Republic offer XS but not anything smaller.
How can we as women learn to love ourselves the way we are when social media exists and is constantly bringing others down? How can we return from the damage we have already created, is it even reversible?
“Disconnect[ing] from social media (at least for larger portions of our day) and what it says we ‘should be’ and reconnect with the actual people we share our lives with [is key],” Columbia Heights High School Health teacher Mr. Darin Luehrs said. “You cannot hear the ‘sounds’ you choose not to listen to—you have a choice on what you subject yourself to. Stand up for what is healthy and promote it through what you say, post and do in your own life.”
Hate on social media will hurt anyone, and it can be a major contributing factor to body dysmorphia or even eating disorders. People of all genders and beliefs need to wake up and relieve themselves of all these negative and hurtful beauty standards. Just because Kim Kardashians got a BBL doesn’t mean you have to, especially because she might get it reversed later this year if “slim and skinny” continues to trend. I’m obviously not saying don’t get surgery—but don’t do it because of social pressure. And definitely don’t do it because of altered and filtered images on social media.
“[With] the rapid advancement of AI technology, we are definitely in some scary times,” Luehrs said. “When these photos and video[s] portray something young people feel they fall short of, it can (at times) make them begin to question their beauty, self-worth, value and maybe even purpose.”
Engaging with these kinds of accounts and commenters will only further unhealthy beauty standards and the bad impact they have on our youth. If you’re going to say you’re a feminist, then you need to be a feminist, not a hater, including in the comments section.
