Saying 'Bye Bye Bye' to Body Positivity
By Isabella Gastelum
“Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels."
These are the infamous words of Kate Moss, an iconic supermodel from the Y2K era -- a time where extreme thinness was sought out by any means, including heavy drug use. The era coined the notorious term ‘heroin chic’ because of supermodels like Moss, whose fragile bodies were often the result of cocaine and heroin use.
Young girls were influenced to follow in their footsteps. Shows like "Sex and the City" had characters like Carrie Bradshaw saying, “I would buy vogue instead of dinner. I just felt it fed me more.” It was normal at the time -- expected, even.
With the resurgence of Y2K nostalgia, it seems like more than the fashion (think extreme low rise jeans and tiny tube tops) has made a comeback.
Celebrities appear to get increasingly thinner, sporting a bones-and-all look on the red carpet. Makeup suddenly highlights the fragility of their posture. Sparkles on clavicles and gems on scapulas, displayed for audiences of all ages on the silver screen.
Movies like "Wicked," starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, prompted concern for how far this beauty standard has been taken.
At the beginning of the body positivity movement of the 2010s, there was a growing inclination towards the ‘thick’ body types with curves. Social media was flooded with content promoting the appreciation of oneself at any shape and size.
It seemed we were out of the woods, free from the shackles of obsessively eating the same salad as the "Friends" cast to keep a petite figure. Free from following crash diets, or foregoing food altogether, which had led an entire generation to struggle with eating disorders.
Now, we are back to square one. Not only are we teaching young girls to prioritize thinness above all, but their favorite actresses and singers are showing signs of emaciation.
What Cosmo and Vogue did to teens in the 2000s is now amplified with the world at the tip of our fingers. We do not have to buy a magazine to know what the current trends are or to obsess over models. There is no disconnect from the expectation as it blares in our faces through our phones.
We have creators, like Liv Schmidt, that spread this harmful message like the gospel. Promoting portion control for weight loss does not seem so bad, right? Well, when the majority of her followers are young girls, and she posts videos encouraging them to take one bite and throw away the rest with a t-shirt with the phrase “please don’t feed the models," it becomes not so harmless.
Beauty standards are not new, especially to teenage girls. However, we cross the line when it is normalized to use a drug meant for those with diabetes as a means to become skinny quickly.
It is time we start having a serious conversation over how far this fashion is going to take us. No beauty standard is worth endangering our health. The young girls consuming this media and gazing at emaciated celebrities on red carpets deserve better. This phenomenon was as terrifying twenty years ago as it is today.
I urge everyone reading this to put their health first. Proper nutrition will allow you to live life to the fullest, and that is worth so much more than conforming to society’s expectations.