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Advance wars by web image issues1/29/2024 “There just needs to be more of a conversation with our young people.” Fatphobia in America has a long history that’s inextricably tied to racismĭebates about body image in America go back long before today’s millennial versus Gen Z divide. Teens and kids especially need regular education about “social media and what healthy relationships look like, and what body image means,” Pascale Saintonge Austin, who oversees the Just Ask Me peer education program at the New York nonprofit Children’s Aid, told Vox. But young people and educators say what’s needed most at this particular stage in the body image wars are guides to help people navigate the torrent of information they now get about their appearance. ![]() And those who have always profited from people’s insecurities about their bodies - namely, the weight loss and cosmetic surgery industries - are making more money than ever.īreaking that cycle is easier said than done. Where once beauty standards were enforced by a handful of magazines and consumer brands, that enforcement has now been outsourced to individual users of Instagram and TikTok, who have more than filled the void of “aspirational” images that require extensive body modification to achieve. Indeed, the history of body image and appearance culture in America over the past 40 years can feel like an endless dance: two steps forward, two steps back, with little progress in any direction. ![]() ![]() Or that eating disorders, far from disappearing with the advent of body positivity discourse, are actually on the rise. Given all this, perhaps it’s no wonder that Instagram apparently makes body image issues worse for one in three teen girls, according to Facebook’s internal research. What’s more, some of those influencers celebrate features once stereotypically associated with Black women, like full lips, even as Black women themselves remain discriminated against for their appearance. Meanwhile, many young people today say the term “body positivity” has been coopted by thin, white, or light-skinned celebrities and influencers - the same people whose looks have been held up as the beauty ideal for generations. Shanti Bhagwandeen, a freshman at Bates College, told Vox. “They manipulate your features to become Eurocentricized,” Reanna A. In some ways, it might be worse now: The sheer number of images young people have to deal with every day has multiplied a thousandfold, and those images are often manipulated with Photoshop or filters that create a homogeneous appearance that’s unattainable for many people. With a little curation, you can fill up your Instagram feed with messages of self-love and health at every size.Ī post shared by Aubrey Gordon as Ariza’s experience makes abundantly clear, bullying over weight and appearance is far from a thing of the past. Once a radical movement, the term “body positivity” is now mainstream, espoused by celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Jameela Jamil. Popular brands like American Eagle offer sizes 24 and beyond, advertised by models and activists like Saaneah Jamison. ![]() Today’s teenagers and 20-somethings can follow influencers and writers like Gabi Gregg and Aubrey Gordon who dismantle fatphobia and show what it’s like to be confident and joyful at a variety of sizes. “I was so focused on how heavy I was, and I wanted to change that because I wanted to be like other girls,” she said.Īriza is 21 now, solidly part of Generation Z, a group that’s supposedly growing up in a better environment for body image than generations past. Soon Ariza started skipping meals and taking diet pills. One year, “there was a rumor that went around that I was pregnant, but I was just chunky.” “We weren’t petite, you know, didn’t have blonde, straight hair.”Īriza was bullied again and again over her curly hair, her skin tone, and her weight. For Isheyla Elena Ariza, the body-shaming started in middle school.Īt her predominantly white school in California, “I was a part of a small minority group of Latinos, and a lot of us looked different,” Ariza told Vox.
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