This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at ICU (Japan) chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

The weather is starting to get warmer, summer’s here! A lot of travel plans, events, festivals, and so many exciting things can happen in the summer. However, recently I’ve been seeing the “summer body” trend on the internet, which was very disturbing and made me think about topics like comparison and body insecurity.

When you search “summer body” on Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, and YouTube, you see the idea of a perfect body you aim for before summer approaches. In the summertime, you happen to wear more clothes that show off your skin, like shorts, bikinis, and mini dresses. Alongside showing what your body “should” look like for summer, it recommends things like certain workout routines to follow, and meal ideas to help you reach the goal. Therefore, the “summer body” trend prepares you to look photogenic or aesthetically pleasing on social media through the clothes you wear.

What really disturbed me about this trend is the idea that you have to change yourself to wear certain types of clothes, or even just for the season itself. Of course, it can be helpful to set goals for your body, but the problem arises when the goal is driven by external factors like aesthetics and beauty standards.

It is truly heartbreaking that even today, this kind of stereotypical and monotonous view of beauty and superiority is dominant.

Patterns of the “summer body” trend apply to other things, like weddings, as well. Personally, I’ve seen and heard a lot of girls trying to lose weight to look “pretty” in their wedding dresses.

I think it is very important for all of us, regardless of gender or age, to know that we do not need to have a specific type of body just because one body type is viewed as superior to another in society. Our body is not something to be performed, not something to be evaluated, but it exists purely for ourselves.

I hope that influencers and YouTubers will be sensitive and aware of this topic and decrease this type of content. Even though this is definitely an issue still to be discussed, there are people on the internet who promote body positivity, and one of my personal favourites is Spencer Barbosa, so I would like to end this article with her quote.

I made my mission to just be real becasuse I’ve never seen girls that looked like me on social media
spencer barbosa – YouTube

You are not supposed to fit into clothes, the clothes are supposed to fit you
spencer barbosa – YouTube

The Summer Body Myth

We wanna slide into your DMs