Bella Hadid, world renowned supermodel, has recently been forced back into the limelight, as TikTok users have started using her voice as a trending audio background for some incredibly harmful videos. Hadid has long been known for her iconically thin physique and restrictive diets and, because of this, has since been associated with eating disorder culture here in the United States.
In these videos, Bella Hadid’s voice plays as the user mouths the words, “So my name, my name is Bella Hadid” in reference to a caption they create at the top of the video. The captions, to put it simply, are incredibly toxic, as they idealize eating disorders and minimize the severity of having an eating disorder. These videos perpetuate a toxic and unachievable beauty standard that, in recent years, we have been working so hard to erase.
Just this morning, three of these videos were on my FYP, all of which were made by women. The captions were as follows:
- “Me after chewing a only a piece of gum for breakfast”
- “Me when I skip dessert after dinner”
- “When the hangover is so bad I’ve vomited 3x but now my waist is snatched”
As somebody who has struggled with eating disorders their entire life, it can be incredibly difficult to simply scroll past these videos without being placed back into a very unhealthy mindset. Luckily for me, I have an amazing support system that has my back. Unfortunately, not everybody does. Think about the thousands of young girls who are being exposed to this culture of toxicity. You are showing young girls that they live in a world that will always prioritize skinny waists over health, and because of you, their lives could be altered forever.
This is a not-so-friendly reminder from yours truly:
Eating Disorders are not a trend.