Recently there has been a societal movement to push body positivity. There has been considerable backlash against companies who are using photoshop and retouching to make models look like an unattainable ideal. Some companies are now reframing their advertisements and showing off models who have no photoshop or editing. This is a great movement which I hope will be more widely adopted over time. I feel that companies have a real impact on the minds of consumers, especially young impressionable women, and it’s important that they advocate health by showing models who are of reasonable and healthy weight.
However, I think that young girls are more susceptible to influence from their peers rather than larger media. If girls around them seem to be idolizing an unattainable standard of beauty, they will more likely be influenced by this than by anything they see in the media. For that reason, I think the change has to start with us, especially with our own social media accounts. Here are some ways I think we can help ameliorate this issue and advocate for healthier body image…
1. Choose your words wisely
Why is it that comments like “bod” or “skinny” are used as compliments on photos? The way a person’s body looks should not be the first thing we acknowledge in a picture. How about “great smile,” “so pretty” “you look so happy”…. Or literally just a series of emojis instead? Let’s break free from these superficial comments.
2. Choose your pictures wisely
That being said, sometimes the picture-poster gives us nothing to look at but their body, and that is their primary intention for posting the photo to begin with. They are trying to fish for compliments with that solo shot of them in a bikini on the beach. Let’s stop validating our worth based on how we look in our Spring Break photos. Focus on how much we’re smiling in pictures, and not how we’re positioning ourselves to get the most flattering photos. And if it is clear that someone is doing this—see above for a better thing to comment than just “wow so skinny!”
3. Don’t glorify serious disorders
There is nothing worse than seeing someone use a very powerful word in a disturbing and twisted context. Please-please-please- let us stop using the word “ano” (abbreviation for the word anorexic) as a quasi-compliment in telling someone they have a quote on quote “good body.” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen this happen. This is wrong for so many reasons, including the fact that it casually glorifies a very serious and usually misunderstood psychological condition. Let us not let this kind of heavy terminology infiltrate our conversational jargon.
There’s so much more I can say about this issue because it truly is so complex and complicated. I don’t think any girl (or guys too can suffer from it) is immune to body-image problems. And I don’t think the rise in digital and social media is helping that. But I think we can be conscious in the ways that we use these communicative tools and focus on putting out messages that are healthy and positive to those around us. Let’s focus on posting content and comments that are positive, uplifting, and show gratitude for all the great things around us. Our bodies are great because they allow us to move around all day every day and accomplish amazing things. Young women especially should focus on empowerment, strength, and fostering healthy happy habits, rather than concentrating on these material and superficial, and ultimately destructive issues. Let’s be smart about our social media usage, in an effort to spread more love to ourselves and those around us.