Please note that these are my opinions. This article will include some sensitive topics.
zoeunlimited is an LA-based Youtuber who creates content relating to fitness, popular culture, and beauty standards. She is a graduate from UCLA with a degree in accounting, which inspired her to build a platform that would cater to audiences who may find her helpful and inspirational. Her rise to fame wasn’t an easy one. Coming from an unsupportive family, Zoe used to think that her dreams of being a Youtuber wouldn’t be taken seriously due to her parents’ standards and setbacks. Despite Zoe’s struggles, she has been heavily vocal about eating disorders, diet culture, and the privilege of being pretty. Though some people will agree with her, others will point her out for being hypocritical since Zoe herself committed these said actions. What’s even more frustrating is that she inputs these ideologies in every single video, and at this point, it’s a running gag for me.
Her Youtube channel
In most of her videos, Zoe talks about the many issues surrounding eating disorders and obesity. Her point of view towards this is “fat is okay, skinny is better” and in a way, she promotes eating disorders. For example, she would discuss her disagreement with body trends and encourage her viewers to eat mindfully, but will post videos about staying skinny and under-eating.
In her Glow-Up series, the viewer is shown that Zoe is struggling with losing weight, since at that time in her life, she had the body that she felt most undesirable about. Her weight-loss journey seems genuine and honest, as she did this to adapt to a more healthy lifestyle. Since losing the extra weight, Zoe’s body is slimmer than what it was before.
Looking back now, Zoe was never overweight as she tried to describe herself. Sure, she had a pudge on her stomach, but she wasn’t necessarily “obese”. Now that she sports the body type that she has now, it seems that the “skinny” look is the only body type that she tends to glamourize and overhype about.
The unseen hypocrisy
Zoe has also made videos about fasting and dieting, despite her claims on standing against these issues. What Zoe is doing is highly harmful to those who are either going through eating disorders or recovering from them. It’s also important to note that Zoe is harming herself, as she is supposed to be against diet culture and the promotion of eating disorders. This leaves many to think that Zoe isn’t self-aware of her point of view and lacks to understand the bigger picture behind these issues.
Another major topic Zoe discusses is beauty standards. From the buccal fat trend to the male gaze frenzy, the beauty side of her channel shares strong similarities with her videos about EDs. One example that dissects this topic is her video about the K-pop girl-group, BlackPink. In the video, she discusses how BP’s music and styling choices are all catered to male gaze due to its promiscuity and sexualization.
However, Zoe failed to realize that this isn’t a BlackPink problem, it’s an industry problem among women. Dressing in a certain way or talking about sex shouldn’t be seen as a way to attract guys, even if it’s seen as provocative. It’s also strange how she somewhat gives advice on plastic surgery, thus pushing the need of the procedure towards those who may not fit certain beauty standards.
Why should you care?
The reason that I wanted to bring attention to this, is because as a woman, we shouldn’t change for the sake of society. We don’t need to starve ourselves in order to gain someone’s respect. We also shouldn’t be encouraging eating disorders or self-sexualization. This will only cause damage to those who don’t see any underlying issues behind it. Eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia is one of the leading causes of life-long health issues among women and in today’s generation, it’s getting worse because of the way it is presented in the media.
We need to stop degrading each other and putting each other down. We need to stop romanticizing and criticizing eating disorders, even obesity. I have mentioned something similar to this in my article about pick-me girls and how it is damaging to women’s mental health, and Zoe serves as a prime example of it. The way that she preaches disordered eating and unhealthy body images concerns me. Zoe should know that no matter what we were born with or what we go through as life progresses does not define who we are.
No, you’re not ugly. Society is. No, you’re not fat. The internet is filled with lies.
Now, don’t get me wrong. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Zoe does make some valid points in her videos, but it’s getting to the point that she is not clarifying herself enough. She’s a beautiful girl with an amazing career and it’s evident that she loves her life. I feel like if Zoe were to talk about other issues, such as misogyny or racism, she would pull in the right audience.
Like Zoe, and everyone else, you are free to speak your mind. Just be careful on how you present yourself.
If you or someone you know has an eating disorder and needs help, call the National Eating Disorders Association helpline at 1-800-931-2237, text 741741, or chat online with a Helpline volunteer here.