Content Warning: This story contains discussion of eating disorders, depression and suicide.
With unrealistic beauty standards in the entertainment industry on the rise, we are beginning to see a re-emergence of the same thinness that defined much of the ’90s and ’00s through extreme dieting, eating disorders and a generation’s worth of body image issues.
It is wrong to comment on someone’s body. However, when it comes to genuine health concerns, it’s important to call attention to harmful portrayals that may cause society to repeat a toxic history.
Phrases like “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels,” “heroin chic” and “thinspo” have normalized fatphobia and created a culture of body shaming, specifically among women. These trends have been in media outlets, television and online for years, forming a lifestyle that causes nearly 10,200 deaths each year, as of 2024, from side effects of eating disorders to depression and suicide from bullying.
After years of presence, the body positivity movement struck gold in the branding department as large companies began using marketing such as Dove’s Real Beauty Campaign and Aerie’s #AerieREAL Campaign.
This development changed how people viewed themselves through the lens of social media. In 2023, Psychology Today reported that seeing body-positive images encouraged people to feel better about themselves and the concept of the “ideal body.”
While this outlook has increased overall self-esteem over the last decade or so, the recent inflation of scarcely thin body types has set society back quite a bit.
After the 2026 Oscars took place, social media wasn’t consumed by discussion of who won what awards. They were instead more concerned with the appearances of the attendees.
The focus on accentuating bones and almost presenting them as artwork when it’s really a sign of severe weight loss is getting out of hand. Dressing up the unhealthy cultural phenomenon in this modeled way pushes a normalized perspective that this is the preferred body image.
It’s hard to say what exactly is causing this culture that is similar to that of the ’00s. With the increased usage and targeted marketing of GLP-1 medications, as well as standardization of cosmetic surgery, many people are falling victim to the unrealistic societal expectations on people’s bodies.
GLP-1s were originally made for people with diabetes and obesity, but some are being used inappropriately for rapid weight loss. Many celebrities have openly admitted to their use of these drugs, even promoting them in advertisements and on social media.
As for the intense surge of plastic surgery, it’s hard to come by a celebrity that doesn’t have any sort of molded plasticity to them these days — whether it’s small procedures like lip filler and Botox or larger ones such as face lifts and breast augmentation.
According to the Aesthetic Plastic Surgery National Databank, Botox has increased by 54 percent and filler treatments are up by 75 percent from 2019.
While many keep it to a small amount, it’s common to see a person that doesn’t even look like themselves anymore. Brands also continue to promote anti-aging creams and other skincare products to eliminate wrinkles.
It has become so demoralizing that natural processes, like aging, are frowned upon, and we are being shown that beauty we are born with isn’t enough anymore.
And yet, with this culture being forced upon us through various media, we can’t help but become wishful of the bodies we’ve been taught to desire. Even after knowing that it’s all fabricated, we still find ourselves wanting to look like the models we see on social media.
As the ever-changing landscape of body image and self-esteem is publicly judged, we must stay focused on what is real rather than the spectacle that we have tried so hard to reach — despite knowing it’s non-existent.
It’s understood that people just want to fit in and be content with the way others view their appearance. But what really matters is happiness and overall health, and in order to keep prioritizing those goals, we have to continue the body positivity movement rather than revert back to old, self-destructive ways.
