Because You Love Yourself, Don’t You?

Beauty terrorism has its hands on a new weapon.

Sep 03, 2024

Earlier this year I read an article by Bethany Justice from ‘The Review’, summarising the ‘rise and fall’ of fashion trends, as part of their cyclical nature. Many had observed this pattern long before she had, though this one was distinctly succinct. According to Justice and many others, the fashion trend cycle, (of traditionally 20 years), has been condensed due to social media and fast fashion. Trends now originate from various sources, including social movements and art, and their life cycle can be divided into five stages: Introduction, rise, peak, decline, and obsolescence. This analysis astutely captured what remains of the fashion industry now, with predictability being the only constant within a creative and artistic field. These shorter four-year phases seemed almost transcendent of the fashion industry itself though, in that they didn’t appear specific to it. These 5 phases could (theoretically) be applied to other aspects of pop culture whose facets both possess earning potential and can fall out of favour, only to be revived and celebrated again. A few months after reading the article, I find myself here, writing about reading it, and have been blessed with the motivation to test out my theory.

Introduction

In the early 2000s, what’s now become known as ‘Diet Culture’ had eaten it’s way into the minds of women both young and old alike everywhere in the West. As a pervasive societal norm designed to capitalise upon female insecurity, the culture prioritised thinness and physical appearance over health and well-being, stigmatising larger bodies.

Additionally, having associated thinness with superiority and moral virtue, diet culture sought to uphold historical white supremacist notions endorsing thin, upper-class, petite white women with European silhouettes as the goal-post for physical attractiveness. Notably, this resurgence of fatphobia arrived 20 years after the fitness craze that took the 80’s by storm, where Jane Fonda was seen in workout videos placed into DVD players and cast onto screens whose sounds spat out notions of ‘the perfect body’.

Rise

In the mid 2000’s, reality TV shows like “The Biggest Loser”, “Supersize V Super Skinny” and “Fat Families” injected fatphobia into mainstream media, where fashion fanatics and magazines weren’t the only outlets perpetuating toxicity. Here, we popularized the notion idea that significant weight loss was necessary for personal transformation as well as success. Often these shows portrayed fatness as a character flaw and reinforced the idea that above all (including mental stability and actual health), thinness was THE goal.

I watched an episode of Supersize v Superskinny as research for today’s article, and it was immediately apparent that they sought to exchange one extreme for another as larger and dangerously thin contestants were made to swap meals. For those of you who’ve watched the show you’ll know what I’m talking about. Victims to Christian Jessen (the host then and glorious image of perfect health) endured relentless critique of their daily intake in front of a live audience, and often the ‘oversized’ contestants would be emphasised as being uniquely self-destructive.

Peak

In 2012, a post by an anonymous Tumblr user on a pro-ana forum might entail tips and tricks on maintaining a tiny frame. Initially, this advice appears in a similar way to the advice presented in fashion magazines, where for some reason we’d socially accepted fatphobia into mainstream media. In this way, pro-ana content went undetected for a while, being reduced to a mere symptom of that ‘phase’ young girls went through back then (and still do) of wanting to be a heroin chic, 90’s-supermodel, wafer-thin, where the ends could always justify the means. Nevertheless, these corners of the internet fostered extremism surrounding body image as opposed to containing tales of regular adolescent insecurities.

Decline

Having bore witness to years of stigma and societal pressures; womanists, feminists, body positivity activists and those doctors who were qualified in a way that superseded outdated body normativity, began to advocate for varying body types and dismantle myths surrounding fatphobic narratives within the media. Plus-sized models began to emerge, and the destabilisation of body standards riddled with underlying racism provided room for more diverse representation between 2016 and 2020.

Obsolescence

- Came with the concept of ‘body neutrality’. What became more powerful than radical resistance was radical indifference. Women began to perceive their bodies in a way that de-pedestalised image entirely and prioritised health and function. We had sensed the cyclicality of the beauty industry, in addition to the marketability of beauty products, and so in protest decided to withdraw completely.

Or so some had thought. The difference between the cycle of fashion trends in comparison to body trends is the fact that unlike fashion trends, which return to certain silhouettes and concepts in favour of nostalgia and reminiscence, body trends (particularly as they pertain to women) are cyclical because we can always count on one thing – the return to white, middle class, thinness. Of course, there are those of us who had always suspected this reality and were merely waiting to see it occur. People would rave on about how beauty standards had forever changed, having envisioned the normalisation of diverse body types as being the beginning of a new age devoid of toxicity. One particular sentiment maintained looked to the Kardashians, who having wielded formidable influence in their peak had been accused of influencing changing standards for young girls. Additionally, the habit that became an effort to mimic black bodies that had since been denigrated previously took it’s form in the extreme resulting in the glorification of the artificially made ‘BBL’ body type, and surgery designed to achieve this look served as ‘concrete evidence’ that thin was out. In reality, what was once diet culture had simply manifested differently.

This is by far not the first think piece surrounding the resurgence of pro-thin rhetoric within the media. Many have noticed how medical fatphobia, the dissolution of the ’BBL’ (black) body and wellness influencers** have begun to bring thin back. But I suppose my real concern extends beyond what has already been addressed.

Those of you who regularly find yourselves on TikTok, might be familiar with the concept of ‘Looksmaxxing’, as it has emerged in the last year or two. As a relatively new term, looksmaxxing represents a more extreme and insidious form of fatphobia, coupled with scientific racism in an effort to not only stigmatise larger bodies, but also aggressively promotes dangerous methoods to achieve unrealistic beauty standards. It amplifies the societal pressure to conform and intensifies body dissatisfaction in a way more radical than previous eras. Movements promoting progressive ideas, namely : body neutrality in this case, inspire those with the opposite agenda. Where we hadn’t in this century practiced neutrality towards our bodies, we hadn’t yet experienced the full capacity for intolerance from the other side.

The looksmaxxing movement promotes an obsession with ‘optimisation’ of appearance in a way that doesn’t just target weight but involves an intense focus on all aspects of appearance, including skin quality, ‘facial harmony’, hair, and overall body proportions. As a child born from modernised eugenics and the full arsenal of beauty norms, the pressure to conform is far more encompassing and relentless, amplifying the stigma against any body type that deviates from the ideal, particularly larger bodies. Now traditional fatphobia has assistance from the hand of social media, where algorithms tend to prioritize content that aligns wih conventional beauty standards, so that these ideals could be further intrenched into our minds. What’s worse is the ways in which harmful narratives are reinforced through ‘self-improvement’ discourse, and failing to adhere to damaging advice constitutes nothing but sloppiness. The choice presented is to you here is that of choosing between two; to change or admit you struggle with self-hatred. Take note of the wide range of looksmaxxers who can tell you how they did it, (follow their instructions to the letter). Self-harm in service of beauty serves as a badge of honour to demonstrate that you love yourself, because you love yourself, don’t you?

Same script, different tone.

Asisa