Thin Body Ideal

Thoughts such as, I’ll never look as good as her tend to be common among women when looking at an extremely thin or fit woman on social media. Unfortunately, social media have increased these types of thoughts and provoked questions from women demeaning their own body’s worth. Social media has negatively impacted a woman’s view of her body image. This is due to the fact that certain body ideals have been blown way out of proportion. These posts also include worrisome messages in order to try and achieve the look. Unknowingly many women are exposed to ‘thin’ body ideals that seem impossible to achieve. The ‘thin’ body ideal constantly being portrayed in the media is an unrealistic goal for the average woman. In western culture body dissatisfaction …show more content…
Thinspiration photos are known to be detrimental to a person’s health and promote eating disorders as a ‘lifestyle’. The use of this genre of photos is a highly controversial topic for the plain fact that it supports unhealthy behavior. Also, the fact that this genre of photographs has been known for provoking lower self-esteem and disordered eating (Schreiber 35). The concept of wanting the thin kind of body type is not unheard of throughout history. Idolization of skinny legs of women is not a new idea, but the spread of a new hashtag on social media using the term, thigh gap as a part of the thinspiration movement (Mascarelli). Putting this body type up on a pedestal by using this hashtag can lead women to exhibit behavioral signs which can ultimately lead to an eating disorder. Many times it can be even worse if the woman is already in a weak mental state, because it feeds into their issues. Tania Heller a medical director of the Washington Center for Eating Disorders and Adolescent Obesity in Bethesda, MA tells of how they have seen an increase in adolescent girls and women using extreme dieting in hopes of achieving a thigh gap (Mascarelli). For many women the thigh gap would be nearly impossible to get, because of the way their hips are set. “Experts say social media are giving such terms as thigh gap and “orthorexia” - a fixation on eating healthy food that can spark anxiety, and paradoxically, malnutrition - an unprecedented following” (Mascarelli). Social media has made the issue worse by allowing accounts which enforce eating disorders to have an increasingly high amount of followers. Websites such as Tumblr have become a gathering for thinspiration communities which make the pain of excessive weight loss out to be glamorous (Mascarelli). Glossing over the true dangers of having an eating