BREAKING DIET CULTURE When Kennedy Anderson (name changed to protect anonymity) was in fourth grade, her older sister, Jenny (name changed to protect anonymity), would project her own body image insecurities onto her. Jenny made Kennedy feel insecure and unworthy; Kennedy reflects, “anytime I was wearing something she didn’t like she’d be like, you look so fat— like, literally, change.” This was the first time Anderson noticed her body in a negative way and was made self- conscious about it. Now as a junior, Anderson has pushed back on the stereotype of how a body is supposed to look after suffering with an eating disorder most of her life. Older generations putting their insecurities onto younger generations is a reality for most girls Kennedy’s age. They feel pressure to look skinnier from those they view as role models in real life—not only in the media. When friends and family make “tiny” comments about weight it makes their loved one feel anxious about the way they look. Because we are in a society that values thinness, making a comment about someone’s physical appearance, no matter if it is well intended, can be harmful. According to Juliana Strano, a mental health writer,“They reinforce and promote society’s idea that we are only as good as our physical characteristics…” Instead it is helpful to make comments about someone’s personality and strengths. With fairly new apps such as Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok, the internet is rapidly growing its influence. Because the internet has marketed towards children, they are influenced into developing unhealthy expectations for their bodies. The way the algorithm works is if you search up dieting tips or anything having to do with struggling with your body image, it gives you recommendations of dieting and tips to lose weight. Instagram opened an investigation in 2021 and created an account as a 13 year old girl who wanted diet tips. She was given suggestions of accounts who promoted “skinny binge” and “apple core anorexic.” (CBS News) Their role models tell them to diet because they are not skinny enough, which causes them to question their lifestyle and eating habits in a covert way. There are hundreds of influencers that tell their followers to diet and to buy a new beauty product that will help them lose weight. It is hard to escape the media pressure surrounding them. The willingness for young people to lose weight at all costs comes from consumerism, advertisements, and social media. The impact of this is anxiety, restrictive eating habits and long lasting physical damage. If people do not start to limit the amount of media they consume and parents do not interfere, many young people will become wrapped in the web of diet culture.
What Is Diet Culture?
Diet culture is a system of beliefs imposed by the media that promotes weight loss and values it over everything else to achieve the ideal body image (Sweeney and Sage). According to Alexis Conason, PsyD., “Diet culture is a system that equates thinness with health, wellness, beauty, desirability, moral value, and superiority. It teaches us that the only way to improve our health and wellbeing is by losing weight” (qtd. in “Diet Culture”). Diet culture has been prevalent in the media for many years. Because of recent social media apps and new technologies it is easier to be susceptible to it. freestyleacademy.rocks | Freestyle Academy Spring 2023 Vol # | 3