Now, whenever you open TikTok, you’re met with videos of thin girls calling each other ‘fatty’ after a trip to the drive-thru, comments saying that people ‘looked at themselves and sighed’, or eating a full packet of something being dubbed ‘big back behaviour’. But these jokes, especially in such concentration, have tangible consequences - perpetuating the idea that eating is inherently gluttonous quickly snowballs into the fat-shaming culture of the 90s, or 2014 Tumblr. There are videos that explicitly validate these ideas: people complaining that they’re ‘skinny fat’ or trying to bring back Kate Moss’ infamous quote. One video stated "you can be anything in life, don’t be fat".
The hospitalisation of people suffering eating disorders has increased immensely since the 2010s, and this represents a troubling trend - that illnesses with extremely high mortality rates are becoming more common, exacerbated by social media.
It seems that when low rise came back, it dragged ‘heroin chic’ with it. Language that, a few short years ago, would have been shocking to use has become commonplace, with strangers openly judging people’s appearances and weight in Instagram comments sections. The rise of misogyny online is not negligible here - there may be a connection between the rise in sexualising and misogynistic comments and women’s declining self-esteem.
But all hope is not lost. The ‘waist’ trend is almost a satirical response to the moment of body negativity, taking the obsession with thinness to a ridiculing, hyperbolic extreme. Critical think-pieces from feminist creators, responding to negative videos and trends, generally receive positive comments. Yet the issue is making these subversive reactions visible to people who are struggling to break out of the cycle.