Fatphobia is making a comeback

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It is no secret that nothing is quite as important as being thin in today's society. I have had a difficult time claiming exactly which groups of people uphold this notion of thinness and its association with public approval. For all intents and purposes, this ideology is now global, affecting— almost —every place and possibly every person and every gender. Western women, however, have been uniquely criticized for their weight. This is a very nuanced topic involving all types of people. This article, however, will be focused on how fatphobia affects young women explicitly.

What saddens me the most is how modern young adults— Gen Z, specifically —have been tricked into thinking that we as a society have learned and grown to stop upholding this all-consuming notion that you must be thin to be attractive, healthy, and worthy— growing up watching episodes of TV where young girls struggle with their weight, possibly hinting toward the progression toward an eating disorder. But by the end of the episode, we, alongside the characters, learn that being thin is not as important as our mental and physical health and that all bodies are beautiful just the way they are.

As children, we saw in real time the shift from “heroin-chic” in the '90s and 2000s to a body-positive, realistic projection of what real women look like. Something so simple, such as seeing your body on TV, art, or in advertisements, greatly impacted the psychology of young women and little girls. This led to a global shift in perspective. It is essential to mention the link between women's bodies, commodification, and advertisement. 

As baffling as it is, the way women's bodies are portrayed in advertisements and media reflects the mindset of everyday women. Take, for example, the Kardashians. An incredibly wealthy and influential family, mostly of women, has been able to commoditize their bodies and turn them into the new ideal. This led to the rise of large butts and large boobs and, in doing so to include, the gaining of weight— as long as your proportion reflects the hourglass shape. While the Kardashian body type pivoted from the rail-thin build of earlier decades, it only replaced one unrealistic body type with another.

 It was, however, a start. Building on the body-positive movement and education on eating disorders, society had begun to share a more inclusive depiction of bodies. More diverse weights are being accepted, focusing on exercising to feel good, not to look good, and the education and acceptance of physical disabilities— of course, these are not without their exceptions and criticisms. 

So, what happened? We are backsliding. Young women are once again expected to be as thin as possible, scrapping all we have learned about body positivity and inclusion. Celebrities are “thin again,” working on their bikini bodies again, and what disappoints me the most is we are commenting on other people's bodies again. Trends from the “heroin-chic” in the '90s and 2000s are coming back. The infamous Kate Moss quote, “Nothing feels as good as skinny feels,” is once again plastered on social media along with quotes of women bragging about their thinness and damning those who are not. 

Companies and celebrities will likely always boost the thin, white, and able-bodied image, with minor instances of inclusion that will fade to sell the next fix-it product. This is not what thrills me. What surprises me is girls my age upholding and spreading this ideology. 

My heart drops every time I scroll through social media and see a horrible post littered with fatphobia and ignorance being shared by a girl I grew up with. We have had the same upbringing and the same education and have learned the same lessons about love and acceptance, and yet you chose to shove all that aside and lift yourself up by pushing other women down. To you, I say, shame on you. You were given the tools to treat others respectfully and actively chose not to. Again, shame on you.