The rebellion against the early 2000s diet culture: body positivity
Trigger warning- this article speaks on themes such as diet culture, body image and distorted eating, please read at your own discretion. If any of the topics in this article have affected you or anyone you know, please visit www.beateatingdisorders.com.
Image: self drawn
Growing up as young as Primary school age, it felt like a constant competition of who was the skinniest. Looking back, it’s terrifying that at just age 10 we would discuss how much we weighed and how jealous we were of whoever was the lightest; we’d even compare the sizes of our wrists on our breaks in the playground, using our fingers to measure whoever had the smallest. Unfortunately, a combination of dieting trends being passed down from older generations, being exposed to dieting in the media and the fashion trends of the time, had conditioned us to believe that, even before we had hit puberty, our worth was based on our weight. This is why, as I approached adulthood and phrases like ‘body positivity’ became increasingly spoken of, it gave me a glimpse of hope for the 10-year-old girls who are now on the playground.
The late 90s and early 2000s was an era which highly encouraged unrealistic and unhealthy body standards. The media, fashion trends and obsessive celebrity culture encouraged a highly pro skinny movement. As a result, many developed distorted eating habits in order to fit into this mould.
A tweet by Lucy Huber, went viral last year reading:
'If any Gen Z are wondering why every Millennial woman has an eating disorder, it’s because in the 2000s a normal thing to say to a teenage girl was “when you think you’re hungry, you’re actually thirsty so just drink water and you’ll be fine.”'
This unfortunately is something which all too many people who grew up during this period can relate to.
Eating disorder practitioner and clinical nutritionist Lexi Crouch, feels that often we don’t acknowledge just how damaging the diet culture during the early 2000s was.
“The repercussions now are that, I myself am in my mid 30s, so I did grow up in this era, and a lot of people do have damaging eating patterns and they’re not even diagnosed as distorted, they’re just diagnosed as what was in trend in the early 2000s, which is really dangerous and has impacted so many people today.”
Although we are still a long way away from living diet culture free, over 20 years later, with talks of ‘heroin chic’ coming back into trend and our idolisation of celebrities bodies like the Kardashian’s for example, many have had enough of being told what their own body should look like.
Body positivity is the idea that we should love and accept our bodies for what they are, whatever the shape or size. It pushes the notion that we should try and ignore the body standards that society promotes and instead stay true to ourselves.
Although body positivity has been around for decades, Researcher Lauren Downing Peters, believes that 2010 was the year that the movement first started to go mainstream.
This was around the time that ‘Body Positivity’ became a popular buzzword across social media, as it started a conversation for many regarding why we are letting the media and fashion world tell us whether our bodies are good enough or not.
The rise of social media and influencer culture massively helped promote body positivity, during the 2010s. Plus size model Tess Holliday for example, started an Instagram campaign in 2013, encouraging users to post on Instagram with the hashtag ‘effyourbeautystandards’ to embrace their bodies for what they are.
Nearly 10 years later, the hashtag has over been used nearly 5 million times, and it’s still being used by many to encourage body positivity to this day.
She also started the Instagram page @effyourbeautystandards with over 410k followers, encouraging anyone to love their bodies who don’t typically fit into the beauty standards.
Following such a huge uprise over social media, brands started responding, becoming aware that they needed to be more inclusive with their sizing to satisfy their customer's needs.
For example, in 2018, Rihanna completely changed up the game in the fashion world, with her lingerie brand Savage X Fenty.
She ensured her branding was completely inclusive when it came to size, stocking her lines from XS to 5XL, using a range of plus size models and even plus size mannequins to promte her brand. At a Savage X Fenty fashion show in 2019, Rihanna said:
“I want women to feel confident no matter what size they are.”
Other celebrities have also shown their support for body positivity, which has helped spread word of the movement.
American singer Lizzo, is a very well known figure in this community, even releasing her own shape wear brand, aiming to quote "make people feel good in their own skin."
She has also said how she feels as though the media promotes body negativity as the industry benefits from our insecurities:
"It's so interesting that body positivity is a thing, but 'body negativity' isn't, I think it's because body negativity is the norm, it's what's expected, so body positivity is this novel idea; and I think it has something to do with you know, consumerism and the media, because they've got to make money somehow, so they're selling you an idea of yourself you haven't quite yet achieved."
Instagram blogger Alysse has gained over 18,000 followers posting body positivity and plus size styling content. After growing up in a diet obsessed culture, she decided it was finally time for her to embrace her body instead of trying to conform.
“I started my page last year just to fill a space I felt that I needed, I needed more people to say, ‘actually, I feel good in this dress’ without it being uncomfortable- I just wanted to be unapologetic about it.”
However, Alysse feels that many brands still have work to do when it comes to inclusivity.
“I think we’ve still got a really long way to go [within representation]. It’s good to see that it’s different now to what it was maybe five or 10 years ago, but we’ve still got a long way to go. The models are either super, super slim or a size 14 but treated like a curve model. I find it frustrating to see plus size ranges being modelled by people who are not plus size.”
Body positivity and fitness blogger, Emma, says how important she thinks the movement has been for young people.
“I think too many young people nowadays are made to believe their bodies have to look a certain way or fit a certain size of clothing to be able to be accepted, so I think it’s so important to promote being able to be positive about your body, despite the fact it may not look exactly how you want it to or how other people think it should.”
Not everybody believes that body positivity is really all that positive however when it comes to health, some people even going so far to say it promotes obesity. Emma feels that sometimes it doesn’t always promote the healthiest lifestyle.
“I think some people use body positivity as an excuse to not live a healthy lifestyle. I think it’s very easy for someone who is clearly an unhealthy weight and living an unhealthy lifestyle to promote that their diet and lifestyle is fine because “body positivity”, however I think it would be better for them to address the fact that they’re not necessarily at a healthy size and living a healthy lifestyle but that they can still love themselves despite it.”
However, nutritionist and personal trainer Paddy Burnett, feels that the movement isn't as damaging as the media often lets on.
“Unfortunately, it has been highlighted to do this [cause obesity], but this is more rare than people would expect. The movement encourages individuals to make choices that make them happy and this may lead to poor food selection, additives within unhealthy food have been shown to be addictive and can be detrimental to health. As the movement is subjective it has led to people making healthy choices but this is not highlighted as much. Overall the movement itself does not directly encourage obesity, but it may cause behaviours which could lead to it being increased in likelihood, particularly if an individual has received little education in the area.”
He also stresses the benefits body positivity can have for mental health.
“In terms of psychological standpoint, it can be a healthy component for individual’s self-esteem, being comfortable in your own skin is really important and allows individuals to be healthy mentally."
According to studies by Mental Health Foundation in 2019, over a third of adults have felt anxious or depressed due to concerns over their body image.
One in five UK adults have also said that images they see on social media have caused them concerns over their body image.
Research published in the National Library of Medicine have found that the disfasction that many women have with their bodies could be part of the reason why women have more eating disorders than men.
Alysse says how body positivity isn’t trying to promote being plus size, but instead pushing the notion that everyone should love their bodies however they come.
“The relevant thing is, that nobodies trying to glamorise body shapes or types, people are just trying to say ‘it’s okay’ to be any of the above. That’s what my page is about, I just want people to know whatever you look like, if you’re super, super thin and you struggle with that or you’re super, super overweight and you struggle with that, or whether you’re somewhere in between and you’re still struggling with it, I just want people to feel good in their own skin.”
Fashion design lecturer at the University of Gloucestershire, Margaret Donough, believes that our attitudes have improved when it comes to dieting, but the fashion industry still needs to do more to promote body positivity.
“Generally, we are more aware of the body positivity movement and the dangers associated with eating disorders and mental wellbeing. That is not to say that both the advertising, fashion and social media industries couldn't do more to promote body positivity especially amongst the younger fashion demographic.”
The body positivity movement, despite its mixed reaction, has undeniably shaken up our perception of body standards and rebelled against years, upon years of being told what our bodies should look like.
We can only hope that the younger generations learn from past mistakes, and perhaps teach others that the trend that should be 'in' when it comes to our bodies is loving them for how they come.