Going forward & Advice
- Molly Olney
- Jun 11, 2021
- 6 min read
Where will fitspiration go from here? What needs to change, what you can do to mitigate the harm, and how new forms of social media could be hindering change.
Something needs to change in fitness media and fitspiration. Magazines and social media sites are working to diversify the races and body types of their models, influencers are changing their tone, and more women are rebelling again the standards of beauty. Kayla Itsines, an Australian fitness influencer, just changed the name of her fitness program from Bikini Body Guide with Kayla to High-Intensity Strength Training with Kayla. This shifts the tone of her program from appearance to fitness. More women are challenging western beauty ideals through clothing, tattoos, piercings, and more (McKay). We must continue to challenge norms if we are going to make progress! In terms of changing fitness media, much has been done but we still aren’t there yet; more needs to be done- there needs to be more diversity and an increased focus on health rather than appearance. More and more women are being harmed by the negative effects of this media and we need to stop it from getting worse. Psychologist Lily Robinson even ended her research study on idealized images in the media by advising readers against excessive exposure to fitspiration images that promote body ideals (Robinson).
There is a body-image and self-esteem crisis in our nation, and we need to do everything we can to end this by changing the narrative and empowering women. Kids are gaining access to social media at younger and younger ages, so we need to equip ourselves to educated them and decrease their exposure to potentially harmful media. Young girls and teenagers are more vulnerable to idealized images because they don’t have the capacity to understand the harmful effects of the images being posted (Arya and Rai). Girls as young as 13-years-old are viewing fitspiration and trying to change their bodies to achieve the ideal body. My 13-year-old cousin Zoe, said she often sees fitspiration content on her Instagram and Tiktok. Despite not expressing that she has felt the effects, she said she notices that everyone who posts looks similar and sends the message that you have to be skinny. Zoe doesn’t even follow fitness accounts and yet she is exposed to them (Armour, Z.).
Knowledge is the most important thing we can have going forward, if we are armed with information about fitness media, it can better help us recognize and protect against the harms ("Body Image: Media and Eating Disorders"). If we can equip ourselves to critically examine all the media we consume, we will be better able to protect ourselves from the psychological impacts; however, not everyone is like this. Not everyone, especially young girls, can carefully consider what they are viewing and recognize when they are using an unrealistic target to evaluate themselves (Easton). We need to seek credibility in the posts we are viewing. If women view everything they see as reality or fact, they will fall short every time.
The National Eating Disorder Association gives some great tips on how to engage with media and mitigate harms that I wanted to share.
1. Choose and use media mindfully. Try not to get caught up in social media. Take a break, put your phone down.
2. When viewing posts, test the messaging for credibility and body positivity. Ask yourself these questions, “What does this message mean?” “Is this real?” “Why is this message being sent?” “How might this affect people?” “How might it affect me?” Who is benefiting from this post?” You can even ask yourself these questions before you post to ensure you are adding positive media to the feeds of your followers.
3. When viewing media, talk back to it. Respond to people, raise awareness to false claims in the system, correct and call people out when they are wrong or causing harm. Offer advice to people in your network.
4. Be an advocate for positive body talk, whether this is online or in person. Post about body positivity, compliment others, and report body shaming. ("Body Image: Media and Eating Disorders").
By becoming critics of the media, we consume, we can arm ourselves with the tools to recognize harmful media messages and analyze them. When we do this, we are able to remember that the media’s definition of beauty and success does not have to define our self-image or potential. Images on social media are not reflections of reality and we need to remember this ("Body Image: Media and Eating Disorders").
Going forward, more research studies need to be conducted to understand the effects of fitness media on young adults especially after the pandemic, and as new platforms such as TikTok have gained popularity. TikTok is a social media site of short videos that uses an algorithm to cater your feed exactly to what you would like based on what you view on the site and other sites (Wides). I viewed a couple fitness videos on TikTok and suddenly it felt like my whole feed was filled with them. For women who are struggling with their body image and relationship with fitness, being bombarded with these videos could be detrimental. There are trends of girls eating one bite and food and claiming she isn’t hungry anymore promoting eating disorders. I have heard anecdotes from mid-sized and plus-sized women who have said TikTok has deleted their videos of them in bikinis despite thin women posting the same kinds of videos. Shape magazine reported that “internal documents from TikTok revealed that ‘the app’s creators reportedly put policies in place that intentionally suppress videos… showing ‘abnormal body shapes’… and other physical traits that the app’s creators deemed unfit for their platform,’” (Wides). On TikTok, there is a clear ideal body being conveyed. Seven women in their teens and 20s told NBC News that, "the content they viewed on Tiktok had pushed them to fixate more on their diets and exercise regimens to a dangerous extent,"(Kaufman). Claire Mysko, the CEO of the National Eating Disorders Association, said her organization has heard complaints from several TikTok users that the app is helping to "blur the line between fitness and eating disorders," (Kaufman). My 16-year-old cousin Josie said most of the fitspiration and fitness media she views is on TikTok, and she doesn’t even follow any accounts. As someone who has struggled with body image, she said it is hard to see those videos just pop up and they make her feel bad about her body and lifestyle (Armour, J.).
To me, the idea of fitspiration truly feels like it is a lose-lose situation. When people are trying to help and inspire others with the best intentions, their images can still be triggering for some women or cause women to compare themselves. Despite all good intentions, fitness media is going to affect certain people and it is difficult to see where we go from here. Knowledge can’t be the end-all solution for fixing this problem because for many women no matter how much knowledge they are given they still give into the media. I will still find myself comparing and seeking out those images. It is so appealing that it’s hard not to look at. I know most of social media is unrealistic, I know that fitness media perpetuates ideal beauty standards, and yet I am still attracted to it and seek out the posts despite feeling the effects and knowing I will compare myself. Changes need to be made from within the system. Some other solutions that can be done right now are continuing to promote body positivity, removing guilt-inducing language from posts and everyday life, being mindful of what you post and view, and changing the tone from appearance-related benefits to health-related benefits. Social media doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, so we must do things to mitigate the future harms.
This problem can’t be fixed by just me, but I want to raise awareness of the movement so that others can take steps to avoid these posts and raise awareness as well. This problem needs to be solved so there is a decrease in body image and self-esteem issues among women of all ages. By raising awareness of the harmful effects of fitness on social media, I hope to help the women in my life and decrease the body image and self-esteem issues of those around me.
If you or a loved one is struggling with an eating disorder; you can call the toll-free, confidential NEDA Helpline, Monday-Thursday from 9:00 a.m.- 9:00 p.m. and Friday from 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. at 1-800-931-2237.
Armour, Josie. Personal Interview. 12 June 2021.
Armour, Zoe. Personal Interview. 12 June 2021.
Arya, Sakshi Grover, and Shikha Rai. “Body Image Disturbances and Fitspiration: a study of
Social Media Effects on Audience.” Research Journal Social Sciences, vol. 25, no. 3, 2017, pp.137-159, file:///Users/mollyolney/Downloads/Fitspiration.pdf
“Body Image: Media and Eating Disorders.” National Eating Disorders Association, 2021,
Kaufman, Sarah. “‘It’s not worth it’: Young women on how TikTok has warped their body
image.” July 19, 2020, https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/it-s-not-worth-it-young-women-how-tiktok-has-n1234193
McKay, Ashley, et al. “Western Beauty Pressures and Their Impact on Young University
Women” International Journal of Gender and Women’s Studies, vol. 6, no.2, 2018, pp.1-11, DOI: 10.15640/ijgws.v6n2p1 http://ijgws.com/journals/ijgws/Vol_6_No_2_December_2018/1.pdf
Robinson, Lily, et al. “Idealized media images: The effect of fitspiration imagery on body
satisfaction and exercise behavior.” Body Image, vol. 22, pp. 65-71, 2017, https://ntserver1.wsulibs.wsu.edu:2061/science/article/pii/S1740144517300657#bib0210
Wides, Sonia Chajet. “TikTok’s Body Image Problem.” The Bardvark, May 28, 2020
Comments