Women are sharing the ’90s tropes that caused their body dysmorphia

To do that, let’s go back to the ’90s and 2000s, when “heroin chic” dominated fashion headlines and viralities, and Kate Moss famously uttered the phrase: “Nothing as delicious as the feeling of being thin.”

That same aesthetic is starting to pervade the mainstream once again.

The creepy feeling that “thin” is back in vogue began quite clearly when Kim Kardashian announced that she had lost 16 pounds in three weeks to fit into Marilyn Monroe’s iconic dress from 1962 in New York. Met Gala.

Since then, the idea of ​​”thin is clear” has been deeply ingrained in the public consciousness.

From the countless slimmed-down diet examples in the form of #WhatIEatInADay TikTok videos, to the infamous Miu Miu mini-skirt that seems to only frame one particular (slender) body type, it seems. inextricable. It is an obstacle that millennial women do not like to participate in.

A viral TikTok video posted by user Amanda Lekland explores the antics that women and girls were exposed to 20 years ago.

The video reads: “Why do I hate my body? The kids version of the ’90s”, before the appearance of stars such as Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Lindsay Lohan, Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton.

The video also includes magazine covers comparing people’s bodies with the headlines “best and ugliest beach bodies” and “stars who lost the battle with cellulite”.

Lekland wrote in the caption: “No wonder we hate our bodies. We were taught that.”

Her video resonated with hundreds of women, who remembered other “advice” they were fed during the height of the lean fever.

Video of the day

An accused person around the world magazine about “romanticizing eating disorders” and said she “eats cabbage and almond soup” as part of a diet.

“My mom has a sticker that says ‘Nothing tastes better than feeling skinny’ on the fridge and in the pantry there are a lot of cut out models,” another commenter wrote. “Yes. Pleasure.”

This is not to say that the body positivity movement, which encourages society to accept and embrace all body types regardless of size, shape, and physical ability, hasn’t made a difference.

Twenty years ago, no one would have imagined that fashion designers would bring anyone over zero on the catwalk.

These days, we’re used to seeing many different body types striding the catwalk – as seen during some of the London Fashion Week SS23 shows.

Still, it’s hard to ignore the signs that society is returning to its old, shameful ways.

This week, Ashley Graham was criticized by US journalist Sameera Khan, who shared photos of the famous plus-size model in a yellow mini dress and wrote on Twitter: “The fat movement is taking over. out of control.”

Elsewhere, the term “cheek fat” popped into the conversation as a selfie of Lea Michele went viral, showing the stage star with sunken cheeks.

As it turns out, cheek fat removal has seen a huge boom as people race to plastic surgeons to remove bits of meat from their faces.

“Slim culture” is also back on magazine covers.

Cover photo of first for women magazine with the headline “Lie 48lbs for Christmas” was shared by self-confident body campaigner Alex Light earlier this month, much to her dismay.

She wrote on Instagram: “This magazine has just been published. It’s December 5th… I’m stunned! I see a lot of bad stuff but this feels next level. Light’s followers were equally shocked, with one person writing: “Oh my god, I think it’s from 1997 or something!!!”

For many millennial women, it feels terrible to be once again surrounded by these images and headlines. With social media driving the spread of such messages even more, it’s almost impossible for anyone living online to turn them off completely.

Thankfully, there are Tiktokers like Lekland and other body positivity activists and advocates who are increasingly becoming key voices to combat this growing trend.

Even Moss shied away from his controversial phrase, saying in 2018 that more diversity in the modeling industry was “right”. But it will take the determination of women of all generations to prevent “heroin chic” from fully feeding its ugly head again.