Seventh Grade: Instagram
The rise of instagram came with full body pictures, models, and the rise of diet culture. We began puberty exposed to girls with unreal bodies and unmatched lifestyles. Why wouldn’t a young girl want to be like that?
Lets take a look at this picture. Perfect body. Perfect outfit. Perfect life. In seventh grade I got instagram. I didn’t know I would be getting unconfident about my body or life. You can’t even see this girl’s face. The whole point of the post was to show off her body. While I think everyone has a right to post what they want, seeing things like this post where all that is highlighted is her body is not something to be promoted, especially to young girls.
Seventh grade was when I began thinking I needed to change myself. I wanted abs like the girls I saw on my explore page. I wanted long legs and small arms. When I looked in the mirror I saw everything I lacked and appreciated nothing I had.
This is an example of one girl who promotes health and wellness on her page. Look at her page. Look at the size of her meals. Those sizes are not what a filling breakfast, lunch, dinner are supposed to be. But, to a twelve year old girl, it looked exactly like what I needed. If I wanted a life like this girl, I needed to eat like her. Or not eat, like her. I have to give her credit now, because her page has changed just as she has and is now teaching people on how to have healthier relationships with food. Her journey changed and so did her page, BUT pages like this, with girls showing pictures of their tiny meals, perfect bodies, and aesthetic lives taught me to cut the amount of food I consumed in half, to only eat “healthy” meals, and to workout excessively. If I wanted to be happy like these girls, I needed to act like them too.
Image Citing:
Otilia, o.tils (2021, Feb. 5). https://www.instagram.com/o.tils/
Natalia, natsneateats (2021). https://www.instagram.com/natsneatteats/
