#post4

So, yes, it's important to love the skin we're in and value our bodies for everything it does for us. Our mental health and general wellbeing can benefit from practising self-love and self-acceptance. But we have been living in a society where body insecurity and dissatisfaction, especially among women, are very frequent. And social media play in fuelling body modification surgeries for e.g., the most popularised body modification fad known as the Brazilian Butt Lift(BBL) which involves taking fat from the stomach or back and inserting it into the buttocks of a woman who wishes to have a larger, more shapely behind and relatively smaller waist. Nowadays, even its increasing prevalence of men’s body anxieties but according to research, 92% of those receiving cosmetic surgery are women (Sussex, 2022).

Humans aren't always logical, but they frequently make decisions based on perceived benefits and standards. Women could put themselves through possibly harmful cosmetic operations in the hopes of achieving social and financial success.

The way we accept our relationships with our bodies presents more of a challenge than how society and social media views the body. In essence, the concept "body positivity" first appeared in 1996 when a psychotherapist and a patient who had had therapy for an eating disorder made unwise dietary and activity choices (Cherry, 2020). Now, the #bodypositive movement in its current form began to emerge around 2012, initially focusing on challenging unrealistic feminine beauty standards “all bodies are beautiful” (Cherry, 2020).

It’s very unrealistic to expect that we will stop using social media altogether. According to Dr Fardouly says, viewing appearance-neutral content on social media appears to be beneficial for body image and brief exposure to such content on Instagram improved women’s body satisfaction and mood (Newsroom, 2023). Eventually, #bodypositive can choose to put more body positive content into people’s feeds and promote it more prominently.

References:

Sussex Publishers. (n.d.). The BBL bubble: How social media fuels body modification. Psychology Today. [Retrieved March 22, 2023], <https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/mirror-mirror/202108/the-bbl-bubble-how-social-media-fuels-body-modification >.

Cherry, K. (2020, November 21). Why body positivity is important. Verywell Mind, [Retrieved March 22, 2023],<https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-body-positivity-4773402>.

Post 1 | Post 2 | Post 3 | Post 4 | Post 5