In our column, The Images That Make Us, writer, founder and CEO of MTArt Agency, Marine Tanguy, responds to a visual creative and cultural moment, unwrapping its importance in how it shapes us as individuals. Next up: body positivity in our ‘SkinnyTok’ age.
After going through a traumatic event at work, I rebuilt myself through dance. I believed that ballet could give me strength – physically and mentally. It worked, and the last two years has seen me completely transformed. I am a better friend, partner, mother and entrepreneur for it. As a result, my body also changed drastically, I became toned and skinny. The amount of compliments I received – from random people, friends and social media followers – was overwhelming. It felt that I had reached the expectations of white, Western beauty ideals. How hypocritical in the decade of body positivity, I thought.
Just before it was banned, the hashtag ‘SkinnyTok’ was at its peak on TikTok, taking place alongside the current consumption of Ozempic. Our social media today is full of people telling you ‘how to control yourself’, sharing gym mirror selfies, eating raw vegetables, and proudly displaying how they lost weight. Many of them are teenagers.
Being skinny, in a time of notable, global gender backlash – characterised by a resurgence of anti-rights sentiment and challenges to established gender equality commitments – is about more than a body shape. Extreme right-wing ideologies are pushing white thinness as aspirational – and we can actually find its roots back in early 20th century fascism, which upheld traditional gender roles. Author Brian Pronger wrote about this in his book Body Fascism: Salvation in the Technology of Physical Fitness.
Something else that makes me deeply uncomfortable is the economics of this body shape. As The Economist explores, skinny women get further ahead on the career ladder. But being skinny also requires hefty economical investment: time to do the classes (in my case, I can afford childcare and I have a supportive husband); the cost of the classes; and access to healthy food. This may be out of reach to a single mother who is also the main breadwinner. Yet, our society continues to reward me and others like me for my economical privileges, while damning her for not doing so. Brian Pronger argues that we are currently re-establishing physical hierarchies and the idea that looking a certain way makes one superior to others. In the past, this same logic has supported white supremacy.
And yet I started this column by praising the mental changes that exercising and dancing have had on me. I have never felt stronger and happier than since starting ballet. But I’m uncomfortable with the comments I received and I feel the need to question them: for example, when my bikini photo had much larger praise on social media than any of my professional achievements. What validity does this social media response create?
Who we elevate visually also reveals who we hide or dismiss, and I am uncomfortable with this. I want the body positivity movement to have a come back.
We may earn a commission if you buy something from any affiliate links on our site.
Any Questions or Tips to add?