Body Positive in a Negative World How social media influencers are using their platforms to spread body acceptance By Isabella Corral
W
e spend hours scrolling through social media and seeing other people’s perfect lives and their flawless beauty. Then, feeling the need to achieve those standards, we unconsciously spend hours photoshopping a picture or editing the way we look before uploading a picture on Instagram or any other social media platform. However, some influencers are acknowledging the negative influence they are contributing to and are making a conscientious effort to use their platforms to spread more body awareness.
17 | The Good Life Fall 2021
Famous social media influencers fall victim to this problem by continuously focusing on their outer appearances to garner the most likes and have the highest number of followers. Fiona Connolly, a 20-year-old Instagram influencer, says she feels pressure to share only the best photos of herself.
As a result, viewers are led to believe that their bodies should meet those high standards, when in reality, they are unattainable due to their artificiality or because the perfect pose was achieved after hundreds of attempts. In the last 10 years or so, Western beauty standards have remained the same.
“When you take a picture, you’re going to take, like, 300 pictures, and you’re going to [choose] the best three,” Connolly says. “[You’ll choose the photo in which] you’re in your best pose and your best angle.”
“Being light-skinned, blonde and blue-eyed is the benchmark of beauty, of what is most desirable,” says sociologist Kristen Marrinan. Believing that these are the most important