The rise of the BBL

I’ve never thought of myself as someone who is easily influenced by trends in the health and wellness space. It seems like when a new ‘look’ is trending in the media, it influences people to think that this is what they should’ve looked like all along. I too, thought that I was exempt from this psychology—but it turns out that most of my life, my appearance has been largely shaped and dictated by what is trending in the health space. Around ten years ago, it was really trendy to have a sort of thicker physique. During this time, the trending version of body image was that of a thicker girl—curvier features, wider hips, etc; This can also be linked to the rise in cosmetic surgery and the ‘BBL’. Some great examples of this are a lot of the celebrities and pop culture icons that were gaining popularity at the time from rappers to reality stars. Said celebrities include but are not limited to, the Kardashians, SZA, Lil Kim, Nicki Minaj, Iggy Azalea and the list goes on. 

It’s hard to admit that you’ve been influenced by the media or what’s hot at the moment, to change yourself but it happens a lot easier than one would expect. I realized that during this period ten or so years ago, I had put so much of my worth into my physical appearance — attempting to make myself look more like the women I saw on screen and on social media. This sort of illness really manifested itself in smaller ways—and I supposed that’s how it starts becoming harmful. You don’t need a botched BBL to recognize that you’ve been trying to change yourself. Looking back, going to the gym should have been my warning sign that I was being negatively influenced. You might ask, “Why going to the gym?”—because I was going for the wrong reasons. Instead of focusing on mobility and strength training in every area that needed it, I solely focused on the lower body, and specifically tailored my routine to make my physique look a certain way. I don’t see a problem with having an aesthetic goal in mind when going to the gym, but when that aesthetic goal becomes the ONLY goal it becomes a problem. 

I’m an avid social media user myself, and I’m quite literally building a career centered around my social media—but I can’t deny that the ever changing trends in the health and wellness industry have impacted me as well. For years my self image has been dictated by the trend of the “hourglass figure”, and for years I genuinely thought this was how I wanted my body to look. However, after I got to college and received my ADHD diagnosis, I started to lose weight. Being on a high dose of stimulants only makes you lose your appetite, and when you combine those issues with a healthy dose of anxiety the result is weight loss. I actually really struggled with this at the time—in addition to not being able to eat food comfortably, I was struggling with the fact that my body image was changing. 

I absolutely hated the fact that I was losing weight and it became a constant that I started to focus on. Then, I noticed different trends in the health and wellness industry changing. There’s been a resurgence of the ‘Heroin Chic’ trend of being incredibly thin and having extremely defined bone structure. In my personal experience, I noticed that when this look started becoming more popular, I in turn became more comfortable with the fact that I was losing weight. So I started wondering why there was such a sudden change in my mindset, and eventually started connecting the dots to the content I was seeing on social media and media in general. I realized that for as long as I can remember, I’ve always had an expectation of what I SHOULD look like, and I don’t really know how to come to terms with that fact. My dream career path involves heavy social media and online involvement in general, so I’m left wondering how I’ll ever gain a true understanding of my self image. 

As a consequence of the resurgence of excessive weight loss, I’ve also started noticing a difference in the type of food centered content I’ve been seeing and consuming. My instagram reels page is filled with grass fed butter, non-fat almond milk, juice cleansing, fasting tips, apple cider vinegar, and anything else you can think of that promotes weight loss. Similarly, different terms and topics such as cortisol face,  bloating, or  looksmaxing  often come up. How do we keep our faces skinny along with our waists? How do we maximize the appeal of our faces? Being so involved in social media, I often wonder how we are supposed to foster a healthy self image when the expectations of looking a certain way change consistently? Upon realizing that social media has affected my self image, I started asking myself how I could remedy this—I still am. 

One of the best practices I’ve come to learn has been ingrained in me by my mother and my family in general. Always make decisions and base your perceptions of yourself off of what is healthiest for you. Oftentimes we look our best and most genuine selves when we are our healthiest and happiest, so focusing on aesthetics last could greatly benefit one’s self image. I was raised in a household where the concern was whether or not I was happy and healthy, rather than the shape of my body or my weight. When I think about what I can do to promote a healthy self image I often fall short, but remembering to prioritize my health and how I feel always remains a good place to start. Maybe we should start asking ourselves these questions more often; Are we too influenced by the media? Do you think you’ve already been influenced? How do we fix it? How do we promote health in a healthy way?