Holding Onto Your Recovery (and Your Worth) in the Age of #SkinnyTok: 5 Tips for Navigating Toxic Body Trends
cw: Discussion of #skinnytok and the messaging it promotes
A video popped up when I was on TikTok the other day that gave the advice to “Romanticize hunger” in an effort to “eat for the body you want, not for the body you have.” The content creator went on to say that people need some “tough love” to “whip their bodies into shape.” The comments on the video were just as bad (and some were worse). The early 2000s “thin culture” has made a comeback and is making its way into many of our Instagram and TikTok feeds. #Skinnytok has been trending for months, and if any of its content has made its way into any of your feeds, you know what I am talking about. These are videos that idolize and promote shrinking your body, extreme thinness, disordered eating, and an unattainable ideal for physical appearance. For anyone who has struggled with body image or an eating disorder, these kinds of trends are more than just irritating—they can derail progress, reinforce harmful beliefs, and make recovering (or staying in recovery) even harder.
So how do we protect and maintain the progress we've made in a world that is glamorizing the very things we’ve fought so hard to unlearn? Here are a few tips to help.
5 Tips for Holding Onto Your Recovery in the Age of SkinnyTok
1. Remember: This Is a Trend—Not Truth
Just like thigh gaps and “legging legs,” #SkinnyTok is part of a toxic cycle. This does not minimize the damage it is doing and can do, but it is important to recognize that just because something is trending, it does not make it true. Trends come and trends eventually go, but your body is has been and will continue to be yours. What’s “in” right now does not dictate your worth or value, and it doesn’t determine what is best for you or your body. Some of the loudest voices in this push toward shrinking our bodies are saying some of the most absurd things. It’s also worth considering and remembering that many of the barriers to “fame” have been removed with the ability for people to gain a following on social media on their own. So please remember: just because someone has thousands of followers and posts videos like “three tips to make eating less easier,” that doesn’t make their advice valid, healthy, or true.
2. Also Remember: This Trend is Toxic
Some of the videos I have seen paint a picture of a wonderful, fulfilling life, all granted to you through the currency that is your body size. The message the videos send is the same: The smaller your body, the bigger your life. Not only is this message, it its core, problematic; it’s inaccurate and harmful. These videos aren’t coming from a place of care or concern for your well-being. They’re rooted in control, insecurity, and the promotion of shame (not “health”). No initiative or trend that intends to shame you into change is truly about healing or enhancing your life – it only deepens the issues it's pretending to fix.
3. Curate Your Feed Like Your Mental Health Depends On It (Because It Does)
If your Instagram, TikTok, or other social media feed is making you feel inadequate, triggered, insecure, or panicked about your recovery, work on curating it to minimize this content as much as possible. If you’re seeing a lot of these videos on TikTok (where they seem to be putting on quite a show), try pressing and holding on one and tapping “Not interested”—it can help teach the algorithm what you don’t want to see. You can also adjust the content you see by going into “content preferences,” “filter video keywords” and add the keywords (with a # if there is a hashtag present in the content you’re trying to avoid) that you would like to block.
If you want to be able to engage with your social media feeds without fear that you will get sucked into a rabbit hole of negative content, seek out creators who celebrate body diversity, body neutrality, intuitive eating, or those who don’t engage with body content at all (if that’s what would be most helpful for you). Your social media feed should be filled with what you want—whether that’s inspiration, entertainment, information, or just a laugh—not content that leaves you feeling worse than when you picked up your phone.
3. Remember that Feeling Unsettled or Triggered Doesn’t Have to be a Recovery Setback
It’s okay if this content and the mentality it supports stir up insecurities, feelings, or even if it stirs up a desire to engage in the behaviors being promoted. This doesn’t mean you’re backsliding—it means you’re human. Instead of shaming yourself for reacting, try asking: What do I need right now? Maybe it’s a walk, a journal entry, to touch base with your therapist about what this is stirring up, or a text to someone who gets it. Maybe it’s engaging in another affirming activity that makes you feel good in and about your body. If you find yourself feeling pulled in several directions mentally with the social push toward thinness, try to remind yourself that this is normal and that it is possible for you to feel shaken, yet stay grounded.
4. Reconnect With Why You Chose Recovery
It’s easy to get pulled into the noise—especially when that noise is loud, sparkly, and wrapped in the illusion of control – all things that, at one point or another, may have felt safe and enticing. But remember why you started recovery in the first place; choosing recovery was about getting your life back, getting yourself back—your peace, your energy, your ability to laugh at dinner with friends without panicking over menu options or mentally calculating calories. Take a moment to reflect on what’s better now. And remember that, while this push toward “being skiny” promises happiness and fulfillment, those promises always come up empty.
5. Talk about it
If SkinnyTok (and its impact) is making you feel unbalanced, uncomfortable, or discouraged, talk about it. Talk about it with your therapist, your friends, your support group—whoever in your life feels safe and supportive. Shame thrives in silence, so processing out loud in a space that feels safe can help you feel understood in a way that processing alone, reading this post, or even looking at supportive social media content doesn’t. You may also find that being open and honest about how this push toward thinness is impacting you can strengthen your body image and help keep you grounded in your recovery.
A Reminder as “Thin Culture” Recycles Itself
I hope you know that I’m feeling this with you: trying to resist a mentality—a movement, rather—that threatens the work you have done to become a more full, present, and whole version of yourself is exhausting and, if we are being honest, discouraging. Please remember that, no matter what you’re encountering on and off of social media, you don’t need to shrink to be seen, you don’t need to conform to be accepted. The #SkinnyTok, early 2000s “thin culture” trend is loud—but it doesn’t have to let it drown out what you know to be true: your body has never been, is not, and will never be a trend.
By: Erika Muller, Assistant for Wildflower Therapy LLC
All images via Unsplash
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