“If you weigh more than 50 kilos, you are fat” or “I like to vomit, it purifies me inside” are examples of the type of messages that often circulate on social networks. In a world marked by virtual interactions, aesthetic pressure expands through the platforms that teenagers use daily in the form of trends, viral challenges and filters that distort the face.
A more unreal canon of beauty is increasingly promoted, and young people carry out all kinds of practices to try to get closer to this canon and fit into society. Dangerous aesthetic trends such as bones smashing, which encourages teenagers to break the bones of their face with a hammer to achieve cheekbones and a more pronounced jaw, go viral and garner millions of views.
Patricia Barba, psychologist and psychotherapist specialized in self-esteem and body image, assesses for La Vanguardia the impact of this type of trends on the self-esteem of adolescents. And she explains how to forge a better relationship with social networks that, no matter how much we criticize, “are here to stay.” Barba believes that as much as we blame these platforms for aesthetic pressure, we must also look at what is happening at home and avoid comments about people's physiques, which encourage validation exclusively based on aesthetics and which can have an impact. negative in adolescents.
How do we suffer from aesthetic pressure today?
Aesthetic pressure is not something new, it has existed since the origin of humanity. It has always been much more directed towards women, but recently we see that it also affects men. It is the consequence of an increasingly industrialized society that puts pressure on everyone to be able to sell more beauty products. Before we perceived it through magazines and television and it was something more or less controllable, but today, with virtual relationships, the problem has worsened. Young people and adults meet to make friends or find a partner through social networks, where the first thing you see of a person is their image.
On social media, many dangerous aesthetic practices have gone viral under the slogan “Be the best version of yourself.” What impact can this message have on self-perception?
People seek perfection and we have forgotten that human beings, by nature, are imperfect. On an aesthetic level, there is facial asymmetry: we all have one eye or breast larger than the other. We are asymmetrical; It is something that is part of our anatomy. We constantly seek to be our best version, and more and more we resort to aesthetic practices that can cause irreversible injuries, not only to comply with the canon of beauty, but to feel that you belong and fit into society.
The role of influencers comes into play.
Clear. If a young girl constantly consumes images of models, influencers and other girls her age who follow the same pattern, she inevitably compares herself to them. Being constantly exposed to a certain image causes you to create a pattern of what is considered beautiful. The person may feel inferior for seeing themselves different from that canon, which is also unreal. We are promoting a canon that is not natural and that, to achieve it, it is necessary to resort to external methods such as cosmetic surgery.
When does “taking care of ourselves” start to be toxic?
It's a matter of degree. For example, being optimistic is fine, but if I force myself to always be happy, I enter a tyranny of unreal happiness that invalidates me emotionally. In the field of beauty, exactly the same thing happens: taking care of yourself is good, but when it borders on obsession or is done out of rejection, it becomes a tyranny towards beauty that does not allow you to feel good in your own skin, no matter how much. change certain things. Because the demand is such that you will always find something to improve.
A new trend called bone smashing has emerged, aimed at teenage boys, to achieve a more defined jaw with hammer blows.
This tendency is a misinterpretation of Wolff's Law (which says that bones have the ability to adjust in response to the mechanical loads to which they are subjected). Furthermore, doing this shows low self-esteem, because no one consciously and voluntarily hurts themselves for aesthetic purposes. And if there is really a great concern about changing something about your aesthetics, there are safer methods. This urge to obtain quick results denotes an obsessive point that can hint at a possible body dysmorphic disorder.
What is body 'dysmorphia'?
We all have a body image of ourselves: the perception we have of our face and body. This disorder reflects an extreme worry (an obsessive idea) regarding a defect that I have, or think I have. And this leads me to experience such extreme discomfort that it leads to obsessive behaviors to control what others perceive about me. There are people who are constantly aware of how their nose looks when they are in profile or men who continually look at how the angle and light affects the perception of their baldness.
And what can be done?
Body image is totally subjective, and sometimes it is very difficult for us to understand that a person with an apparently normative body can have body dissatisfaction. Recently, Lola Índigo expressed in a concert that she suffered from body dysmorphia. Many people put their hands on their heads thinking: “How can this person, who is idolized by many young people, feel uncomfortable in her body?”
There are filters on Instagram and TikTok that modify your face in different ways: soften wrinkles, make lips bigger... How can this affect us?
Filters create a completely distorted image of your face. Involuntarily, you internalize that image, and then, when you take it off, the contrast with your real image generates discomfort. Now that you've seen what your face would be like if it looked like the filter, you want those cheekbones, that nose...
There are many people who give advice about fitness or nutrition on social networks without being professionals in these fields...
This carries potential risks and can even enhance an obsession where it did not exist before. I have seen girls in consultation who have developed an Eating Disorder (ED) from following other girls who shared what they ate and the exercise they did. As a result of this, an obsession has been generated that has led to a very serious eating disorder. And the patients are getting younger and younger.
On TikTok, comments like: “If you weigh more than 50kg you are fat” or the fashion “Very pretty, but let's see your abdomen”, where the girls had to first show their face and then their abdomen to show that “they were valid” in both ways. Influencer Marina Yers even said: “I like vomiting, it purifies me inside.” How can these messages affect teenagers?
Validation is encouraged only in the external: the image. Everything else is ignored. I don't see that intelligence is valued in the same way, because then other fads would appear like "Show me your result on this intelligence test to see if you are valid or not." It is making a big dent in people's self-esteem, because they come to think that what these fashions say is normal, desirable and, furthermore, if I don't have this, I am not valid and I will not be happy. Beauty and thinness have always been associated with success and happiness.
Can limiting the hours we spend on social networks protect us from aesthetic pressure?
Undoubtedly, the number of hours we spend on networks can have a direct link with a greater probability of suffering from disorders such as body dysmorphism. During the pandemic, the daily use of screens increased and cases of eating disorders increased greatly. But I believe that the work does not have to be so much about limiting, but rather about improving our relationship with social networks. Limiting the time of use can be experienced as an imposition that generates a rejection of entry. It doesn't usually give a very good effect.
So what can parents do to protect their children from these types of messages?
In the same way that you are very aware of the content that appears on television (and the recommended age for watching a movie is even indicated), I encourage you to investigate the networks that your children use to learn about that environment. In this way, they will feel much more understood and accompanied.
How can we build a healthier relationship with social networks?
The ideal would be to consume diversity: people with different body shapes and sizes. And be aware that they can be very beautiful even if they do not comply with the socially established canon of beauty. Social networks are here to stay. If it is not one, it will be another, so let's make responsible use of them. There should also be better oversight of content, especially on TikTok where the audience is much younger.
But is social media entirely to blame for aesthetic pressure?
No. The networks have aggravated it, but it is not the only causing factor. At home, sometimes comments are made that also exert aesthetic pressure, such as: “Wear black, that's how you hide your belly.” Or when, watching a movie, you say: “You have to see what a great girl this girl has,” instead of saying: “What a wonderful actress, what a role she has played!” They put the focus on the physical. Although they are usually thrown out without malicious intent, words can be much more harmful than any other behavior. For a teenager who is in full development and who has her parents as a reference, these comments can greatly affect him. What we see at home guides us regarding what we consider to be good, and what is correct and desirable.
So, the change must be at all levels.
Exact. It's all very well to blame the world, but you have to look at what's happening at home. In cases of anorexia, normally the warning signal comes because you have missed your period or because you are already very thin. But until that point is reached, the person is even applauded by society while he loses weight. They ask you, “Hey, what are you doing? That I also get to it.” It is positive reinforcement towards a behavior that is a symptom of an illness or a potential illness. There are also doctors who link any pain to weight or make comments about their physique to patients who come in with a potential case of ED. And I am sorry to recognize that it is our daily bread.
