Ever Wondered What Men Discuss Over Their Pints?

At work this week, I overheard two men discussing how ‘disappointing’ women who ‘ruin’ themselves with Botox or Ozempic are, all while they leisurely sipped on their pints. The idea that women’s bodies exist in a debate of potential disappointment or pleasure to men has become exhausting. And yet somehow still normalised. However, what occurred as disappointing to me, was how easily women are reduced to vanity - with appearance being both our greatest asset and greatest failure.

So, if you’re reading this… don’t underestimate the power of eavesdropping! As it reminded me how the conversation around women’s bodies never really changes, only the trend does.

Female beauty standards have always been subject to change, yet their impact continues to damage women’s self-esteem and health. The heroin-chic thinness of the 1990’s gave way to the celebration of curvier bodies in the 2010’s, only for an unhealthy thin ideal to re-emerge a decade later. With ultra skinny trending again, the inevitability of these cyclical trends has, sadly, stopped shocking anyone. And now with the saturation of social media and influencer culture, impossible beauty standards have accelerated, reaching impressionable women faster and more frequently than ever seen before.

I want to be abundantly clear that the rise of Ozempic and ultra thin culture has nothing to do with the woman but everything to do with the relentless pressure for women to be aesthetically ‘perfect.’ It’s a tired ordeal that, quite frankly, has been ingrained within us. Whatever choices women make regarding their weight or appearance should not be public debates. However, what must be challenged is the growing normalisation of unhealthy and potentially dangerous behaviours in the pursuit of these trending beauty standards.

It would be unfair to place blame upon a thin, gorgeous influencer simply detailing her evening outfit for making women feel like they need to look the same. Now that it is an established career,  the influencer’s role is to post fashion, lifestyle and beauty content, which naturally involves promoting how to dress and look a certain way. I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m a total sucker for this. I love nosing into people’s wardrobes, makeup drawers, and extravagant social lives, largely  because it’s a lifestyle I can live vicariously through. However, there’s always that moment when it catches up to you. The hours have flown by with my aimless scrolling on TikTok, consuming the same content, and I wonder how much of it we subconsciously retain.

Despite being somewhat of a guilty pleasure for most, the impact influencing has on Gen Z is both impressive and frightening. Recently on my FYP a video of a teenage girl appeared asking the quickest ways people had experienced weight loss. She even disclosed that she didn’t want to hear ‘eat less, move more’ but instead, wanted people’s most ‘unhinged’ methods. Naturally, I opened the comments and was quickly saddened by the thousands of recommendations. They were all insane FAD diets, from keto to ones I didn’t even know existed. With someone going as far to suggest sleeping through until midday and curbing hunger by drinking water. The video had over 80,000 likes and 25,000 comments, demonstrating how far these harmful ideas could potentially spread. Of course, whatever damage is caused cannot be directly linked to the creator, but it’s also sad to think that she posted it with both the intention to partake in such unhealthy weight loss and with confidence that it would go viral with recommendations from women.

Ultimately, some of these tried and tested diets involve no quality of life at all. Over-sleeping, under-eating and restriction of carbs and sugars is a miserable existence and demonstrates the lengths women have gone to achieve socially acceptable aesthetics. Seeing this video, I also realised how TikTok tailors your algorithm to view videos similar to what you watch for the longest, that you like, comment on, share and repost. Meaning that this information, and even worse, misinformation, is quite literally at the fingertips of girls as young as 13. Something deeply concerning considering how at 13 it’s estimated that over 50% of girls dislike their body in some way.

Like most teenagers going through puberty, I too struggled with my changing body and have experienced issues with poor self-esteem and body image. This was even before I started using social media and had access to platforms such as Instagram. In my later years, alongside the rise of TikTok and influencer culture, I’ve felt just how difficult it is not to compare yourself to the constant stream of perfection we now see across all media platforms. With my own struggles in mind, I can’t begin to fathom how much more intense and damaging this is for the younger girls today. Influencing can sadly extend far beyond outfit and beauty recommendations and can also  shape how young women view their weight, appearance, routines and lifestyle. All reasons why (in my opinion) more restrictions and regulations around seemingly inoffensive content needs to be considered for different age users.

The rise of Ozempic has arguably reignited the ultra-skinny trend, particularly as a wave of female celebrities have appeared noticeably slimmer at major events like the Grammys and Oscars. Within minutes, images of these shrunken frames circulate, spark conversation and invite comparison, alongside the question: How do I achieve that? Yet, this hasn’t become a hot topic just because of its visibility but also, its extremity. Already slim and healthy women pursuing medicated weight loss shifts the standard from aspirational to unhealthy, edging towards something far more dangerous and controversial.

While public perception of a celebrity’s body is not their responsibility, unfortunately they carry influence regardless, and it's absorbed and replicated as a standard to strive for. It’s sad enough that women who were already healthy feel pressure to become thinner but now, this dangerous weight implies healthy is no longer enough. Even thinner has yet again become desirable, and for generations of women already navigating fragile relationships with their bodies, this message continues to carry immense weight.

This whole discussion feels like a vicious cycle that no one can quite get right, including myself. I’ve read articles describing celebrities as “so thin you could serve soup in their clavicles” and dismissing women as ‘generic.’ Hopefully, this is aimed to deter the reader from striving to achieve such an unhealthy weight; however, it still relies on reducing women to their appearance and slips into body shaming. Mocking, embarrassing and scrutinising women’s bodies in the media has only ever encouraged insecurities and contributed to ongoing struggles with body image. It’s important to remember celebrities are not separate from this conversation. They are women subject to the same pressures and expectations, only amplified on a much more exposed and unforgiving scale.

In an effort to be more positive, social media can be praised as a platform that promotes and normalises all body types - not just the idealised skinny or curvy figures. The rise of unfiltered or ‘Insta versus reality’ content across social media has snowballed into a movement that praises and celebrates natural, untoned, curvy and slender body shapes. This is an overlooked and refreshing moment for women, as we challenge unrealistic beauty standards and expectations of perfection. At the same time, the side effects and health risks of Ozempic are becoming more widely discussed and in turn, increasingly rejected. This awareness is essential, not only in deterring its unnecessary use, but in underlining the negative impact that the pursuit of extreme thinness can have on women’s mental health.

Ultimately, no body type should ever be trendy or promoted. As long as women are healthy and happy, who cares? Yet the sad reality remains that women’s bodies have long been subjected to shifting expectations and scrutiny. It seems likely that these cycles will continue into the generation of our future kids, and what is ‘out’ today may well be back ‘in’ next decade.

If you’re reading this… and are struggling with body image, your weight, or what you see online, just remember:

You aren’t alone in this feeling. Take a step back, put your phone down, get some fresh air, talk to someone, and focus on what really matters.

But most importantly, recognise that under-eating isn’t harmless. It can impact your mental health, increase obsessive or compulsive behaviours, disrupt your hormones, affect your sleep, weaken your body, and damage your relationships and quality of life. These are not small consequences but  serious, lasting effects that are simply not worth chasing what ever is trending.