Thigh gaps, bikini bridge, leggings legs; we are no stranger to toxic beauty standards, constantly pushed to adapt our bodies to whatever look is trending.
Now, there is a new unattainable standard being pushed on young women, with the latest fad, 'yacht shoulders', pushing experts to warn against the potential dangers of leaning into these trends.
Sparked by Kendall and Kylie Jenner's recent vacation to the Spanish island of Mallorca, the sisters' snaps from their yacht stay did more than just show off their travels; the focus was all on their slender shoulders.
During their trip last month, the pair triggered a new insecurity for many. Their small shoulders and protruding collar bones caused fans and followers to search for shoulder-slimming routines to meet the beauty standard Kendall and Kylie are setting.
'Yacht shoulders' have done more than push a new insecurity onto unsuspecting women; they have sparked outrage that body standards, shapes and sizes shouldn't be approached as trends, due to their impact on body dysmorphia, self-esteem issues and eating disorders.
"Like many of the trends the Kardashian family has sparked, the yacht-shoulders trend promotes unhealthy and unrealistic expectations of women's bodies," psychotherapist Cina Hoey told Newsweek.
"There is a subtle but powerful mixture of shame and desire that is sparked immediately upon viewing a photo of a flawless celebrity," Hoey continued. "Here's how it usually goes: you see the picture; you feel envy; that envy quickly turns to shame about your own body, which turns into some kind of desire to change your body.
"What happens next is usually some unbalanced approach to getting these results quickly; harsh diets or workout routines, restrictive eating, and unhealthy relationships with food and your body. Once your unbalanced attempts fail (they always do), you blame yourself instead of the celebrity preying on your insecurities."
Hoey's prediction of a sudden rush to work out has already been proven by the number of TikTok users sharing in-gym content in the name of yacht arms. The videos are receiving huge responses; TikTok user @protekphilippe has gained over 7.7 million views for her fitness video mentioning the Jenner sisters.
This trend is just the latest in a long list of celebrity-influenced insecurities, and promotes unhealthy obsession with body shape rather than prioritizing health. Hoey said: "The yacht shoulders trend is not motivating women to care for their bodies, love themselves, or cultivate a healthy relationship with food and exercise. We all must remember that these women are influencers and profit and benefit off our admiration.
"The more they tell us that we should look a certain way, or have certain things, the less satisfied we feel with our own lives," Hoey added. "The less satisfied we feel with ourselves, the more we look to them to tell us how to be 'happy', and this cycle will continue until we all wake up and spend more time appreciating who we already are rather than what we feel we need to become."
Psychologist Mona Hansen, based in London, England, told Newsweek about her insights into the impact social media can have on mental health and body image: "A large amount of research investigating the effects of social-media trends on
behavior and well-being shows social media can produce harmful effects.
"Despite the fact that reviews of the evidence show only relatively weak associations
between patterns of social-media use and aspects of well-being such as higher
loneliness or self-reported depression, a multitude of studies demonstrate a clear
association between social media use and body dissatisfaction, or closely related
constructs such as body image-related concerns (Fardouly and Vartanian,
2016; Saiphoo and Vahedi, 2019) and disordered eating (Holland & Tiggemann,
2016)."
The type of content you are viewing could be to blame, as Hansen added: "A recent experiment carried out in Germany published this year where women were
randomly assigned to different social-media exposure conditions showed a clear
causal connection.
"In women both with and without eating disorders, body dissatisfaction increased in those viewing 'fitspiration' images (images of thin, muscular women promoting health and fitness) and decreased for those viewing 'body positivity' (images of larger female bodies motivating women to love their bodies)."
Looking at the insight provided through these studies, Hansen added: "The research evidence clearly indicates the need for interventions to counter the influence of social-media body trends on both women with and without eating disorders."
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