Over the break, my family and I decided to sit down and watch a movie on cable television back in the United States. During the ad breaks, I noticed a peculiar thing: every single ad was for a weight loss drug, makeup brand, or fitness program. There were no more film trailers, cereal jingles, or even ads for visiting Texas anymore. I began to reflect and realize the world around me after this event. Young women in society are being fed constantly to lose weight and how thin is back “in” again. The rumors are true: we are now back in the 1990s and 2000s, where heroin chic is the beauty standard.
Diet culture is truly everywhere: on social media, television, billboards, grocery stores, and even my beloved Pinterest and Substack. I recently searched up “smart girl aesthetic” on Pinterest (manifesting a locked-in 2026!) and every single woman shown to me had something in common: they were all extremely thin. I didn’t realize you have to be a size two to be smart. When I look at photos on Instagram with my favourite celebrities, they all look like they’ve enjoyed bouts of Ozempic-even when they have claimed that they are now “healthier”. Celebrity figures such as Ariana Grande, Lizzo, Rebel Wilson, and Barbie Ferreira have been in the press lately due to their body size and weight loss, with dozens of comments praising them for how they look.
So how is it possible that culture has reverted so back from only a few years ago when most people were making their best effort to encourage more body positivity? I’m guessing there are two options to this: capitalism and the rise of conservatism.
Capitalism is a pretty obvious answer to why there has been a resurgence to diet culture, particularly with women. Generally speaking, it costs thousands a year to be a woman. If you add up hair, nails, waxing, makeup, workout classes, styling and healthy diets, it is quite literally thousands and thousands of dollars. From a young age, we have been told if you look beautiful, then you will succeed in life, as it shows wealth, status, and discipline. What is so devastating about this is how much companies throughout the world profit off of women trying to be flawless. If you fix one thing “wrong” with your body, then a company or brand will tell you that there is something else to fix. Influencers on Instagram and Tiktok will be paid by these brands to promote unrealistic beauty standards, and young girls would pay hundreds in order to look like them (even if it’s edited or fake). Diet culture resurgence has clearly been funded by private companies and brands that want money from people who do not know any better. Unfortunately, this causes unhealthy eating habits and a negative body image. If we are able to consciously scroll on social media and consume the right products and advertisements, then we are able to beat the toxicity of diet culture. It should not cost thousands of dollars a year to be a “beautiful” woman.
Remember when we all watched Euphoria, where Cassie took several hours to get ready in order for Nate? All I can think about is how this scene foreshadowed the rise of conservatism (and thus, the rise of diet culture). As we have all seen, numerous countries throughout the world, especially America, have become more right leaning. With this change, values in society have become incredibly warped. If you look at “conservative” or “trad wife” influencers such as Nara Smith or the Ballerina Farm woman, Hannah Neeleman, they promote the ideas of conservatism. Women in right-wing environments are taught to shrink mentally and physically – they are usually inferior to their male partner and also look very small and dainty. Women are not allowed to take up space, metaphorically and spiritually. Nara Smith herself never eats anything processed or “unhealthy”, promoting the idea that holistic foods are more valued, or important to conservative values. There is nothing wrong with being a stay at home mom, but when young girls look at images of these people they may be fed the wrong ideas of being a woman. It was not too long ago where women could not vote, so the idea of women promoting unhealthy living and eating habits is extremely jarring to me.
Throughout the past couple of years, I have heard every woman in my life discuss ozempic, plastic work, dieting, working out, and their weight. What saddens me the most is hearing it from girls younger than me, who are going through puberty and rapid body changes. It is heartbreaking to think that the ideas I was fed as a young child are now fed to young children again. It concerns me that so many people value their physical body image over their wellness, relationships, and careers. I know many people, myself included, who have been ruined from diet culture and became unhealthy because of it. Diet culture is a trend that needs to be put to rest as soon as possible. If we monitor our social media consumption as well as protect young children from diet culture, there may be a future where all bodies are celebrated and we would not have to punish ourselves for how we look naturally.
