The first picture is of a 19-year-old bodybuilder that has recorded a body fat percentage of 4%. He recently came out and confessed how he had been subject to body dysmorphia and how an extremely low body fat level has affected his energy and hormone levels negatively.
The other is is of a 21-year-old Kiril Tereshen who has injected his arms with a concoction of Alcohol olive oil lidocaine. He had them removed due to the implants being septic.
So why are people doing this? A simple answer is unrealistic expectations set by social media platforms. Instagram is full of people posting pictures of their "perfect" physique which the viewers believe is what they should look like. What people don't realise is that the media shows only a selected perspective. Viewers don't realise that those are professionals that do that full time and that is why they can look that certain way
James Smith is an influencer I follow that supports a very healthy lifestyle, and how it can be sustainable. The irony is he himself faces bullying and people calling him "fat" even though he is 15% body fat which is above average and allows him to be a professional Jiu-jitsu athlete.
I believe this recent fitness wave on social media is taking fitness to an extreme where it's becoming unhealthy for viewers and followers. The examples I've given are a result of this and serve as a perfect example of how much weightage these media platforms hold in people's lives. Content creators have a responsibility to use it wisely instead of jumping on bandwagons to make profits.
I think apart from social media, its the movies as well that promote body image issues for both men and women. Kareena Kapoor Khan was once famously known for being a size 0, male actors nowadays who play mainstream hero characters are super buffed and for some reason hairless. T
o think once the beauty and fitness standards were much different than what they are now, yet still problematic, I think what our society loves doing is fitting people into boxes. We love stereotyping, we use it as a means of maintaining social and symbolic order as the author mentions in the reading "Heroes and Villains". Hence, when people absorb and are confined to these stereotypes they put themselves under…
This blog is one which every person should read as it highlights one of the most important issues in our society. Body dysmorphia is present in a large number of people's brains in this day and age and I personally believe that we as a society are to blame for this. We constantly point out flaws in one another which makes the other person feel unhappy and uncomfortable with their own body. This reminds of a video I saw recently that talked about moments when bodybuilders took it too far. It highlighted how sometimes they workout too much, took too many steroids or other drugs which led to their sickness and at times even death. This is one issue which…
You have highlighted one of the major issue in teen age people.I my oppinion main stream media presenting main heros with huge pecs and big puff bodies are promoting this culture of attaining perfect bodies.Mostly boys are bullied for having skinny body or for not having perfect muscles that pressure often lead them to consume steriods or drugs.
Remember how virat kholi was being trolled for not having six pack.
I think sport events should n't allow use of steroids not even under the supervision of doctor that is ultimately promoting pressure on young athletes to gain a competitive in banned substances .
Many cricketers including Muhammad Asif, Ahmed Shehzad, Shoaib Akhtar, Abdul Rehman, Reza Hasan and Yasir Shah have…
Hey, thanks for sharing.
I would agree with you on how social media has a great influence on our lives and how it shapes our outlook on the world and ourselves. The power that media has is great and I will not deny how there are so many things that I have tried doing after watching a post, video, or vlog on social media. For example, making my hair smoother by making these DIY masks at home (most did not work). It might not be exactly as harsh or self-destructive as the example you have mentioned, but I am putting this out here to show how powerful the media is.
However, there is somebody positive content that I have recently…
I feel like we blindly follow social media and only do whatever we are shown. We don't see the backstage picture. We are only shown the mesmerizing images or videos, but we aren't told the harsh reality behind them. As iman mentioned Victoria secret . I was reading one day how, before the fashion shows, the models have to go on a strict diet at least a month before. They can't eat. They cant drink aside from 1 or two products. So, in this race of perfection and following the celebrities, we are losing a lot and undermining our health. We are also under the constant pressure of dissatisfaction as we are never satisfied with what we are, and this…