, diet culture, and fatphobia tend to manifest on social media. Cultural beliefs around beauty, desirability, health, and value have historically found a home in expressions of identity, art, and pop culture, and social media is where those forces collide. A classic example is the blog platform Tumblr, notably popular amongst teenage girls in the early 2000s.
Now, some people are concerned TikTok has replaced Tumblr as the go-to destination for disordered eating content. A new study published inanalyzed 1,000 TikToks from 10 popular nutrition, food, and weight-related hashtags, then conducted a theme analysis of the 100 most-viewed videos.
Harder to swallow is the fact that social media is often just an outlet for the beliefs, behaviors, and body insecurities incubated in so many young people throughout their lives — before ever getting a phone, making a post, or scrolling through a"For You" page. Most of the posts studied were created by white women, either teenagers or young adults. Less than 3 percent of these posts were considered