ISSUES
: Body Confidence
Chapter 1: Body Image
19
The A4 challenge is the ‘horrifying’
social media trend putting body image
pressure on women
‘We should be celebrating diversity.’
By Rachel Moss
A
nother day, another ridiculous
social
media
campaign
putting undue body image
pressure on women.
The ‘A4 Challenge’ encourages
women to see if their waists are
smaller than an A4 sheet of paper.
‘Successful’ women then post a
selfie with the paper onto social
media, along with the hashtag
#A4waist.
Needless to say the concept is
laughable. The end image is entirely
dependent on perspective and how
far away you’re holding the sheet of
paper from your body.
The trend is reported to have started
on Chinese social media site Weibo
but unfortunately, it’s now gaining
global attention elsewhere.
Rivkie Baum, editor of plus size
magazine
SLiNK
, thinks the trend is
“horrifying”.
“We already know that young girls
spend far too much time on social
media and that the influence of
social media on their self-esteem is
huge,” she tells The Huffington Post
UK.
“The A4 challenge does nothing
to promote health and fitness but
instead encourages young girls
to evaluate themselves by their
measurements and appearance.
“Being the size of an A4 piece of
paper is not an accurate way to
depict or assess health and perhaps
it is time for social media to crack
down on these types of irreverent
campaigns that harm the young
women that are so hooked on them.”
Rebecca
Field,
head
of
communications at eating disorders
charity Beat, agrees the trend could
have a negative impact on vulnerable
women.
“While social media cannot be the
sole cause of an eating disorder,
body image and low self-esteem
are key factors in the development
of eating disorders, and social and
cultural pressures are strong in this
area,” she says.
“We should be celebrating diversity
– women come in all shapes and
sizes – not made to feel we don’t
‘shape up’ by promoting such
images. This is another example of
how social media can encourage
unhealthy messages.”
Unfortunately this isn’t the first time
a body-shaming craze has emerged
from China.
Last year the ‘Belly Button
Challenge’ encouraged women to
reach behind their own back and
round their waist in an
attempt to touch their
belly button.
Then
weeks
later
the
‘Collarbone
Challenge‘ encouraged
participants to balance
coins in their clavicle to
test how ‘skinny’ they
are.
Commenting on the
latter movement, body
image blogger Leyah
Shanks told HuffPost
UK: “I think this trend
is very harmful. It’s
accentuating the idea
that thinner is better and
subsequently pushing
down every other body
type.
“Being able to do this is
not what we should be
basing our beauty and
self-worth on.
“I’m not sure why
these
odd
trends
keep appearing. I wish that the
power of social media would
be used to spread body love
instead of encouraging dangerous
comparisons.”
Ö
The above information is
reprinted with kind permission
from The Huffington Post
UK.
Please
visit
www.
huffingtonpost.co.uk for further
information.
© 2016 AOL (UK) Limited
