Torisha Khonach and Anna Kurz, (both Sociology) recently published an article titled "Challenges of #bodypositivity: social media and hashtag activism" in the journal Fat Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Body Weight and Society. Utilizing 200 posts from Instagram and 200 videos from TikTok, they examine the ways social media frames body positivity and is an important vector for sending messages regarding ideal bodies. They find that body positivity discourse on social media is fragmented. While messages of “self-love” abound, those who are afforded self-love are those who still maintain somewhat hegemonic body standards. Additionally, they find that body positivity is also often linked to bodily changes rooted in weight loss and healthism, appropriating the original meaning of #bodypositivity particularly through the use of hashtags to influence social media algorithms.
