Just when you think progress is being made in the body acceptance movement, media outlets decide to publish this absolutely harmful content... Cheers NYP!
The headline for this New York Times article is incredibly harmful - 'Bye bye booty: heroin chic is back'.
A screenshot of the tweet from the news outlet was shared virally around various social media platforms including Twitter and Instagram and was rightly so hit with backlash from many influential figures in the body acceptance/love/neutrality movement, including Jameela Jamil, Megan Jayne Crabbe, and Izzie Rodgers. It is wrong on so many levels. Firstly, the thought that our bodies are trends - no thank you. Secondly, the promotion and glorification of drug use and abuse - no thank you! And thirdly, this headline in a cost of living crisis when people can't afford to buy food - NO THANK YOU!
Whilst the article itself does in fact mention a few people's disdain for the comeback of this horrific and damaging trend that occurred in the 1990s, it's the reactive headline that is making all of the news.
Treating bodies as trends is not, and never will be okay. The promotion of believing our bodies are so malleable to society's unbelievably unrealistic standards, which also change incredibly fast, is what fuels and creates eating disorders and body dysmorphia, amongst many other illnesses and mental health issues. I can just remember the end of the 'heroin chic' era, where everyone was skeletally thin and survived off of diet coke and cigarettes. My mother would have been fully exposed to that kind of media, and I'm sure it did untold damage of how she viewed herself and her body.
This kind of imagery and language, you could argue, also promotes eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa - the deadliest eating disorder. With the promotion of incredibly thin models, who often have a whole team of people assisting them in their aesthetic - doctors, plastic surgeons, nutritionists, dietitians, personal trainers, chefs, stylists, and makeup artists, it's incredibly outdated and impossible to believe that anyone could ever live up to this impossibly unrealistic standard of 'beauty'.
Glorifying and promoting drug use to attain an aesthetic look, body or trend is not okay. Substance abuse is incredibly devastating and affects so many people. To trivialize it as a way to gain a certain aesthetic is not it. Over 4,500 people died of substance abuse in the UK in 2020, and using it, and promoting it as part of a trendy comeback is disgusting.
There's also the unnerving situation of a cost of living crisis, especially in the UK. With the promotion of this kind of headline, one can only wonder if the mass media is gearing its audiences up for a food shortage - 'but it's okay, because heroin chic is trendy now, you can be poor AND thin!'.
With many people already skipping meals and buying less food at supermarkets, it's incredibly worrying to see this casual acceptance of the promotion of eating less and skipping meals to save you money. This Which? article is very worrying, and also has some data and statistics regarding the UK consumer's buying habits in the cost of living crisis.
Basically, the New York Post got it so so SO wrong, and I hope the backlash it received has been fed back to the higher-ups and is shown as an example to other news and media outlets.
Our bodies will never be trends.
Kayleigh x