Why The Return of the “H*roin chic” is Toxic
“H*roin chic” is a beauty standard that emerged in the 90s and followed up through the 2000s, defining the “very skinny” look as ideal. After it affected the mentality and mental health of so many people, a new body standard emerged: “the curvy hourglass” body. This was still the standard at the beginning of 2022, but it’s very rapidly going back to the so-called “H*roin chic.”
Why was it toxic at first?
“H*roin chic” became a trend, and then the defined ideal body type was inspired by the look of substance addicts. The initial photoshoots used to take place in dirty places, with models with smeared make-up and tired eyes. Instead of raising awareness and offering help to the constantly struggling addicts, this trend promoted and even glamourized their look as being fashionable and must-have. This slowly transitioned into the 2000s skinny ideal body, and suddenly all celebrities struggled to get as thin as possible to fit a sometimes unrealistic standard. This mentality got so engraved in society, and for a lot of people who wished to be appreciated, it meant developing an eating disorder or multiple. This was when pro-anorexia forums appeared, encouraging people, especially girls, who were not naturally thin, to lose weight by taking on extreme challenges. This kind of lifestyle change included very restrictive diets, excessive exercise, and negative self-image. Affecting both the physical and mental health of many, this trend was heavily promoted by the media and discouraged anyone who didn’t fit into the exact standard.
How is this transition toxic nowadays?
Up until the start of 2022, everyone has at least once been encouraged to “put on some weight” to fit into the new fashion standard. But most of these people also went through the 2000s degradation of their self-image: some of them eventually recovered from their eating disorders, only to be told that they needed to change again. Besides the obvious comments, society and social media demand this change in almost subtle ways: promoting the hourglass body visually as often as they get the chance and criticizing naturally thin women. Plastic surgery became dangerously popular as the industry kept pushing forward models and influencers with body ratios almost impossible to achieve naturally. Honestly, for someone that experienced both sides of the “trend,” it’s almost no surprise to see the reemergence of the first. A lot of celebrities and influencers are already promoting unhealthy diets, slimming food and beverages, and overall unsafe practices when it comes to dropping off some pounds. Just when more and more people were getting comfortable in society thanks to the normalization of all body types, the fashion industry, together with social media, is now imposing a new trend. Personally, it seems almost impossible to dodge all the negative effects that arise from these sudden and impersonal standards that keep coming at us. The fashion industry should be about the fashion itself, not about creating insecurities in women that they can profit from later on.
The media’s role
From telling us that “all bodies are beautiful,” magazines have started announcing matter-of-factly that “H*roin chic is back.” And now that social media is more influential than ever, it seems like no matter what a woman does, she will still reach a point in which she will be told that she needs to feel insecure about her body and do whatever it takes to change it. The concept of imposing on women how they should look is maybe even worse than the look itself: it leads to body dysmorphia, body shaming, and a lot of discrimination in all fields. No matter how you look and how hard you have worked for it, there comes a day when you are told that you need to improve in order to become more likable. We face another challenging time when it comes to feeling good about who we are because social media never stops “teaching” us.
Final thoughts
I believe that it is our responsibility to inform the younger generations about these issues because we have seen the toxic effects they have had in the past. Maybe not on ourselves, but most of us know someone who silently struggled with their body image at some point, and remaining impartial to the trends is the first step in accepting your body. Raising awareness and selecting what and who we follow are our only options to fight back the waves of trends coming at us: getting informed and informing others will potentially save us years of toxic struggle. We should be encouraged to appreciate ourselves as we are, not to constantly chase an ideal imposed by somebody else. History does not have to repeat itself when it comes to women’s bodies.
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