With the push for body positivity over the last decade, you would think that we would have made some sizeable progress in deprioritizing unrealistic body standards. This movement, though, doesn’t account for how women’s bodies are put through a trend cycle. One that dictates how a woman should and shouldn’t look based on the preferred aesthetic of the time.
There certainly have been some changes in how we view women’s bodies since the early 2000s. However, there seems to be a new resurgence in people’s obsession with thinness. An obsession that is directly tied to the Y2K aesthetic.
It’s commonly thought that fashion trend cycles tend to be around 20 years. In this instance, it seems as if the certain physical aesthetic in the early 2000s has pervaded into the trend cycle this time around. “2000s skinny,” as many people have dubbed it on social media, has made a comeback.
@fa2chainz Is the BBL era over? Are early 2000s body standards in? Is skinny back? Lets talk about it #bblera #bblsurgery #early2000s #early2000sfashion #dietculture #bodypositivity #beautystandards #cosmeticsurgery ♬ original sound – @Fa2chainz
While unhealthy beauty standards are certainly an issue, there’s a bigger problem at hand when we adopt a wider view of things: the ability for a woman’s body to even become a trend. Thinness isn’t inherently the problem when looking at this issue. The obsession with women’s bodies is the problem, specifically that a woman’s body can be “trendy.”
Through the Lens of Early 2000s Media: The Era of Extreme Body Standards
What did it really mean to be “skinny” back in the early 2000s? I think many young people today don’t fully understand how restrictive the standards once were during this time. It wasn’t so much about visual aesthetics, although that was a huge component.
For many women, it was an obsession with numbers. It was an emphasis on unattainably skinny bodies and the importance of staying within the size range of 00-2. It was maintaining a staggeringly low weight by any means necessary, regardless of outside constraints. A woman could be thin, but if she didn’t fall within these specifications, the media would consider her “fat.” It was very black and white.
It’s hard to actually understand these crippling expectations without seeing just how pervasive they became. The popular media at the time shined a bright spotlight on what these experiences looked like.
Body Image in The Devil Wears Prada
A cult classic, The Devil Wears Prada, premiered in 2006 and featured a young Anne Hathaway. She portrayed an aspiring journalist and her experience working as an assistant for the world’s biggest fashion magazine editor, Miranda Priestly.
Despite Anne Hathaway’s clearly thin physique, Miranda calls her fat several times throughout the movie. In fact, she even celebrates her (unnecessary) weight loss when she goes down from a six to a four. This was supposed to be representative of her newfound success at the magazine.
“Two became the new four, and 0 became the new two.”
“Well, I’m a six.”
“Which is the new 14.”
From The Devil Wears Prada
To be fair, the movie was a critique of the fashion world, so it’s not directly enforcing these standards. However, it very much demonstrates how toxic and unrealistic beauty standards were, so much so that they bled into the media of the time.
America’s Next Top Model
America’s Next Top Model, a hit TV show running from 2003 to 2015, also clearly demonstrates these unhealthy expectations of women. The body-shaming of the contestants in the earlier seasons was scary at times.
In cycle one, for example, Tyra Banks labeled contestant Robbyne Manning “plus-size” despite her only being a size six. Janice Dickinson, an early judge on the show, preceded to call her “too fat” and “huge.” She insisted that Robbyne shouldn’t win because “the next America’s top model is not a plus-size model.”
I must've memory-holed how bad beauty standards were back in the early aughts, because Robbyne Manning was considered "plus-sized" for a model in 2003 pic.twitter.com/jZiHr7Qmei
— witch of the midwest (@Ope_sneakpastya) November 13, 2024
Unfortunately, this was and still is common within the fashion industry. Models have a different set of physical expectations than a typical woman. However, these beauty standards spread down to the fashion industry’s consumers as they often do, especially with the help of shows like this one, whose sole focus is critiquing women’s bodies.
The critiques didn’t simply come from fashion magazines and media, though. They came from the general public, as well. Women such as Brittany Spears, Kate Winslet, America Ferrera, Jessica Simpson, Nicole Richie, Khloe Kardashian, and Renée Zellweger were all criticized for their weight. Despite possessing healthy bodies, the public considered these women the “fat girls” in Hollywood.
A Resurgence in Unrealistic Thinness
Beauty trends have moved more toward a curvier body type in the last decade. This was due in large part to the Kardashians’ influence and aided by the body positivity movement. However, there seems to have been a shift in recent years that has people reverting back to these physical ideals seen in the early 2000s.
The act of critiquing women’s bodies has certainly never gone away in the media regardless of size. But, it seemed as if the general population was holding brands more accountable and celebrating the differences in women’s bodies over recent years.
Now, though, it appears that many social media users are falling victim once again to these ever-changing beauty standards and projecting them onto others online. It’s important to note, though, that there is nothing wrong with thinness itself. In fact, when curvy bodies became more idealized, the media critiqued many naturally thin celebrities for being “too flat.”
The issue is that many women cannot healthily achieve and maintain the level of thinness that society expects of them. This often leads to disordered eating and unrealistic expectations about how women should look. This body trend isn’t about being healthy but about maintaining a certain aesthetic, no matter the cost to women’s physical and mental well-being.
Ozempic: The Weight-Loss Drug Shaping Modern Beauty Standards
The popularity and discussion around Ozempic encapsulates this switch. Stars like Mindy Kaling, Kelly Clarkson, Amy Schumer, Oprah Winfrey, Kelly Osbourne, Rebel Wilson, and many others have openly admitted that they’ve used this weight-loss drug. There are probably many more celebrities who have also privately used Ozempic that we just don’t know about.
The use of the drug isn’t inherently a problem. However, its increase in popularity over the past couple of years from celebrities who are not at an unhealthy weight, demonstrates a switch in how many people view bigger bodies. It strays from the idea of body positivity and indicates a societal desire to be thinner for aesthetic purposes.
It is simply another tool used to create an unrealistic body standard for the general population, most of whom cannot afford or do not have access to this same medication. Nor should they feel they have to in order to meet the societal definition of beauty.
Rebranding Beauty: The Victoria’s Secret Dilemma
Another instance where we can see a clear switch in public perception of women’s physical beauty standards was during the 2024 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. Once a hugely successful brand, VS has fallen in popularity in recent years due to consumer pushback on their contribution to harmful beauty standards in the early 2000s and 2010s.
In fact, Victoria’s Secret had a six-year hiatus from its popular fashion show. This was due to them receiving criticism for their lack of size inclusivity and diversity in their selection of models. They at first justified their decisions by saying that they were creating a fantasy with their shows. Indirectly, they implied that diverse bodies were not welcome in this fantasy.
However, after attempting a major brand overhaul to appease consumers, people once again criticized them this past year for the exact opposite reason: they had too many plus-sized models.
Comments all over social media criticized the brand because they didn’t want to see “fat models” on the runway. Even Tyra Banks, a Victoria’s Secret angel veteran, received hate online for participating in this year’s show. All because she has a fuller figure than she did when she walked for the brand in her 20s.
Women’s Bodies as Trends
Why is this trend appearing now, on the heels of the body positivity movement? Shouldn’t we have already passed all this by 2025?
The simple but disappointing answer is that the obsession with women’s bodies never really left. While there’s been significant progress since the early 2000s, the larger issue is that a woman’s body can become a trend at all.
A person’s body was never supposed to be trendy. It’s extremely unhealthy and unnatural to expect women, regardless of their shape or size, to conform to a new beauty standard every couple of years.
Women experience a constant barrage of criticism to lose or gain weight. It’s a continuing battle that they can never win and that we can trace throughout history.
Body ideals have and will no doubt continue to change over time. We went from curvaceous hourglass figures in the 50s to slender bodies in the 60s, natural and athletic builds in the 70s and 80s, extreme thinness in the 90s and 2000s, and a return to curviness in the 2010s.
This continuous shift requires women to push their bodies beyond their own natural boundaries to meet these subjective ideas of what it means to be beautiful. It all comes down to the commodification of women’s bodies, which social media has only exacerbated in recent years.
Taking Care of Yourself in a World With a Revolving Door of Beauty Standards
So, where do we go from here? The most important thing to note is that beauty is subjective. What we see on social media is only one version of it, and a very heavily edited and unrealistic version at that. By recognizing this, we can learn from our past mistakes.
Women’s bodies change with time, age, and even throughout the month for those with menstrual cycles. This is normal. The most important thing isn’t fitting into some arbitrary societal standard—it’s being physically and mentally healthy.
Instead of chasing impossible trends, focus on what makes you feel good. Nourish your body with food that fuels you, move in ways that bring you joy, and surround yourself with voices that lift you up rather than criticize you. Health is not one-size-fits-all, and true beauty means embracing your body as it is, not forcing it into a mold that’s impossible to sustain.
Love your body for what it does for you every day. Appreciate its strength, resilience, and uniqueness. Remember this time around that you don’t need to conform to what’s “in style” right now because your worth has never been, and never will be, dictated by a trend.
