Two hundred young New Zealand women name online body ideals that contradict each other

Fifty-seven percent of 200 women is about 114 of them; 17% is about 34 ^[17][18]. Both figures are self-reported, and the phys.org article does not say how the women were recruited, what ages they covered, or what measure classified eating as disordered ^[20].

The women named the ideals themselves: lean and toned, thin, curvy, fashionable, fat-free, muscular, and "thick" with shapely buttocks and thighs ^[2]. Participants recognised how hard those were to reconcile, and the researchers put the problem as a question about achieving thin and curvy at the same time ^[4]. The same tension shows up in the framing of the content. Fitspiration is presented in terms of empowerment, body positivity and self-love while asking for strict control over diet, exercise and other parts of daily life ^[14].

One participant, quoted by the researchers, said that only 20 years ago the ideal was to be thin with small breasts and butts, and that the standards have since changed so that a thin abdomen with larger breasts and butts is the ideal while most types of muscle definition are unattractive. Many people, she said, feel pressured to follow these ideals in order to feel loved and accepted ^[9].

The published account is of a single surveyed group with no comparison condition in which one ideal was presented on its own ^[21], so nothing here measures whether incompatible ideals do more harm than a single thin ideal would. The women reported the pressure and the behaviour in the same instrument ^[23]. The order of cause and effect stays open.

The other strand comes from focus groups with 15 young women in the North Island about the "glow up", a trend that spread during the COVID-19 pandemic ^[6]. Fifteen participants can describe an experience and cannot estimate how common it is ^[27]. The researchers call the pattern the "glow up imperative", and report that many felt disappointed when they could not match the transformations influencers showed ^[8].

The policy part is argument. The authors write that the advice often comes from people with questionable credibility on major platforms that lack safeguards against unsupported health advice ^[11], and that leaving young women to unfollow accounts and take breaks puts the responsibility on the people being exposed ^[13]. A rule written against unsupported health advice would reach the protein powder and diet claims the authors describe influencers making ^[24]. The ideals themselves would stay in place; "thick" is not a claim a moderator can mark false ^[25]. Participants described social media as "inescapable" and present "24/7", with some unable to switch off even when they wanted to ^[10].