Morgan Armor | Co-Web Editor in Chief

Another day, another video of supermodels and rich, famous people preaching self-love and positive self-image. 

The body positivity movement has caused influencers to tailor their content to fit the message. These influencers preach self-love and acceptance, yet some of the most popular influencers fit the societal standard that some people in their target audience do not. Senior Sam Oliveira-Lamey says these popular body positivity-focused influencers who fit the status quo do not actually help the communities they promote to. 

“I think beauty influencers who fit the beauty standard are redundant and useless when it comes to body positivity,” said Lamey.  

Lamey goes on to say that influencers who promote body positivity but fit the traditional standard are harder to trust when it comes to their support for people of all body types.  

“Having someone who is not affected by this kind of standard is very tricky because we want influencers to appreciate all and love all body types, but you really have to prove it,” said Lamey. 

In terms of influencers who do not fit this standard but promote self-love, Lamey says that these content creators can receive less attention or support, and tend to be criticized for their lifestyles in contrast to their socially acceptable counterparts.  

“I think creators outside of the standard can get less attention; however, when they do receive attention, people say they are preaching unhealthy lifestyles or are promoting obesity,” said Lamey. 

They then say that they believe people within the standard are praised for exposing and embracing their insecurities, while those outside of the standard are either chastised or mocked. 

“People see many fit influencers promising self-love and exposing their insecurities, and they’re told they are brave for it, but when people outside that standard do the same thing, they receive hate or backhanded compliments,” said Lamey. 

Senior Salvatore Fiock has a similar view to Lamey. They say that people who actively struggle with self-love, but aren’t beautiful by societal standards, are not taken as seriously.

“I feel like those who actively struggle with body issues get a lot of negative attention when they try to speak on their struggles,” said Fiock.  

Fiock goes on to explain that seeing people who are socially acceptable preach about self love to impressionable audiences is upsets them.  

“It is upsetting because I feel like they’ll never understand the struggles of those who do not fit the standard,” said Fiock. 

Senior Lina Im has a different interpretation of the issue. She says that while it’s good that popular influencers are sending a positive message, but the truth behind it is misleading.  

“I love that they’re spreading body positivity and accepting everyone for their body types, but at the same time I know the most famous influencers that spread this message work crazy hard to get the shape they want, so sometimes it’s a bit misleading when they say ‘appreciate your body no matter the size,’” said Im.