3 body positive TikTok you need to see (especially if you’re not skinny)
If I had TikTok growing up, I would have been much happier
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While TikTok is the fastest-growing social media platform, I feel like not many people in my circle use it — apparently, it is an absolute winner among GenZ, while Millennials I spoke to feel like they’re ‘too old’ for the app. Anyways, I love how inclusive it is, and while I myself sometimes have to deal with a fatphobic reality (I recently wrote another Medium article about my latest experience in Italy), this side of TikTok makes me feel good. And I want you to feel good too. For this reason, I want to share with you my favourite body-positive TikTok trends.
1. I have a perfect body
This trend is mad using as ‘sound’ part of Folding Chair by Regina Spektor (full lyrics here), in which she says:
I’ve got a perfect body, though sometimes I forget
I’ve got a perfect body cause my eyelashes catch my sweat
Yes, they do, they do
In this trend, people show off their perfect bodies, among others, post-partum bodies and how their body looks different from ‘unflattering’ angles. I particularly like this creator’s version, who wrote:
Stop comparing your body to others… There is no comparison between a sunset and a flower!
Bottom line: all bodies are perfect!
2. Hey babe, put that dress on
This trend is made by using the original sound from a self-proclaimed fat creator, who says:
Hey babe, put that dress on… they know you’re fat, put it on. You’d be fat even with the oversized shirt, now put that dress on. Start lying off in your backyard just like me, put that dress on now. ’Cause you look damn good, and I look damn good. We’re gonna look good together.
On this note, early this year a friend of mine gave me a life-changing pearl of wisdom: you don’t need a diet, you need to get yourself a nice dress that suits you. So go and wear what you want as long as you’re happy! You don’t need to wait until you lose those kilos before rewarding yourself with a nice outfit.
3. Daily reminder
The original sound of this trend comes from a video of a man walking in a parking lot (hence the honk halfway through the video!).
This is absolutely my favourite trend, and I interpret it as a response to the numerous ‘hot girl summer’ videos. Hot girl summer is a concept that has already been included in some dictionaries, created and popularized by Megan Thee Stallion with the homonymous song and refers to
feeling confident in who you are — and having fun and looking good while doing it. It often involves women posting selfies with summery swag and style using the caption (I heard it’s) hot girl summer.
TikTok seems to have interpreted it especially in relation to (pre-holidays) diet culture and cancel culture (e.g., tell me hot girl summer is cancelled without telling me hot girl summer is cancelled). This trend is a refreshing daily reminder that there are far more important things we should focus on right now, rather than being hard on ourselves by following mainstream ideas of beauty and fun.
This is your daily reminder that hot people do not go on diets for the summer. Hot people are working on unlearning fatphobia and being anti-racist. Stop cutting on your food groups, Diane!
