TikToxic: Why TikTok is Just Another Tear-Down Platform When it Comes to Female Body Image

Claudia Warren

TikTok has been a lifesaver for so many of us during quarantine. We love seeing silly people doing silly dances and skits as we scroll for hours and the algorithm feeds us new content. Yet, something more sinister lurks below. TikTok has fostered an environment where body-shaming is scarily common, and its young users often fall victim to the unhealthy solutions being put forward.

On April 21, 19-year-old TikTok Star Addison Rae opened up on Twitter about the constant body shaming she experienced online.

‘It definitely hurts to see people on my fyp [For You Page] calling me “a whale” and saying “she’s fat now.”’

15-year-old Charli D’Amelio made a similar post about her experience soon after, asking for the criticism of her body to subside. 

“STOP TALKING ABOUT MY BODY! It’s not your place to tell me if I’m losing weight or gaining weight.”

The two girls, who have a combined following of 93.8 million users on the video-sharing app, have started a long-overdue conversation about how body-shaming has been allowed to flourish on TikTok. Charli D’Amelio and Addison Rae’s experiences highlight the entitlement of many TikTok users: you posted it, so I can say what I want. But their experiences also hint at a much larger, ever-present problem online. 

Girls in bikinis are praised as quickly as they are criticised for any flaws viewers deem ugly, inappropriate or misaligned with contemporary stereotypical standards of beauty. Quick workouts that guarantee abs in a month are promoted, as users encourage each other to lose weight. Girls are encouraged to follow restrictive diets, such as replacing meals with apple cider vinegar, and post their results to highlight the potential weight loss that has made their bodies “better.” Intermittent fasting is heralded as life-changing. Exercise routines that target biologically natural parts of women's bodies are excessively produced and consumed. Despite warnings from health professionals, hundreds of thousands of users follow the advice presented on TikTok.    

It has been reported that 41% of TikTok users are aged between 16 and 24, highlighting the impressionable young audience which regularly accesses the toxic environment. 

All too often, young girls utilise the platform to share content that showcases their bodies, preparing for the onslaught of feedback, criticism and objectification from their audience and the wider TikTok community. 

Little research has been done about the specific effects of Tiktok. However, when considering the commonly detrimental role other social media sites play in forming and maintaining our body image, the outcomes seem grim. TikTok could arguably end up being equally as or more toxic than Instagram, which has dealt with its own controversies including the rise of trends such as #thinspo, and an increase in digitally altering images to conform to idealised images of beauty. 

It’s clear that something needs to change. Unattainable beauty and body standards have long existed in our culture. Social networking sites like TikTok merely provide a platform for these toxic elements of our daily lives to develop and be prolifically shared.

Social media has provided us with a platform to share our thoughts and opinions without having to face the consequence or the individuals we criticise. It’s a dangerous environment which fails to create accountability, or at the very least a sense of accountability, for users.

The constant promotion of unhealthy eating habits and the consistent scrutiny experienced by young female TikTok users highlights the toxic environment that has been created on the platform. While the #bodypositive trend on TikTok has garnered over 289 million views, the platform has a long way to go before its community moves beyond the culture of criticism and viewer entitlement we’ve seen run rampant on other social media platforms.

Social media platforms like TikTok don't just need to take ownership of how their users are conversing about female body image and how they are expecting women and girls to adhere to unhealthy and unattainable standards of beauty. These platforms and society more broadly need to understand that this online culture is merely a reflection and translation of a deeply-ingrained archaic and flawed real-world culture, and make practical moves towards changing it and implementing positive long-lasting changes, however small these moves might be at first.