Body Type brings you deep dives into how people think, talk, and act about bodies. I write about things like: why the culture around modern Pilates is iffy for women, what makes people mad about influencers losing weight, and why millennials are uniquely weird about their bodies. Check out my most popular posts.
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Body Type’s first-ever video post! Kick back and watch the 45 minutes or beam us like a podcast into your ears 🎧
I spoke with E.J. Dickson, senior writer at The Cut covering culture, about her recent article, “The Influencer Inspiring Girls to Eat as Little As Possible.”
That would be Liv Schmidt, one of the leading creators in the #SkinnyTok space. E.J. joined Schmidt’s “Skinni Société,” a subscription-only Instagram group that was earning her $130,000 a month, and found girls talking about eating less than 1,000 calories a day, using mouth tape to avoid snacking at night, and using prunes as laxatives when feeling “heavy.” E.J. wrote:
The members didn’t treat it as a weight-loss “accountability” group, as Schmidt refers to it, but as an opportunity to one-up each other. They congratulated one another for making it through social events without eating too much or berated themselves for having a few bites of cupcake.
On May 23, E.J. posted to X that “since we published our piece on Liv Schmidt and the Skinni Societe, Meta has demonitized her account and Schmidt is no longer able to sell subscriptions. Meta also said her main account is now restricted to users 18+.”
I recently wrote about #SkinnyTok and what, if anything, I think could counteract its harms. That’s one of the things E.J. and I discussed — if the Liv Schmidts of the world get kicked off some platforms, will they just pop up in others that are harder to regulate? What then?
Watch the full video to hear us talk about that, and:
Why the “tell it like it is” tone of #SkinnyTok makes sense in Trump’s America
Why #SkinnyTok represents a wider cultural backlash to and frustration with the self-acceptance and wellness movements
Why this situation is so sad, because so many girls said the “Skinni Société” community helped them (yes, really)
How there’s a vacuum in people speaking honestly to women about their bodies that Liv is filling so effectively
Follow E.J. on IG, Bluesky, X, and at The Cut, and leave us a comment about what you think! If you liked this video (and: do you want more from me?), please share it:
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