Problematic social media filters are nothing new. From ones promising clear skin to lip enhancement to body shrinking, over the years, we've been subjected to many different options – all intent on making us look like 'better' versions of ourselves. And moving us another step away from remembering that bodies aren't all meant to look a) the same or b) perfectly 'polished'.
These (whether intentional or not) body shaming techniques have not gone unnoticed, and there have been plenty of campaigns warning us of the dangers of these types of filters. Most notably, the #FilterDrop campaign, which was started by Sasha Pallari in 2020 in an attempt to raise awareness about the use of filters in social media advertising; dubbing filtered beauty content as "misleading," the idea was also to promote natural beauty. As in, encouraging everyone to love themselves the way they are. After all, the world would be boring if we all looked the same.
So why - after all so much necessary work that has been done in the body positivity space - has TikTok now released a new 'chubby' filter? In all honesty, it feels regressive, disappointing, and a major step back. Not to mention incredibly harmful.
To unpack, the filter aims to show users what they would look like if they gained weight. Yep, seriously. And since making its way onto the platform, people have been using it for a multitude of reasons, from simply trying it 'for a laugh', fishing for compliments about their real-life, smaller body, or as an unhealthy tool to ensure they maintain their current weight. Whatever the reason, none of them feel especially healthy.
In the days since its release, it's no surprise that TikTokers have been kicking up a fuss about it, with many warning that it could hard launch a new wave of toxic diet culture and potentially contribute to eating disorders. They've also labelled it as a form of body shaming. Oh, and it's all playing out against a dangerous backdrop of drugs with weight loss and appetite suppressing as side effects growing in popularity.
One TikToker, called Sadie, who has 66,000 followers told the BBC: "I just don't feel like people should be ridiculed for their body just for opening an app."
Everyone's clicking on...
Unfortunately, the figures back this up. In 2023, the UK Government released a report looking at the impact of body image on mental and physical health. The survey found that "80% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed" that their body image harmed their mental health. It also found that 61% agreed or strongly agreed that their body image negatively impacted their physical health.
Similarly, in 2019, the Mental Health Foundation reported that 31% of teenagers and 35% of adults felt "ashamed or depressed because of their body image." And it doesn't stop there, UK Parliament research from 2020 revealed that a significant percentage of women experience negative body image, with "62% feeling negatively about their body image most of the time."
The bottom line? If filters like these keep making their way onto the screens of vulnerable people, the stats are only going to get worse.
Five years ago, I interviewed four women who were proudly reclaiming the word 'fat.' Describing it as a "word that has been used to put plus-size bodies down for so long," these women were passionate about how much power there is in being able to reclaim it. "It's a massive middle finger to decades of discrimination and just proves that 'fat' is simply a word for size, and doesn't measure anything else other than that," they said at the time.
Sadly, almost half a decade on, with filters like this popping up, it seems like the fight against body shaming is still on – and that the body positivity movement still has such a long way to go.
Cosmopolitan UK has reached out to TikTok for comment.
Sophie Williams is a Freelance Journalist and Copywriter, covering everything from Fashion to Entertainment to music, Lifestyle and Features. She has interviewed a range of musical artists and authors including Alyssa Edwards, Courtney Barnett, Confidence Man, The Vaccines, Loyle Carner, Gabrielle, and John Niven, and has written for publications like Metro, Reader's Digest, ITV's Woo! and Vice’s NBGA. She is also working on a book for HarperCollins about Taylor Swift, due to be published in 2024.
