Examining TikTok and Tumblr: The Shadow of Body Image Standards

TW: This episode contains discussions about body image, weight loss, disordered and restrictive eating, self harm and other topics that listeners may consider traumatic. 

In this week's episode, I explore how TikTok's algorithm and early platform priorities primed the app to overtly counter the body positivity movement and why some believe that Gen Z's favourite app has become as toxic as 2000s Tumblr.

Timestamps:

4:00 A brief history of body positivity content online: An illusion of inclusivity

7:10 How TikTok shattered this illusion

8:25 TikTok’s algorithmic bias feedback loop

14:00 Sienna Mae Gomez as one of TikTok’s first body positivity creators

15:45 How Tumblr glamourised self-harm, EDs, and mental illness in girls and young women

21:36 Comparing 2000s Tumblr and TikTok today

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Sources:

https://www.vox.com/22697168/body-positivity-image-millennials-gen-z-weight 

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/dec/03/tiktok-owns-up-to-censoring-some-users-videos-to-stop-bullying 

https://netzpolitik.org/2019/discrimination-tiktok-curbed-reach-for-people-with-disabilities/ 

https://theintercept.com/2020/03/16/tiktok-app-moderators-users-discrimination/ 

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-50645345 

https://staff.tumblr.com/post/18132624829/self-harm-blogs

https://www.nylon.com/beauty/tumblr-eating-disorder-content-is-on-tiktok-how-to-navigate-it

https://theconversation.com/should-pro-ana-websites-be-criminalised-in-australia-79197

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/stephaniemlee/why-eating-disorders-are-so-hard-for-instagram-and-tumblr-to

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1740144523000852?via%3Dihub 

https://www.popsugar.com/fitness/tiktok-body-checks-49350628 

https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22832827/manifesting-tiktok-astroworld-conspiracy-qanon-religion 

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/06/well/move/tiktok-legging-legs-eating-disorders.html 

https://www.dazeddigital.com/science-tech/article/55425/1/tiktok-pro-ana-eating-disorder-social-media-moderate-disordered 

https://www.thedailybeast.com/tiktok-slammed-for-doing-nothing-over-pro-anorexia-content-by-center-for-countering-digital-hate 

https://www.tiktok.com/community-guidelines/en/mental-behavioral-health#2 

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/legging-legs-trend-tiktok-social-media-experts/