Slate Debates ICYMI | Okay. Let’s Talk About "Everyone" Getting Skinny
Dec 6, 2025
Mikala Jamison, a culture writer and author of the forthcoming book The Forever Project, dives into the complexities of body image and online body culture. She discusses the recent spike in celebrity body discourse sparked by films like Wicked and explores whether the ideal of thinness ever truly went away. Mikala highlights the impact of social media on eating disorders, emphasizes the need for constructive discourse on body image, and advises against targeting individuals while advocating for autonomy in body positivity.
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Thin Ideals Never Fully Disappeared
- Body-positivity gains never fully replaced long-standing thinness ideals; the shift was partial and uneven.
- Mikala Jamison argues thinness remained visible and the recent panic is more a visibility spike than a complete cultural reversal.
Algorithms Create A Skinny Bubble
- Online bubbles make trends feel universal even when they're localized to age, geography, or subcultures.
- Jamison stresses real-life environments often show a far more diverse range of bodies than social feeds imply.
Focus On Trends, Not Individuals
- Avoid naming or shaming individual bodies when discussing cultural trends; it deepens harm and fuels body surveillance.
- Frame conversations about systemic trends and prevention rather than circulating before/after images or targeting people.
