Toxicity of Glow Up Culture

ToxiciTy of Glow Up

ANANYA ANAND

postscript editor

Look smaller, look prettier, look mature. That’s the expectation. One day you walk home next to your older sister, and then the next day you’re expected to be her. Is that expectation reasonable, or does it indi- cate that you are not enough as you are?

Glow up culture, the idea that children have to become a better version of themselves physically, over the course of their teenage years, has become a prevalent topic recently. As of now, the expectation of having a glow up over quarantine has become more pressing than ever. However, there has not been an adequate look into the toxicity of this concept. The phrase glowing up insinuates that you are not good enough as the person you already are. It indicates that you have to conform to society’s standards of what a teenager these days must look like, act like, and be like. According to Emily Mildenhall in her article “Glow Up Culture: Just Another Consumerist Trick”, “there’s a difference between putting work into yourself to make healthier life decisions versus throwing yourself into all the new beauty trends and comparing yourself to how models look.” Her quote goes to show that caring for yourself does not equate trying out diet culture’s new detox tea. Taking walks, getting fresh air, and eating healthier are all ways to become healthier both physically and mentally without buying into the toxicity of glow up culture. The results of this toxic expectation can be seen through various aspects. Starting off with eating disorders amongst teenagers; just last year alone resulted in a 66 percent increase for eating disorder hospital admissions,

y of Glow Up cUlTUre

according to Dr. Jake Linardon. Kids of this generation are told that their appearance defines them, and that if they do not have society’s ideal body, they will be singled out immediately. In order to prevent this from happening, many young teenagers go on diets to have a so-called glow up. Not only has this caused eating disorders, but it has also cause extreme self loathing which has led to an increase in suicide rates. According to Julia Ries from Healthline, teen sucide rates have spiked 56 percent just in the last decade. This number is absurd, and the advocacy to glow-up just makes it larger. lip fillers, does not mean that we have to pick on our own body for not glowing up and gaining bigger lips. By refraining from doing that, society’s body standards will have lost one more follower.

Some people may argue that glow up is used as a phrase of encouragement instead of one that brings you down. Although this can be seen as true to some, bettering yourself does not have to regard your physical appearance. Instead, bettering yourself could mean becoming more confident through art expression. It could mean embracing your body for the way it is through yoga and meditation.

Media, diet culture, and those around us have taught us that we are not good enough the way we are. As a society, we need to reclaim the idea that our bodies are temples. We must nourish them and love them for what they are. In doing so, the concept of glowing up will slowly go out of business.

Just because we see a side by side picture of Kim Kardahsian before and after lip fillers, does not mean that we have to pick on our own body.

Similarly, as talked about by Shameeka Voyiya in her article “The Problem with Glow Up Culture”, the media has played a huge role in inflicting these harmful ideas. Over the past year, there have been numerous trends involving glowing up including ones over Twitter and Tiktok. Voyiya writes, “Glowing up usually requires the subject to be more visually appealing than before, and while this can be achieved through natural means, many celebrities get plastic surgery, receive Botox, fillers and undergo other artificial processes to obtain a desired look. We may see Instagram models glowing up, but we are not aware of the amount of money and resources they have at their disposal to go through that process.” To elaborate on this, just because we see a side by side picture of Kim Kardahsian before and after