OUR BODIES ARE NOT TRENDS

LAURA ROWE OPINION EDITOR (SHE/HER)

THE RETURN OF ‘heroin chic’ signifies a return to eating disorders and oppression.

This article will discuss eating disorders and addiction- please read with discretion.

Heroin chic was popularised in the 1990s, characterised by pale skin, dark under eyes and emancipated features. The style encouraged substance abuse to achieve a skeletal body.

Unsurprisingly, many of the models struggled with addiction and eating disorders due to the pressured enforced upon them. And the perpetuation of their images to the general public led to an increase in bulimia and anorexia among the public as well.

The style served to control women. The pressure to lose weight through any means possible led to extreme methods like substance abuse. Women were exhausted and took up less physical space meaning that men were allocated yet more political and social space. This style is now being brought back. The New York Post featured a celebratory tweet welcoming heroin chic back completely ignoring the havoc it wreaked last time. This is absolutely terrifying. Actor Jameela Jamil has spoken out fashion against the body positivity movement, serving to silence feminist movements. The introduction of heroin chic seems timely: following the recent horrors of Roe v. Wade and the terrifying events occurring in Iran the trend seems to be removing yet more power from women. about it, stating that “They’re not even interested in you looking like a naturally skinny or athletic person. They want you to look like you have dark circles under your eyes, like you’re dying.” It seems to be a backlash from those that control

The female body has been treated as a fashion trend for hundreds of years: from the desired androgynous look in the 1920s, to the Brazilian butt lift trends of the 2010s. The female body has been cycled through every possible look. Enough is enough.

With every ‘new’ look, women are expected to change their bodies to how it has been decided they should look each season. The constant changing of expectations means that even within one’s own body there is no stability, no safety. Your body might be socially perfect one day and then the opposite of beauty the next. To try to remain socially acceptable is a never-end- ing cycle of torture.

Beauty is very much created by society – there is no one standard of beauty. ‘Beauty’ can change at the will of advertising meaning there is no pre-conceived idea of what is beautiful. We can look for the positives in the cycle of body trends. We can see it as a signifier that your body is beautiful just how it is, because I can guarantee that at some point it will have been the pinnacle of beauty. Let’s stop letting a few rich people decide what beauty is.

Bottom Line: Let’s get off the hamster wheel of

A THIRTY MINUTE commmute to unigreat. That same walk twice a day, everyday, when its raining, dark and gloomy is miserable. Being on Campus East for my First year meant I was a 20 minute walk away with the choice of the 66 bus. In second year, this is not an option. How would I have the time and energy to do my course in the day and then go to a society in the evening? Dedicating so much time to travelling was concern enough, but the thought of walking in the dark was terrifying. All of this was something I had never considered last year, and it forms part of a massive readjustment. Now, however, I look forward to my walks to campus; it’s a great way to get my head in the right zone, take some time to myself and get some fresh air. I’m shocked to say that the distance has allowed me to learn to love walking.

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BY LAURA ROWE