Disturbing side to wellness influencers’ perfect shots

YOUNG women are following their wholesome, green juice slurping, picture perfect lives in droves. But are these social media stars fuelling an unhealthy trend, asks Mandy Squires.

THEIR blogs look wholesome: Tanned, toned, green-juice slurping, raw food-eating young women in designer active wear, walking, running or striking yoga poses on the beach, in a paddock or park.

They are the health, fitness, fashion and wellness “influencers” passionately followed and worshipped like gods by my teenage daughters, and many of their friends.

But at what cost comes the defined collar bones, leg gap and bootylicious bums?

Young women are going to extreme lengths so they can look a little more like the beautiful bloggers they adore, in the hope that they will look “perfect” in expensive active wear that bloggers flog — and ordinary girls covet.

The picture-perfect posts are having a huge, and potentially damaging, impact on the young women and teens that follow them.

Several separate studies in recent years, conducted by university researchers both in Australia and the US, have pointed to social media accounts touting “fitspo”, or images of perfectly toned bodies, having a negative impact on how women view their own bodies.

And now Australian plastic and cosmetic surgeons are reporting some young women are undergoing radical surgery to improve their appearance, with a view to looking good in active wear.

Statistics also point to an alarming rise in the prevalence of eating disorders.

Some “influencers” overtly reference their plastic surgery, posting perky updates about their procedures in between perfectly posed shots.

Australian beauty blogger Brittney Lee Saunders breathlessly told her social media following of almost two million (across YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, with an undisclosed amount of Snapchat followers) about her breast augmentation last year; explaining why, at 25, she decided to be “honest” about getting “work done”.

The posts were mixed in with her more usual fare of fashion, activewear and bikini poses, all appealing to young women.

Wellness and fitness bloggers such as Sarah Stevenson, who blogs under Sarah’s Day, have also made the move to sell activewear.

I don’t (or even aspire to) own a pair of $80 Sarah’s Day “vinyasa flow” olive green, Moroccan print leggings, but they sold out in a heartbeat when they recently went on sale.

Nor do I appreciate the apparently extraordinary benefits of overpriced (but prettily-packaged) protein balls that many spruik online.

So I wouldn’t dare utter a cynical word about any of these popular bloggers in front of their young disciples, knowing full well they will be passionately defended by their “squad” or “community”, with a fervour usually reserved for their best friends and sisters when they have been terribly wronged.

How lifestyle bloggers manage to build this depth of affection and loyalty among so many young women they have never actually met in the flesh has to be admired.

Whatever their secrets, they have their disciples well and truly convinced: Life’s better when you have a flat stomach, a bit of booty, look good in lycra and have ready access to avo, coconut oil, cashews and kale.

Sarah Stevenson, an Instagram influencer who blogs under Sarah’s Day, has turned her hand to selling activewear. Picture: Instagram

How could it be otherwise when it’s so obviously so on Instagram and YouTube?

Past president of the Australasian Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery Tim Papadopoulos told RendezView increasing numbers of young women were asking for labiaplasty because they wanted to streamline their body shape so they looked good and felt comfortable while exercising in tight Lycra.

“I think it’s fair to say I’ve seen more interest in it lately, there is definitely a demand for it,” Mr Papadopoulos said. “They want it for a host of reasons but one of the main ones being they don’t like the camel feet look and irritation when exercising.”

I would suggest the social media trend of young women photographing themselves, front on, in a full-length mirror, to show off their new, designer active wear (typically with legs apart or stepping) plays strongly into that interest.

Demand for dangerous Brazilian butt lift surgery has also increased exponentially across the country over the last two years.

And national youth mental health organisation headspace tells us that among Australian females aged 15-24 years, bulimia and anorexia nervosa are the eighth and tenth leading causes of burden of disease and injury respectively, and that in young Australian females aged 12-24 years, eating disorders account for 14 per cent of hospital admissions for a behavioural or mental disorder, second only to depression.

Clearly those shocking statistics can’t be tied just to the rise of lifestyle bloggers and their promotion of restricted food-group diets, active wear and toned torsos. But plastic surgery to achieve a better silhouette in Lycra leggings probably can, and it doesn’t paint a healthy picture to me.

Mandy Squires is a Senior Investigations Writer for News Corp.

If you, or anyone you know is experiencing an eating disorder or body image concerns, you can call the Butterfly Foundation National Helpline on 1800 33 4673 (ED HOPE) or email [e-mail]