New study encourages people to be more critical of unrealistic beauty standards
The study by the University of Surrey compared effects of viewing idealised body images with those of body-positive and humorous parody content.
A new study by the University of Surrey has shown that exposure to Body-positive and humorous parody social media content can hugely boost wellbeing.
The aim of the study is to inspire people to challenge unrealistic beauty standards seen online.
The study involved 252 young women between the ages of 18 and 35 and compared the effects of viewing idealised body images with those of body-positive and humorous parody content.
The findings show a clear and positive impact of body-positive and humorous parody imagery, with exposure to images that critique unrealistic body ideals increasing women's body satisfaction.
Researchers also found a link between viewing this type of imagery and women’s engagement in online activism, including intentions to both halt the use of unrealistic body portrayals and promote more diverse representations.
Dr Fabio Fasoli, who is a senior psychology lecturer, hopes the study and seeing humorous parody content will help people be more critical of what they see online
"Even if they're funny and people just laugh when they see them, but they kind of instigate this critical thinking.
So people start thinking this idealized version is not really representing reality. So by making fun of that representation, people become a bit more critical."
Dr Fasoli spoke about the impact that constantly seeing unrealistic standards online can have on people.
"They're very, very prevalent and we know that this affects the body image and the body dissatisfaction of many, many women.
So when women see those images in Instagram, they feel a very dissatisfied with their body. They might have, they might be very concerned about their weight and this might lead later on to some eating disorder."
The research also showed how feelings of gratitude toward women who challenge beauty standards and share diverse and realistic bodies are a powerful motivator for collective action on social media, highlighting the importance of gratitude for the work that others are already doing in improving society and women’s representation in media.