{"id":5359,"date":"2020-04-23T18:16:08","date_gmt":"2020-04-23T14:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/?p=5359"},"modified":"2020-11-23T10:50:17","modified_gmt":"2020-11-23T06:50:17","slug":"how-hashtags-fight-negative-body-image-on-social-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/how-hashtags-fight-negative-body-image-on-social-media\/","title":{"rendered":"How Hashtags Fight Negative Body Image\u00a0on Social Media"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Much has been said about how&nbsp;social&nbsp;media&nbsp;platforms may affect people&#8217;s body image by enforcing certain aesthetic forms&nbsp;that could possibly damage their self-esteem. Some users are now attempting to&nbsp;break down the&nbsp;stigma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Proof to that is the media feeds now crowded with hashtags advocating self-confidence such as\u00a0#effyourbeautystandards,\u00a0spanning\u00a0across\u00a04.3 million Instagram posts and counting,\u00a0and\u00a0#loveyourlines\u00a0with 39,000 posts,\u00a0just to name a few.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hala\u00a0Kazim, a social entrepreneur, author, and motivational speaker\u00a0from the United Arab Emirates,\u00a0spoke in an interview about the importance of social media:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/www.mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-content\/uploads\/HALA-KAZIM.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Freelance journalist&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/radhikasanghani\">Radhika Sanghani<\/a>,&nbsp;started a campaign on Twitter&nbsp;in 2018, with&nbsp;the hashtag&nbsp; #SideProfileSelfie to&nbsp;celebrate larger noses.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"822\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMAGE-1-1024x822.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5362\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMAGE-1-1024x822.png 1024w, https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMAGE-1-800x642.png 800w, https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMAGE-1-768x616.png 768w, https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMAGE-1.png 1176w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>Screenshot of Radhika Sanghani twitter post about her campaign<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Since then, the hashtag has gained popularity and is used on Twitter, Instagram,\u00a0and\u00a0Facebook. People take pictures of themselves showing their noses with confidence in their public accounts.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Acne, rosacea, psoriasis,\u00a0and\u00a0eczema\u00a0are some of the skin conditions showing under the\u00a0hashtag\u00a0#SkinPositivity. These seem to be there to counter the effects of picture-perfect skins, enhanced with technological tools such as photoshop.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nadin&nbsp;Al Maskari is a&nbsp;U.A.E. national who&nbsp;documents her days, \u201cusing art to embrace my life with vitiligo,\u201d according to her&nbsp;Instagram bio&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/adappledlife\/\">@adappledlife<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"744\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMAGE-2-1024x744.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5363\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMAGE-2-1024x744.png 1024w, https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMAGE-2-800x581.png 800w, https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMAGE-2-768x558.png 768w, https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMAGE-2.png 1186w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>\u00a0Image courtesy of @adappledlife Instagram page featuring her hands<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Through @adappledlife, Nadin wanted to \u201cchange people\u2019s perception of vitiligo from something negative to something positive and make something beautiful out of it.\u201d This is why&nbsp;Nadin&nbsp;takes her skin as the \u201ccanvas\u201d and using her background in art, being an interior designer,&nbsp;to&nbsp;paint&nbsp;on it.&nbsp;She also shares her personal journey and informational posts about vitiligo in general.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What&nbsp;Nadin&nbsp;has enjoyed the most through this platform is interacting with people from all around the world, inspired by her posts to embrace their own vitiligo.&nbsp;\u201cVitiligo does not define who I am,&nbsp;it&#8217;s&nbsp;part of me,\u201d&nbsp;she said. \u201cNo matter how different each person is, there is always beauty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"875\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMAGE-3-875x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5364\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMAGE-3-875x1024.png 875w, https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMAGE-3-769x900.png 769w, https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMAGE-3-768x899.png 768w, https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMAGE-3.png 1010w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 875px) 100vw, 875px\" \/><figcaption>image from @adappledlife Instagram page\u00a0<br>referring to\u00a0the <strong>1<\/strong>\u00a0percent of the\u00a0<strong>world&#8217;s<\/strong>\u00a0population that has <strong>vitiligo<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Vitiligo&nbsp;is&nbsp;a rare&nbsp;skin&nbsp;condition&nbsp;says&nbsp;Dr. Souzan Al Zoubi,&nbsp;a&nbsp;specialist&nbsp;dermatologist&nbsp;at&nbsp;Emirates&nbsp;Specialty&nbsp;Hospital in Dubai&nbsp;Healthcare City.&nbsp;\u201cPatches of lighter skin appear, ranging from a few spots to sometimes covering most of the body,\u201d&nbsp;she said in an interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The skin condition&nbsp;is not contagious nor life-threatening, but it&nbsp;can cause\u202flow self-esteem, said&nbsp;Dr. Al Zoubi. Treatment is a personal choice but&nbsp;\u201cembracing yourself is the first step to accepting any skin condition,\u201d she said.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Habiba Khalifa, a U.A.E.-based interior designer, attended a two-week online course entitled \u201cThe Science of Well-being,\u201d offered by Yale University about the misconceptions of happiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve learned that the human mind only thinks in relative terms, which is why we compare ourselves to the people around us, making social media a source of negativity,\u201d she said. But\u00a0what Habiba learned to be most interesting is that fitting into beauty standards \u201cdoes not increase our happiness and overall well-being, it actually reduces it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Edited by: Razan Mohamed <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Much has been said about how&nbsp;social&nbsp;media&nbsp;platforms may affect people&#8217;s body image by enforcing certain aesthetic&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":5364,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[48],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5359"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5359"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5359\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5366,"href":"https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5359\/revisions\/5366"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}