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If you\u2019ve spent any time on the internet recently, it\u2019s likely you\u2019ve stumbled across some form of content related to the rise in \u201cskinny culture\u201d \u2014 the idolization of thinness that promotes disordered eating habits and views body size as a measure of beauty and self-worth. From Hollywood<\/a> red carpets filled with extremely thin celebrities to influencers posting restrictive \u201cwhat I eat in a day\u201d<\/a> videos to the direct promotion<\/a> of weight-loss drugs, there\u2019s no shortage of problematic body standard discourse on the internet.\u00a0<\/p>\n While the discussion of body size has been present in online spaces<\/a> for a while, I\u2019ve noticed as it increasingly permeates into everyday interactions and conversations. I\u2019ve talked to friends who want to buy peptides<\/a> so they can lose weight. I\u2019ve overheard self-deprecating comments about body appearance and food intake. And, gradually, I\u2019ve witnessed skinny culture distort young women\u2019s perceptions of health.\u00a0<\/p>\n This damaging rhetoric has already begun to harm<\/a> the wellbeing of young women \u2014 those most susceptible<\/a> to disordered eating habits like anorexia and bulimia. In recent years, eating disorder rates<\/a> among young women have risen, with about 12%<\/a> of adolescent girls experiencing any eating disorder and between<\/a> 19% and 30% of college-aged women experiencing anorexia or bulimia.\u00a0<\/p>\n In order to combat the mental toll skinny culture is taking on young women, it\u2019s necessary to confront the problematic roots it stems from and the ways in which it persists in modern political and social landscapes. This rise in skinny culture, while influenced by a wide variety of cultural factors, has concerning ties to the rise in far-right extremist ideology, particularly white supremacy and misogyny.\u00a0<\/p>\n