OPINION: When the F**k Did Skinny Become Cool Again?

Low-rise jeans are back, weight-loss medication is being advertised on our streets and social media has somehow convinced us we need to start worrying about body parts we didn’t even know had names. I’m not here to tell anyone what they should or shouldn’t do with their body.

I’m just wondering: when did we start going backwards?

I try to keep A Little Bit Extra as positive and upbeat as possible. This is where we escape the shitshow that is planet Earth and obsess over pop culture instead.

But there is something I really need to get off my chest.

I have officially had enough of skinny being cool again.

This morning I discovered people are even bringing back low-rise jeans.

What the actual fuck?

We already did this. They were uncomfortable then and they’re uncomfortable now. If you’re anything above a size eight, spending your day wondering whether your entire arse crack is about to make an appearance is not fashion. It’s admin.

But the low-rise jeans are really just the tip of the iceberg.

A Shift in the Way We Talk About Women’s Bodies

Something has shifted in the way we’re talking about women’s bodies again, and I don’t like it.

We’re being bombarded with messaging about weight loss, GLP-1s, cosmetic procedures, plastic surgery and a seemingly endless list of body parts we should suddenly be concerned about.

And I need to be VERY clear here: this isn’t me judging anyone who chooses any of those things.

Your body, your choice. Always.

I’ve had two kids. I’d love nothing more than for my boobs to be sitting somewhere near the position they occupied before children. If someone offered me a boob lift tomorrow with zero recovery time and perhaps threw in the money to pay for it, I’d be like, Where do I sign?

That’s not what I’m talking about.

I’m talking about the constant messaging telling us there is something else we could be fixing.

One thing that has really started bothering me is the advertising around weight-loss medication.

You can be driving home from work, tired, mentally cooked, having one of those weirdly deep conversations with yourself that happen in the car, and suddenly there’s an enormous advertisement featuring a woman standing in a bakery trying to decide what she should eat.

Cake? A doughnut? A sandwich?

Or perhaps she should consider weight-loss medication.

What the fuck?

EAT THE DAMN DOUGHNUT.

And then there’s the completely confusing world of cosmetic procedure advertising.

There are strict rules around publicly promoting certain cosmetic injectables here in New Zealand. You can’t necessarily jump online and say, “I had Botox at this place and they were amazing,” in the same way you might recommend your hairdresser.

I understand why there need to be rules around prescription medicines and medical procedures.

But at the same time, we’re watching an influx of influencers documenting overseas cosmetic surgery trips in extraordinary detail.

The before.

The procedure.

The recovery.

The after.

Again, I am not saying people shouldn’t share these experiences. They can be genuinely informative, and if getting something done makes someone feel incredible, I love that for them.

But I do think we need to have a conversation about what repeatedly seeing this content does to the rest of us.

Because apparently everyone is talking about their upper bleph now.

What the Algorithm Teaches Us to Dislike

Do you know how often I thought about my upper bleph before social media started serving me this content?

Never.

I had never looked at my bleph.

I didn’t give a shit about my bleph.

My bleph and I were living a perfectly happy life together.

Now?

I’M LOOKING AT THE FUCKING THING.

And that is what worries me.

Because how many things about ourselves are we learning to dislike simply because somebody pointed them out to us?

Would I independently wake up one morning and decide there was something wrong with my eyelids?

Or did my algorithm tell me?

I’ve also watched people I know see these transformations online, travel overseas to undergo their own procedures and have incredibly difficult experiences — including serious complications and discovering that the level of aftercare they expected wasn’t necessarily what they received.

That doesn’t mean overseas surgery is bad.

It doesn’t mean plastic surgery is bad.

And this isn’t a rant about whether someone should take a GLP-1, have Botox, get their boobs done or book an upper bleph.

I don’t care what you do with your body. I care about why you suddenly feel like you need to do it.

Reclaiming Normal Bodies

Because we’re living through this weird moment where skinny seems to be aspirational again, weight loss is everywhere, our faces are being divided into increasingly specific areas requiring “treatment”, and every scroll seems capable of introducing another insecurity we didn’t have yesterday.

Can’t we make it cool to have a baggy upper bleph?

Can’t we make it cool to have a stomach that folds when you sit down?

Can’t we let boobs hang a little lower after feeding babies?

Can’t we wear jeans that comfortably contain our entire arse?

And can’t we exist without constantly being encouraged to become the before photo for something?

I don’t want anyone listening to this to think I’m saying you shouldn’t change something about yourself.

Get the Botox.

Don’t get the Botox.

Take the GLP-1 if it’s right for you.

Don’t take it.

Get your boobs lifted.

Let them hang to your knees.

Get the bleph.

Keep the baggy bleph.

It’s your fucking body.

I just want to make sure the decision is actually yours — and not something your algorithm decided for you.

So this is your reminder to curate your feed.

If following someone regularly makes you feel shit about yourself, unfollow them.

If you can’t unfollow them, mute them.

If every time you watch someone’s content you walk away wondering whether your face is too old, your body is too big or there’s some new procedure you should be considering, maybe you don’t need that content taking up space in your brain.

Because social media is supposed to be fun.

Pop culture is supposed to be fun.

And just because you’re seeing something every single day does not mean you need it.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to change something about yourself.

But there is also nothing wrong with deciding that actually, you’re quite happy as you are.

So please, do whatever the hell makes you happy.

And for the love of God, can we leave the low-rise jeans in the early 2000s where they fucking belong?

Check out this episode of A Little Bit Extra, where I chat with dietitian and author Abbey Sharp about the dangers of "Skinny Tok" and why glorifying medical intervention for a quick fix is problematic for young people.