who cares what she ate?
We've seen the media's role in promoting unhealthy body images through blogs, TV, magazines... but what about social media? A new account on Instagram has been created to poke fun at the eating habits of thin girls by saying simply, "you didn't eat that". The account is called just that and reposts pictures of thin girls with unhealthy foods in an attempt to call them out on not eating with the hashtag #youdidnoteatthat. While this obviously isn't promoting unhealthy eating in order to be skinny, it is implying that girls who are thin are also automatically classified as not eating. Even more problematic, it makes a discussion of women and their eating habits okay. Why is this a conversation that is constantly in the media? Who cares what she did or did not eat? The attention this account gives to the relationship between eating and being a thin girl just perpetuates the idea that women who are thin cannot eat, as well as makes a joke about size and eating habits. Whether it is the purpose of the site or not, it innately promotes the idea that girls shouldn't eat.
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A self-proclaimed foodie and author of food blog "Food by Skyler", Skyler Bouchard found the site incredibly offensive. A healthy girl who often uses Instagram to showcase herself with large portions of unhealthy foods in her attempt to find the best foods across NYC, Bouchard was offended that this Instagram account would purport that the women in the photos didn't eat the food they claimed to have eaten. The bigger issue for her, however, is the fact that this site makes the claim that these girls can't or shouldn't eat this food-- or that it discusses their eating habits in the first place. Bouchard makes the point that this account represents a greater trend: "with the rise of social media, it seems that no one can just look at a photo of a girl eating food without some kind of judgment associated with weight or eating habits."
(Sources: http://foodbyskyler.com/2014/06/20/in-response-to-youdidnoteatthat/comment-page-1/)
(Sources: http://foodbyskyler.com/2014/06/20/in-response-to-youdidnoteatthat/comment-page-1/)