Does anyone else miss the days when TikTok trends consisted only of banana bread, minimum-effort dance routines and ASMR soap-cutting videos? Fast forward three years, and we're now looking at reports of yet another unnerving trend encouraging the fixation, analysis, and comparison of our bodies. Sigh.
The body checking trend has dominated the video-sharing platform, with #bodychecking acquiring over 5.8 million views. The act of body checking refers to the repeated action of assessing different aspects of your body or weight throughout the day.
The trend at hand doesn’t follow a distinct pattern of videos or even the use of a particular song. Instead, it has contaminated our FYPs disguised under various videos, trends, and hashtags, including #wellness, #thinspo, #workoutroutine, #whatieatinaday and #bodypositivity. Which, TBH, makes it even more problematic and dangerous. How do we avoid something we can barely even detect?
Cya, fatphobia 👋.
Whether a montage of videos of a body positioned at different angles, or bodies warped by filters, or the largely critiqued ‘I bet she’s fat under those baggy clothes’ trend – body checking has become deeply embedded into TikTok’s algorithms.
Our bodies are not a door that needs to be locked or a to-do list – so why are we checking them? Be that in many cases – once, twice or, thanks to social media – hundreds of times a day. Don’t get me wrong, being aware of your body, what it needs and what it does is important, but the hyperawareness and constant glorification of videos indirectly showing what it should look like, can pose a serious threat to users who struggle with body image. This constant observation – be that conscious or unconscious – just reiterates the (disgusting and dangerous) view that body diversity and uniquity should be criticised. Diet culture: episode 1 million.
After, cautiously clicking the hashtag, I was somewhat relieved to find the top video to be critiquing the latest fad that has been dominating for-you pages. The video says, “Constantly worrying about whether your body is big or small […] how it's moving when you’re out and about, um, that’s not normal that’s called body checking.” She continued to say, “Your body should just like exist.”
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One creator, @positively_fawizzle, decided to actively document her ‘body count’ of her gym session – described by the TikToker as “count[ing] how many times I body checked at the gym.” She finished the video by counting 14 instances of body checking during her short session. 14! If you decided to compliment yourself every time you had the urge to body check, imagine how many compliments you’d get – just saying.
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GLAMOUR spoke to Psychological and Wellbeing Practitioner Noor Mubarak, from The Private Therapy Clinic, about what body checking is, why we do it, the impact of TikTok and how we can try to reduce the habit.
What is body checking?
Noor explains that “It is the act of assessing different aspects of your body – this could be by weighing yourself, looking at yourself in the mirror, measuring parts of your body or taking videos of your body from different angles. More specifically to TikTok, body checking has been seen in trends such as attempting to fit both hands around one’s waist or weight loss progress videos – but it can also be seen much more subtly in videos masquerading as someone simply standing in front of the camera drinking a glass of water.”
Noor clarifies that body checking can impact people differently, for a lot of people, body checking behaviour can be normal, many people weigh themselves daily, glancing in the mirror without another thought. Though, she warned, “if you find yourself regularly preoccupied with these behaviours or obsessively thinking about performing them, it is important to seek support.”
Why do we do it?
According to Noor, “Body checking can offer immediate but temporary relief that our bodies still look how we expect them to. However, it is likely that body checking also reinforces disordered eating patterns and may cause us to find more imperfections.”
“Many people find that in the days or hours following a body check, they noticed more restrictive eating behaviours and find themselves body checking more frequently - so while body checking may offer that temporary hit of relief, it may also keep us in a cycle of obsessive thinking and disordered eating.”
“Rihanna flaunts her post-pregnancy weight” and “embraces her thickness”, say the headlines. Spare me.
How is TikTok making body checking culture worse?
Noore notes that while searching the words “body check” on TikTok currently leads to a warning message, directing the user to local resources for eating disorders and support lines, there are ways to bypass this. “Unfortunately, body checking videos seem to be increasingly difficult to avoid on TikTok. The difficulty of TikTok is that due to the random nature of its’ individualised video feed, known as the For You Page, users cannot predict what video they may see next, so effectively cannot avoid seeing videos depicting body checking behaviours.”
“TikTok’s algorithm also shows users more videos similar to videos they have engaged with previously – so if you are finding that you are seeing more and more body checking content, press and hold down on the screen while watching a video and click “not interested” each time you come across one to ensure you are seeing fewer of these videos. “
How can we try to reduce body checking?
Noore lists her most useful tips to try tackle obsessive body checking:
- Remember, changes in your body are unlikely to happen overnight – perceived body changes could be influenced by many other factors such as menstrual cycles, how often you go to the toilet, your clothes and your mood.
- Keep a body checking diary – by noting when you have an urge to body check, it will make you more conscious of the unhelpful behaviours and what usually triggers it.
- Replace the habit of body checking with something else – when feeling an urge to body check, replace this with a new habit, for example, texting a friend
- Consider therapy – there are lots of different types of therapy, including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), that may help reduce unhelpful or distressing thoughts, be it through a local group or with an accredited therapist.
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