Anyone else annoyed by these semi naked Instagram influencers?

[Charlize43]

A friend of mine and ex work colleague took up running during lockdown and lost several stone over the last year. She has done really well and looks great now with a trim little figure. I've noticed that her instagram which used to be more about walks with her dog, food, plants, sunsets, interior design, etc, is changing completely and now has more and more pictures of her posing in her underwear. She has also started following instagrammers like Zara Mcdermott, Laura Anderson1x and other reality TV stars that are almost always near naked on IG. I wouldn't mind so much if she didn't so on about them so much like they are something to be admired. She's also started saying that she'd love to be an 'influencer.'

I hope I don't sound jealous, but I wondered what everyones view is on these so called influencers? I'm also worried that one thing might lead to another and she might end up getting an Only Fans account.

Is it just me who finds all these near naked women horribly annoying?

To me it seems that more and more young girls are sexualising themselves online just to get likes and validation from strangers. She's 10 years younger than me ( She's 28) so I hope I don't sound like an old fashioned prude. I'm not unattractive but just don't understand this thing about posting pictures in undies like a wannabe Page 3 girl.

I haven't really been able to ask her why she does it as I don't want to rain on her parade since she's really happy about how she looks now. Also I'm well aware it's not my business and she can do what she wants.

Thoughts? AIBU?

I also think it's very confusing for young people cause on the one hand we teach them to not swap naked pics etc & explain the fallout that can happen but then they see "celebs" getting rewarded for the same behaviour.

I tend to not go on sites that make me annoyed, or look at pictures of people that make me annoyed. I don’t understand why anyone would keep using something that’s causing them to feel aggravated.

This sums it up for me.

The issue is that society encourages it. Social media is a cesspit in many ways - lots of it isn’t, but so much of it is.

It feels sad to think how much we “live” in the internet - so many interactions are via the web when we have a whole physical world to make the most of (covid aside!!)

Avoid anything that is not good for your soul.

I am 100% for genuine freedom of choice.

I just wonder what kind of message society is sending to people. That their value is based on their looks? Is it also a trend for men on IG to pose in their underwear for likes? I genuinely don’t know because I’m old!

Exactly right @EishetChayil

@Iggly

The issue is that society encourages it. Social media is a cesspit in many ways - lots of it isn’t, but so much of it is.

It feels sad to think how much we “live” in the internet - so many interactions are via the web when we have a whole physical world to make the most of (covid aside!!)

Society doesn’t encourage it. My daughter is a lawyer. None of her wide circle of friends or colleagues get their kit off for followers or money, not one. None of her uni friends or school friends did. However it is and always has been part of society. That doesn’t mean it’s encouraged, it’s just another facet to human nature and every woman has choice.

People are making it seem like every woman and girl is at this and being encouraged to get naked. It’s not remotely true. Some do. They have always done so. They will always do so.

Completely agree @EishetChayil

@MadMadMadamMim

I'm an old academic who works with young people. I loathe the culture of Love Island, Naked Attraction, TOWIE, influencers etc.

I think it's deeply, deeply sad that in 100 years we've gone from Votes for Women and wanting to be respected as intellectual equals to wanting lipfillers, veneers and to be admired for prancing in our pants.

I appreciate that not every young woman looks up to these influencers, but it enrages me that anyone should aspire to this, frankly.

My people! Agree with both pp. Utterly vacuous. Even the word influencer depresses me. What a low bar to strive for. I want a world of doers, creators and thinkers. Not posers, bullshitters and manipulators. But I'm middle aged so it's not my world anymore.

it’s a vicious cycle of women perpetuating insecurities against each other, while men look on and laugh (/get off on it). Zara McDermott probably hates her looks too - why else would she get a tonne of surgery and use unnatural filters etc to make herself look as little like her real self as possible. And then all her followers hate their own faces more each time they see her impossibly perfect features, and start filtering their own pics and so on until no one knows what a real face looks like anymore

I’m 29 and was a fairly resilient teenager as I read the beauty myth quite early on. But Instagram in the last year has absolutely wrecked my mental health and given me body dysmorphia. I only used it for hobbies previously. recently I followed my boyfriends favourite “models” for “beauty tips” as I never knew much about make up etc. Every image / video on there is fake . I feel horrible every time I see a picture of myself that’s not faked and facetuned . So I can only imagine the pain of younger girls

But men do it too. Just as much I’d say.

@EishetChayil

This sums it up for me.

Have to say I'm normally up for 'choice' for women but it should be an informed one.

A uni friend of DD's dropped out to make more money in this line, she was so very pretty anyway but got extra fillers/implants etc. She is not happy. She now has to titillate (in her words) 'hairy old men' to pay her rent, she's addicted to cocaine & Valium. All DD says she can do now is be there for her and hope she comes out of it.

@Hatethisplacetho that's sad to hear. I'd suggest having a boyfriend who does not have 'favourite models' might help you feel better! Get back to the hobbies. That's what will make you feel good.

I just look at them and wonder what it is they bring to world? What value?

They were all born with skills and talents and the best they can do is tits out and drink a pornstar martini?

Am totally aware it sounds anti feminist but I think they can all do better more impactful things with their lives.

I think its quite harmful really. A lot of the pictures are heavily edited, with contorted bodies at specific angles to make their waist appear smaller/arse bigger. A lot of instagrammers will admit this yet still do it.

I feel in recent years womens worth has been even more heavily focused on their looks, their bodies, how they portray their life on Instagram. The sexualisation of teenage girls in particular is massively increasing.

And I'm surprised that none of @Bluntness100 s daughters friends do it as I work in a professional field and there are several women who will post bikini shots, edited photos of their body etc. Their are lots of people in my field trying to become influencers in one way or another

Zara mcdermott for example has had a boob job, she's admitted a very restrictive diet. Her photos are heavily edited, her body is clearly edited on her photos.

Shes does not look like those photos in real life (have actually met her as well, she is pretty but doesnt look like her instagram) That body is not achievable because she doesn't even have it with surgery and with money, diet and exercise. And yet she is portraying it as if it is. And even if you know deep down its not real it portrays this image of how women are supposed to be, to both men and young girls

I'm sure she is a nice girl, and I don't really necessarily have a problem with her as an individual, but I cannot really support an industry that is built off women posing half naked for heavily edited photos. Its so infantalising, there will be more to all these women than their bodies

But men do it too. Just as much I’d say.

fillers & surgery? or suggestive shots?

Freedom of choice is such a cruel myth we've been sold by liberal feminism. There's nothing empowering about having the choice to sell your body

Exactly, it's capitalist-patriarchy I'm annoyed at

@LeanneBrownsLonelyBraincell

I just look at them and wonder what it is they bring to world? What value?

They were all born with skills and talents and the best they can do is tits out and drink a pornstar martini?

Am totally aware it sounds anti feminist but I think they can all do better more impactful things with their lives.

Why do people need to "bring" anything to the world? They're paying tax like everyone else. I work a minumum wage pretty non essential job, so really I'm not really doing anything "impactful" with my life and why do I need to just because other people think I should?

I do worry about the number of teenage girls growing up trying to emulate influencers. As an outsider they make it look so easy to become millionaires by taking glam photos. It's certainly more fun than my office job and for the successful influencers, it pays a hell of a lot more but I've seen a few articles about young women getting themselves into debt trying to fake it until they make it. I wish that part was more widely spoken about. Not to forget that once the more inappropriate photos are on the internet, there's no getting them back. More worryingly, when I click the search bar in Instagram it sometimes shows videos of girls in underwear doing tiktok style dances. The comments underneath are sleazy and I'd be shocked if they were all over the age of 18, they really don't look it.

[quote Mumteedum]@Hatethisplacetho that's sad to hear. I'd suggest having a boyfriend who does not have 'favourite models' might help you feel better! Get back to the hobbies. That's what will make you feel good.[/quote]
Thank you! You’re absolutely right! I woke up early this morning and did some crafting with my daughter and i love it

Laws need to be brought in for the like of Instagram etc that 'this post has been paid for, it's advertising' ' this picture has been digitally altered' 'this model has had cosmetic surgery for her lips, chin,boobs etc'

Kim Kardashian doesn't look like Kim Kardashian FFS nobody will ever look like her Instagram posts because they've been altered so much and she's had so much surgery

@Waxonwaxoff0 whatever it is you do I guarantee your job brings more to the world than an influencer with her tits out.

@MadMadMadamMim

I'm an old academic who works with young people. I loathe the culture of Love Island, Naked Attraction, TOWIE, influencers etc.

I think it's deeply, deeply sad that in 100 years we've gone from Votes for Women and wanting to be respected as intellectual equals to wanting lipfillers, veneers and to be admired for prancing in our pants.

I appreciate that not every young woman looks up to these influencers, but it enrages me that anyone should aspire to this, frankly.

Totally agree with all this. Women worked for decades to not be seen and treated as decorative airheads, and now displaying yourself as a pouting, semi naked bimbo is seen as an achievement.