marissamanel

[marissamanel]

One of the most influential social media platforms of our generation is TikTok. This originally started as a “cringey” app that was only used by younger people (high-school aged) to sing, dance, or express creativity along with trending audios. Yet, as these kids grew up into young adults over the last 5 years, it began to influence multiple generations to join the craze. TikTok is now known across the world and has an estimated worth of 50 billion dollars to 100 billion dollars (not to mention the 1.58 billion active monthly users). The reach of these trends is easily accessible to any individual who has the application downloaded, and while this reach of entertaining content has its own cons, the reach of corporate businesses to this large number of consumers is arguably worse.  The main outcome of TikTok has been its great influence on the current culture in our society. Most slang, catchy phrases, trending songs, and colloquial terms have blossomed on the platform and are used in everyday life. In relating to consumers, these easily adaptable phrases have evolved into new definitions for women’s insecurities. This is to be expected considering the reach this platform has on the public, but it is ultimately something that has been taken advantage of as TikTok’s downloads have skyrocketed.  A few examples of these types of terms may be “puffy cortisol face”, “strawberry legs”, “legging legs”, or “animal pretty”. While these phrases may come off as silly and the spread of such phrases can be understood as they are objectively ‘cute’, the harm is often misunderstood by those actively using them. With the rapid spread of TikTok culture, these terms are also spreading at an alarming rate with new phrases constantly being developed.  Children still hold a place in the TikTok demographic, and in advertising these new insecurities that have had no place in conversation previously, it allows young girls and women to reflect on their bodies. In giving these insecurities cute and trendy terms, it almost makes it trendy to hate your own body for natural lines, ridges, or bumps. One of the most prevalent terms that has been circulating around the internet is “puffy cortisol face”. Although having facial bloating is completely normal and could be due to a wide variety of factors (eating salt, allergies, certain medications, or hormonal fluctuations with menstrual cycles), including the words “puffy” and “cortisol” immediately imply a cause and effect for the supposed issue. Even though these women and girls may not have an underlying issue (as these insecurities are normal with any bodily function), they begin to delve into the possibilities of other things that may be wrong with them. For example, an increase in cortisol can lead to heightened stress, weight gain, or muscle weakness. Considering women are more hyper aware of their self image as a demographic, many people seeing these terms could find a way to relate to these other symptoms. The associated signs and symptoms of this term are also incredibly vague and could apply to any underlying issue, not truly giving women a cause for this concern and rather leaving them to chase an immediate remedy away from a medical professional. This may also perpetuate the rate in which women are finding insecurities as we are left to rationalize what is “wrong” with our bodies and how it relates to us as a whole.  These fixative agents may have initially started as home-remedies that other women would share online. This is exactly what big corporations have begun to take advantage of. Rather than a solution such as drinking more water, massaging your face in the morning, or applying cold water, these businesses have started formulating profit mechanisms to benefit off of this demographic. The same women advertising these terms to anyone on the internet (specifically to young women, girls, middle-aged women, etc.) are the ones advertising the solution an affluent individual is paying them to promote.