TV presenter and actress, Jameela Jamil, continues to champion body positivity by calling out social media for its “epidemic of low self-esteem” effect on women.
Body-shaming has become all too common in recent years, not helped by a near-constant striving for perfection on social media.
Which is why Jameela Jamil has well and truly had enough of women being measured by and focusing on their weight across social media platforms.
In recent weeks, the Good Place actress launched an Instagram account, I Weigh, in a bid to get women to “feel valuable and see how amazing we are, and look beyond the flesh on our bones”. With over 10,000 followers and 300 posts, the account places value on women’s achievements and values - rather than how many kilograms they weigh.
The idea came to the actress after calling out online posts about the Kardashian and Jenner women that guessed their weights.
Now, Jamil has called out social media for causing a “low self-esteem epidemic” in women around the world.
“I’m hearing about eight-year-olds and nine-year-olds worried about their bodies and their thighs, and their thigh gaps. It’s just out of control,” Jamil tells BBC Newsbeat.
“At least before it used to just be celebrities, but now it’s people trolling each other on Instagram, or glamorising being anorexic.”
The self-proclaimed ‘body positivity warrior’ believes social media influencers are partly to blame due to “irresponsible” posts.
“They don’t know that these girls starve themselves, they don’t know how much these girls work out to look the way they do – because these girls just post pictures of themselves eating massive slices of pizza and just sort of lounging around hotel balconies,” Jamil says.
“We have to unfollow people who make us feel bad about ourselves and who promote unrealistic lifestyles and body standards on the internet.”
Jamil has found women’s contributions to her new Instagram account both inspiring and encouraging, especially due to the lack of trolling it’s received. However, the actress still believes “we are in crisis” and changes need to be made for women everywhere to show more self-love.
For more body positivity inspiration, follow these incredible women on Instagram.
Images: Getty / Instagram / Twitter
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