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A middle school student wears the school uniform in Shenzhen.
(Photo Courtesy of Lily Xie)
iddle school student Lily “ reviewed medical journal, published
Xie experienced bullying a study in July 2019 which mentioned
Mand body shaming in 2020 Boys poked the level of adolescents’ social media
due to her body shape for one year. usage is a significant predictor of their
The girl is no longer suffering from my waist depression levels. For every addition-
bullying now because her parents no- al hour of social media use, depres-
ticed this and got involved. with sive symptoms of teens will increase
Xie says slim girls tailor their by two per cent.
school uniform to make themselves their pens. According to Xie, she was once
look even slimmer and they post pho- depressed but finally cured due to the
tos on social media like WeChat or It really hurts. help of her parents.
Weibo. “I wanted to do what they did Xie points out: “I want to be slim-
so I bought a smaller size uniform, but ” mer. I want to post my selfies and have
it did not work for me,” the 14-year- leave comments to praise their body many likes as well…just like other
old girl says. shape. But if I post my photos online, girls who have a slender body shape.
Xie’s classmates gave her a nick- I will be a subject of ridicule,” she says. I want people to stop calling me ‘pig’.”
name - “fat pig”. “Boys poked my Xie spends at least 20 hours per Xie is not alone, not only Chi-
waist with their pens. It really hurt. I week on social media platforms to nese students face this dilemma.
was afraid and embarrassed, so I just browse pictures of slim girls and clips Research conducted by tech writer
smiled and quickly walked away,” the about losing weight by bloggers. Paul Bischoff in 2019 surveyed more
eighth-grade girl says. Journal of the American Medical than 1,000 parents in America and
“Boys talk about girls’ pictures and Association (JAMA), a monthly peer- asked them about whether their chil-