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San Francisco — For generations, women have been socially conditioned to have strained relationships with food. Approximately 50% of teenage girls use unhealthy weight control behaviors. Messaging throughout popular media has only further enforced the influence of disorderly eating.
Last summer, the online trend “girl dinner” became extremely popular. Women, girls and femme-identifying folks began classifying snack-sized meals as “girl dinner” — millions participated in the trend. Across TikTok, Instagram and X, girl dinner seemed to be the topic of the summer, with people jokingly posting photos and videos of their own bite-sized meals.
@liviemaher #girldinner #medievaltiktok ♬ original sound - Olivia Maher
On one hand, girl dinner comes across as a way for women from all over to share snack ideas with each other. In some cases, even dietitians use their platforms to provide healthy additions to a girl dinner. However, what does this trend actually communicate to the women who come across it? Glamorizing a diet that lacks adequate nutrients can pose a very tangible threat to the people who consume such media.
Messages of unhealthy weight loss have plagued popular media as far back as the early 1900s. Through this, women are repeatedly taught that weight loss is a priority, no matter the toll they may take on a person’s physical health. From tactics such as the tapeworm diet to modern day methods such as Flat Tummy Tea appetite suppressants, there are several mainstream weight loss products that are now understood to wreak havoc on people’s physical health. Flat Tummy Co garnered so much success that it was persistently advertised by large-scale influencers such as Kim and Khloe Kardashian before being sold in 2015 for nearly $10 million. And while the tapeworm diet was not nearly as widely practiced, some people do occasionally resort to tapeworms for weight loss.
The idea that thinness equates to beauty is rooted in the policing of women’s bodies. The beauty standard of thinness stems from a belief that women must always strive to fit within the constrictions of patriarchal beauty standards. So, weight loss campaigns (ie. appetite suppressants or swapping small snacks as meal replacements) that neglect physical health consistently cycle through popular media. Such practices seem to be a byproduct of the patriarchal expectations of bodies. Girl dinner has become a sly, modern rendition of old fashioned weight loss campaigns.
Ultimately, while the concept of girl dinner seems to be an innocent joke on the surface, it bears the weight of generations of dangerous societal pressures. In fact, “Girl Dinner” is just a modern iteration of the ever-present pattern of encouraging malnourishment in the name of beauty. After girl dinner dies off, yet another trend which implies that a girl does not need proper nutrients to survive will likely emerge.
Ivelisse Diaz, (she/they) is a college student studying psychology from Oakland, California.
Edited by shaylyn martos