Thin is In - On Keeping Women Skinny

Kate Sheppard memorial: Tribute to the Suffragettes. Source: Jim Henderson / Wikimedia Commons. 

Content Warning: Discussion of body image and weight trends.  

In an Ozempic-fueled return to the 90’s, the cult of thinness has inched its way back into the trend cycle, and Kate Moss, 90’s thinness and ‘heroin chic’ have regained traction in the public consciousness. After a decade of body positivity movements and fuller figures trending, it feels like the trend cycles which bastardise women’s bodies and turn them into digestible, consumable ideals, have returned to their one true north: thinness. 

“Thin is always in”, according to one UC Psych student, Sakura Ward. “Every other trend comes and goes like a fad. Fatness is never trending for long.” And as thinness edges its way back onto the main stage, some women question whether it ever really left. Recently, the 2000’s fashion renaissance has revived the skinny cult of the era. Kim Kardashian notoriously dropped 15 pounds in three weeks for the MET Gala, Hollywood celebrities are proudly using - read: abusing, the diabetic drug Ozempic to lose weight quickly, and young stars like Lily-Rose Depp and Jenna Ortega have even repopularised cigarettes - the preferred prop and balanced meal of every grungy, tiny, ‘90’s model.  

In true Madison Montgomery fashion, “Surprise, b****.” Thin is back, with vengeance. One TikTok creator, Beth Prendergast, even theorised that “every time women get too powerful, the skinny trend re-emerges to keep us all too tired to create or vote”, and with body trends so firmly embedded in the media of our daily lives, the skinny trend to ‘tired-and-passive woman’ pipeline has real merit. 

Although body trends do cycle naturally, historically, whenever women make significant social advancements, thinness trends shortly after.  

As humans, we don’t like change. Actually, we resist it pretty instinctively, and the patriarchy is particularly consumed with maintaining traditional values and heavily restricting social change. So much so, that ironclad, patriarchal systems manage to correct themselves, whenever ‘too-much’ change takes place. This phenomenon, of traditional values becoming significantly more common after times of upheaval, is highly characteristic of patriarchal systems, and it seems that body trends follow a similar pattern when the social-order of gender roles is threatened. 

Thinness trends follow a pattern, a pattern that reflects decades of women’s liberation, and four distinct waves of feminism. In the 1920’s, the decade of first-wave feminism introduced unprecedented political emancipation, as many women became eligible to vote. With Aotearoa already well ahead, British women gained the right to vote in 1918, and American women attained the vote soon after in 1920. In the flapper era that followed, very slender, very androgynous figures gained overnight popularity, and as women slowly gained more independence and bodily autonomy, they lost autonomy over determining what their own bodies should look like. Sharp collar bones and defined hips were the trend of the day, and newly liberated women were still constricted by social trends and diets. 

In the 1930’s and early 40’s, women advanced greatly in the workplace, gaining the new ability to work freely outside the home due to war necessity. The era promoted an idealised hourglass figure, featured on every ‘Rosie the Riveter’ poster, with a slim waist, prominent bust, and slender legs. In an era of scarcity, calorie counting grew massively popular during the war, and working women remained subject to the thin ideal. 

Then in the 1950’s, when women’s liberation was largely neglected in favour of the white picket fence, nuclear family, and the perfect housewife - thinness trends relaxed. Curves were the craze of the 1950s, following the enormous popularity of Hollywood ‘sex-symbols’, like Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield. Weight gain supplements were popularised, and hyper-thin androgyny was dismissed as a relic of the Gatsby-era. 

In 1960, women’s rights advanced hugely again when the pill was approved for public use, giving women unprecedented bodily autonomy. Just three years later, Jean Nidetch would found Weight Watchers. In 1973, Roe v Wade was passed, and the following decade was dominated by sexual freedom and second-wave feminism. In response, slender, athletic bodies overtook the 1970s, as women became more empowered. Flat stomachs, and very slim hips, were emphasised for women. Once again, women were making huge social advancements, and thin was very much in. 

In the 1990s, third-wave feminism emerged as an intersectional backlash to the second-wave's perceived privileging of white, straight women. As a countermovement to the fitness craze of the ‘80s, the ‘heroin chic' body type was introduced as a gritty alternative. Thin, waifish bodies were the gold-standard of fashion, and Kate Moss rose to huge cultural prominence. Emaciation was trending, which led to a dramatic spike in liposuction procedures. Third-wave feminism, which emphasised intersectionality, was immediately countered by thin body ideals which catered to white women, and Ward said, “it’s always about race. White women chose what features to glamourise, and ditch them, as soon as the trend shifts”. 

The 2000’s that follow are dominated by tabloid covers, low-rise bottoms, and very thin women. During the height of tabloid consumption, celebrity bodies were heavily criticised. Then in the 2010s, more ‘relaxed’, curvy bodies came back into trend. However, social media introduced a new era of comparative beauty standards for women. Body trends permeated all platforms of media, and local high-school teacher Paula says, “rather than being restricted to magazines and TV, impossible body trends are everywhere now. And it’s impacting younger and younger girls”. “Slim-thick” hourglass bodies were the new craze, dominating all platform media, and celebrities who got liposuction in the 90’s were now receiving procedures to add that fat right back in. 

Now, body trends once again bear the impact of modern liberation. Fourth-wave feminism dominated the last decade, and the consequential shift in the ‘ideal’ body type is already evident. Low rise jeans are back, and the notorious Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show has returned. As women continue to make significant advancements socially, skinny continues to cycle back, and it seems the TikTok scholarship has some real merit. 

According to Paula, “I think the beauty industry has a lot to answer for. You’re constantly bombarded with unrealistic images”, and this 2024 infatuation with early 2000s culture has not only reintroduced fashion trends, but has also reintroduced the same intrusive body-shaming trends of the decade.