There are injections that heal, but others can hurt deeply. The images ofinfluencers and celebrities promoting themselves on social media with Ozempic slimming syringes are leaving a lasting impression on adolescents. Almost half of Catalan girls aged 12 to 16 (47%) want to lose weight—according to the Catalan Women's Institute—although the vast majority already have a healthy, balanced body. This unfounded desire erodes self-esteem, fuels obsessive thoughts, and triggers anxiety to the brink of depression. The allure of extreme thinness, presented as a desire, becomes a path to emotional pain.
The transition from well-being to discomfort can depend on a very thin thread. The message isn't new, but rather the intensity with which it hits us: today it hits us relentlessly, multiplied by our screens. Seeing unrealistic bodies over and over again generates a silent but devastating stress. International models have denounced the fact that in haute couture the required size was a 34, and some have been fired for going "too big," like Charli Howard. This summer, strolling through the beautiful Black Forest in Germany, I was surprised to see mannequins in clothing store windows with bodies larger than a 36. I'm so unused to it that each time I was simultaneously surprised and pleased. The feeling was one of comfort and vitality, of feeling good about myself. That's the power of images, which can either sink you or brighten your life.
That's why it's urgent to showcase strong, healthy bodies on social media and in the real world. A few days ago, Zara had to remove photos from its online store in the UK because it featured extremely thin models. Marks & Spencer and Next have also done so after being reported. The problem isn't just the models' bodies, which can be healthy, but also the attempts to make them appear thinner. The fact is that lighting, makeup, and camera angles (apart from filters) are used to make the clavicle excessively prominent, the cheekbones prominent, or the thighs appear equal to or smaller than the calves, according to the reporting entities, to present an image of extreme thinness.
The underlying question we can't help but ask ourselves is: What is the purpose of disfiguring women's bodies to such an extreme? What latent hatred, misogyny, or fear is there in not being able to admire real female bodies? The argument that "clothes look better on thinner bodies" is completely inconsistent, since the aesthetic criterion is born in the culture in which it develops. If we don't believe this, look at the taste of Ticià or Rubens and that of the art of the Renaissance, the Baroque, the 19th and early 20th centuries. The female body has symbolized fertility, motherhood, health, and material abundance throughout time, until it began to be replaced by images of illness and vulnerability.
That's why raising our voices to change the aesthetic model is essential. And yet, the opposite is happening. Models curvy are no longer fashionable. Data warns of a sharp decline in so-called campaigns body positive either body positive, those favored by some modeling agencies and which featured diverse women, including those of different ethnicities, with bodies larger than a size 36. A decade ago, some campaigns, such as #WeLoveAllSizes, managed to place some of these models among the world's top models. In the last year, agencies report that they are having a much harder time finding work.
That's why it's essential to agree on measures with the commercial and business world to change the mannequins in shop windows, as well as the images in advertising and social media. The study by the Women's Institute, titled Self-perception of women's image in new digital environments (2025) shows that 56.7% of women feel pressure to be like the female figures they portray on social media, and more than 70% identify with them. Considering that the most visited websites by women are those related to fashion, beauty, and lifestyle, the anxiety generated by unattainable expectations is well-served.
In this scenario, it is encouraging to see how the Department of Equality and Feminism of the Catalan government is promoting a campaign on women's body image with the slogan "The like yours is more important." But symbolic gestures are not enough: firm and constant actions are needed, hand in hand with economic, social and communicative agents, that seriously transform the lives and emotional well-being of women.
