The "ideal body" has taken many shapes and sizes over the past few years. From thigh gaps, to big lips and small waists, women are thrown crazy ideals left and right. The newest body image trend, the A4 Waist Challenge, is taking over China and it's on a whole new level of crazy. Check out these 14 images to see how damaging this trend can be towards women and young girls' self esteem.
In society’s search for the “ideal body,” many different body trends have been circulating social media.
Our society is so obsessed with getting the perfect body, once these trends catch on, they are hard to stop.
See also: This Is What The "Ideal" Female Body Looks Like In 15 Different Countries
From thigh gaps to large breasts, these trends are constantly shoved down our throats as the “ideal” all women should strive for.
And the sad part is, we do. We kill ourselves in the gym. We under eat. We get plastic surgery. All to have our society's "perfect body."
These “ideal body” trends can be detrimental to our self esteem, our views of other women and our sanity.
If we don't have what society deems as perfect, we automatically assume we're not beautiful. And that couldn't be further from the truth.
Of course, the possibility of an attack on our self esteem doesn’t stop these body image trends from popping up.
Way faster than we'd ever like to admit.
The newest trend is one that has its roots in China.
It involves posing with an 8-inch paper covering your stomach.
The A4 Waist Challenge is the newest body image challenge out there trying to portray the sexiness of a small waist.
The sheer horror of having a waist bigger than 8 inches!
The challenge involves women taking photos of themselves holding a piece of A4 paper in front of their waists.
A4 paper is equivalent to 8×11 printer paper.
While the challenge has spread to other parts of Asia, there are numerous people sticking up for women and speaking out against this absurd challenge.
Your waist isn't smaller than 8 inches? So what? That does not define you as a person
And many others are turning the paper to landscape, as that is a more realistic waist measurement.
And they look gorgeous doing it.
Some are even joking that their stuffed animals have a closer waist size to that of a piece of paper.
Lookin' good Teddy!
Just by doing a simple search for the hashtag #a4waist, you can see numerous pictures of girls trying to succeed at this challenge.
But there are just as many women taking a stand and bringing light to this challenge's dangerous consequences.
The body positivity of the #a4waist hashtag on Instagram is overwhelming.
And we're so glad other women are seeing how ridiculous this challenge is and taking a stand!
It’s refreshing to see women proud of their bodies and not killing themselves to fit behind a piece of paper.
You go girl!
Whether it’s a thigh gap or an 8-inch waist, body image challenges will come and go.
But just remember, our beauty and our worth are more than a thigh gap or the size of our waist.