{"id":6212,"date":"2025-10-05T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-05T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/?p=6212"},"modified":"2025-10-08T21:34:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T21:34:07","slug":"skinny-girl-summer-is-over-but-society-is-still-fatphobic-even-in-autumn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/05\/skinny-girl-summer-is-over-but-society-is-still-fatphobic-even-in-autumn\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Skinny girl summer\u2019 is over \u2014 but society is still fatphobic, even in autumn"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n\t\t\"A\t<\/div>
What does autumn mean for body image? Metro chats to the experts (Picture: Getty\/Metro)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Leaves that slowly turn orange. Sunshine mornings with a chill in the air. Swapping out the summer wardrobe<\/a> for cosy jumpers.<\/p>\n

With autumn well underway in the UK, I can finally breathe a sigh of relief because, while I enjoy soaking up the vitamin D<\/a>, summer is always complicated for me. <\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always leaned slightly more towards ‘mid-size’. Having my arms on show makes me feel vulnerable. I’ve had friends ask me if I’m too hot when I’ve deliberately kept a denim jacket on in 20-degree heat, which I’ve brushed off with a generic: ‘I didn’t check the weather forecast before I left the house today.’<\/p>\n

Of course, it’s not just me. In 2024, the US Forbes Health survey<\/a> found that more than half (51%) of Gen Zs feel pressured to either ‘get fit’ or ‘lose weight’ before going on holiday. And one 2025 UK study<\/a> found that 22% of people reach the height of their discomfort showing their legs either at the beach or the swimming pool. <\/p>\n

And this year, there\u2019s been even more reason for me to crave the cool air that this season brings.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Eleanor\t<\/div>
I always breathe a slight sigh of relief when autumn comes around (Picture: Eleanor Noyce)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This year of the ‘skinny girl summer’<\/h2>\n

There’s no doubt about it, summer 2025 was, depressingly, \u2018skinny girl summer.\u2019 <\/p>\n

The likes of Ozempic<\/a>, Wegovy and Mounjaro<\/a> stopped being the reserve of A-listers, and firmly entered into the mainstream. A study from Kantar <\/a>found that between March 2024 and August 2025, usage of GLP-1 drugs almost doubled, increasing from 2.3% to 4.1% of the population. Weight loss is now the main reason cited for taking it, superseding management of type 2 diabetes.<\/p>\n

As families prepped to jet off for their summer holidays, there was advice on getting pens through customs, and how to bend the drug\u2019s no-alcohol rule.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"NEW\t<\/div>
Serena Williams confirmed that she was on a GLP-1 drug this summer (Picture: 2025 Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And, when I flicked my television on in the light evenings, I’d notice adverts for GLP-1 medications, forcing their way into the comfort of my living room. In July, the Advertising Standards Authority<\/a> even banned an ‘irresponsible’ advert from M&S featuring a model with \u2018large pointed shoes\u2019 that emphasised \u2018the slenderness of her legs.\u2019<\/p>\n

And in August, Serena Williams<\/a>, one of the greatest tennis players of all time, revealed that she’d lost just over 14kg after using GLP-1 jabs. In an interview with Vogue<\/a>, she said: ‘My whole life is being in the gym, working out, running, training, HIIT training, dancing… I would always get to a certain point on the scale, but I could never get below that.’ <\/p>\n

\u2018Your body isn\u2019t seasonal \u2013 there\u2019s no deadline for feeling at home in it\u2019<\/h2>\n

Alex Light, a body image speaker and the author of You Are Not A Before Picture, has spent much of her life struggling with what she\u2019s seen in the mirror. As a teen, she was dieting, constantly \u2018chasing an ideal that kept changing.\u2019 And in her 20s, she developed an eating disorder that \u2018dominated\u2019 the entire decade.<\/p>\n

Alex has cultivated a \u2018fairly steady\u2019 relationship with her own body image through recovery \u2013 but she can\u2019t help but feel concerned by the \u2018pressure to be thin,\u2019 which, in her view, \u2018feels louder and heavier than ever.\u2019<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"\"\t<\/div>
‘Body confidence isn’t about loving every inch of yourself all the time,’ says Alex Light (Picture: Supplied)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018We\u2019ve reverted back to the same old message that has hurt us for an extraordinarily long time: shrink yourself to be worthy of the beach, of attention, of being seen. The discourse has left a lot of people feeling like they\u2019re back at square one with their body image, and I\u2019ve felt that frustration too,\u2019 37-year-old Alex, who lives in London, shares.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on the change of the seasons, Alex recognises that for some, the end of summer can feel like a \u2018relief\u2019 as that \u2018intense spotlight\u2019 dims a little.<\/p>\n

\u2018It can also stir up guilt if you spent the season feeling like you \u201chid\u201d or didn\u2019t live fully. Try to remember that your body isn\u2019t seasonal and there\u2019s no deadline for feeling at home in it,\u2019 she shares, offering up advice for anyone who might be struggling as the leaves turn brown.<\/p>\n

\u2018It can be a good time to shift the focus away from how your body looks and towards how you want to feel<\/em> in it: maybe comfortable or strong, rested, nourished. Body confidence isn\u2019t about loving every inch of yourself all the time; it\u2019s about loosening the grip that shame and comparison have over your life.\u2019<\/p>\n

How does body image change with the seasons? It\u2019s complicated<\/h2>\n

Dr Helena Lewis-Smith is a health psychology researcher at the University of the West of England, specialising in body image. She highlights that people who already face discrimination, including based on their bodies, are likely to experience ‘compounding pressures.’<\/strong><\/p>\n

‘Societal messaging that equates thinness with success or desirability can intensify scrutiny and stigma, reinforcing existing inequalities and potentially increasing discrimination already faced by marginalised groups,’ she says.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Elsewhere, she reminds us that autumn isn\u2019t a quick fix for a more body positive mindset: in a few months, the diet industry will be feeding \u2013 and profiting \u2013 off people\u2019s insecurities in January.<\/p>\n

\u2018Generally, we know that from April and May people begin to feel anxious and that\u2019s when they\u2019ll start pursuing these weight loss behaviours. The fact that you\u2019re outside seeing people, you\u2019re more likely to engage in body comparisons, more so than say in the autumn and the winter when you\u2019re staying in and drinking your red wine, sat on the sofa. This is when people really start to engage in weight loss strategies,\u2019 she notes.<\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\t\t'Black women are literally killing themselves to fit beauty standards'\t\t\t<\/h2>\n
\n

As Philomena Kwao<\/a> previously wrote for Metro<\/strong>, the body image struggles can intensify for many Black women:<\/p>\n

‘How we view our bodies is much more complex than how western media portrays it. Beauty standards are set by cultural boundaries and traditions, something advertisers consistently fail to understand.<\/em><\/p>\n

‘Growing up as a black woman, I never wanted to be skinny. The \u2018heroin-chic\u2019 look of the late \u201990s to early \u201900s was never an ideal body in my eyes, nor a point of discussion to anyone around me.<\/em><\/p>\n

‘Growing up in an age before social media, my beauty standards were defined by the images and media in my surroundings, which at the time was predominantly African American.<\/em><\/p>\n

‘In my world, we rarely saw the thin white woman.<\/em><\/p>\n

‘We saw the video vixen in music videos \u2013 she was our beauty standard. Her pert round bottom, her defined skinny waist and her ample bosom. An exaggerated hourglass.<\/em><\/p>\n

‘We all wanted to be like her, and to a certain extent, we all still do.<\/em><\/p>\n

‘Growing up as a black girl, if you didn\u2019t have a small waist or a big bum, you were considered ugly.’<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2018People might be feeling slightly less pressure from now onwards, but then come January, it continues again. From the research, we know that people tend to start pursuing weight loss strategies again, come the New Year.\u2019<\/p>\n

As Dr Helena shares, one of the biggest mechanisms for people experiencing body image concerns, no matter what the weather\u2019s doing outside, is the comparison spiral.<\/p>\n

\u2018People compare themselves with their friends, on social media, with influencers, and that is one of the main reasons why people feel dissatisfied with their bodies because they don\u2019t match up to what they\u2019re seeing,\u2019 she explains.<\/p>\n

\u2018We live in a fatphobic society that doesn\u2019t value people who live in larger bodies. But there are people who are not living in larger bodies who are taking these drugs.\u2019<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Woman\t<\/div>
Society teaches women to hate their own bodies – and that doesn’t change with the seasons (Picture: Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So, what\u2019s the answer? From a health psychology perspective, Dr Helena believes that there should be a greater emphasis on helping people, rather than shaming them into weight loss.<\/p>\n

This might include teaching strategies, behaviours and thoughts to empower people to do things like \u2018practise intuitive eating\u2019 or \u2018eat food that\u2019s going to fuel them.\u2019<\/p>\n

There\u2019s one caveat, though: this type of psychological support typically isn\u2019t offered alongside GLP-1 drugs, which Dr Helena says is a \u2018very narrow approach to weight loss.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018We conflate weight with health, and we shouldn\u2019t be doing that, as health is so much more. The irony is, if you encourage people to have better body image, that person will probably end up losing weight, but they\u2019ll do it in a healthy way,\u2019 she concludes.<\/p>\n

So, while there needs to be room for plenty of nuance, perhaps the only way for us to really feel confident in our bodies is to completely dismantle the systems that fuel fatphobia and misogyny altogether. And that\u2019s quite the radical task, no matter the season.<\/p>\n

Do you have a story to share?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Get in touch by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@Metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n


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