What first began as a joke in response to what the meal of peasants in medieval times by TikTok user Olivia Maher has now turned into a commotion among social media platforms in both a positive and negative form. The trend: Girl Dinner.
While many may be deceived by the tag #girldinner and believe it to be a get-together of friends, videos under this tag tend to consist of younger women showing off their not so nourishing dinner. Some videos display unhealthy small portions of food, to videos of showing off an energy drink and in some extreme cases falling asleep and calling that “dinner.”
Health teacher Anne Sloan explained that though she had never heard of this trend, media, especially for younger people, is a very impressionable source that one has to reflect on when looking at what they are consuming.
“Social media is a platform that we have to be very careful with and make sure we break down the messages of what we are receiving from them and how they are making us feel because if we don’t feel good about ourselves during [or] after using then it’s probably not a great influence for us overall,” Sloan expressed.
In an interview for Yahoo Life, Maher explained that her intention was never to glamorize and/or promote eating disorders, but she could see how it may be interpreted that way. In said article she furthermore stated that “[girl dinner is a] celebration of food and appreciation and excitement because you’re eating exactly what you want and you’re satisfying all the flavors you’re craving.”
Furthermore, in an article by The Arizona Republic, many women identify the trend with ending shame placed on women if and when they do not have the time for a perfectly cooked meal and/or would rather not cook said meal.
Although the beginnings of the trend were meant with no harm, the algorithm of social media seems to have altered the initial meaning to one that seems to enable unhealthy eating habits and possible eating disorders.
Sloan communicated that younger audiences, with it tending to happen more with girls, are targeted as consumers for products, ideas and overall images that they should and/or should not fit into, which can be harmful in both the short and long term. She explained that it was important to her to put emphasis on taking care of one’s body and how it functions rather than how it looks.
“ Bodies come in all different shapes and sizes and it’s important to do our best to take care of them by eating nutritious foods, steering away from good [or] bad foods and calories, getting sleep, having our bodies move through some type of physical activity,” concluded Sloan.
