Another Internet Fad Putting Unrealistic Expectations On Women’s Bodies

As if there wasn’t enough body shaming for women, the Chinese have a new fad to make girls insecure about their bodies. It’s called the A4 Waist Challenge. Girls hold a sheet of A4 paper (about 9 inches wide) to show how tiny their waist is. Here is one example via Instagram:

We all know healthy can come in many sizes, but trying to be less wide than a sheet of PAPER is not a good beauty standard. Also, why a piece of paper? Naturally, some funny people on line are posting their mocking responses to this fad:

The Page A4 challenge. #A4Waist #A4challenge @globeandmail @briggins pic.twitter.com/CXQT109mBO

— Evey Hornbeck (@evhornbeck) March 19, 2016

#A4Waist #A4waistchallenge
Love yourself, respect your body ? pic.twitter.com/9yJWHUFyHg

— ◊Sarouchki◊ (@PoulpyPims) March 19, 2016

My favourite, found on this article:

This is not the first idiotic “fitness” challenge from China. Last year we had the “belly button challenge.” It said if you can reach the left side of your navel with your right hand, you had a good body. So, not only do you have to be thin, but you have to be a contortionist, too?!

But, this obsession with body image and thinness is not new. Women in China have been waist training for centuries. They practiced foot binding, the process of putting tight restraints on women’s feet, so they never reach the proper adult size, for a thousand years. Women have been corset training all over the world for centuries.

Unfortunately, the ridiculous waist training is making a resurgence. Waist training is the use of tight steel boned corsets to shrink a woman’s waist to absurdly tiny sizes. Kim Kardashian and Amber Rose have taken to using latex waist cinchers when they work out. So, now waist training is a form of exercise.

Here is a story of one woman trying to do the Kim Kardashian workout with a corset. The fitness trainer said that the corset was keeping her lungs from expanding the way they need to when doing cardio. Really, it’s a temporary thinness solution, much like taking diuretics or limiting fluids. If you want a REAL thin waist, work out and eat right, ladies.

Featured image via Twitter.