Scrolling differently: how body positive and humorous content can shape body image
Social media is often blamed for worsening body image, particularly among young people. Platforms like Instagram and TikTok expose users to highly curated, idealised, and sexualised images that encourage constant appearance comparisons. But is social media always harmful? And could some online content actually help people feel better about their bodies?
A highlighted the scale of the problem: 61% of adults and 66% of children reported feeling negatively about their body image most of the time, with social media identified as a major contributing factor. Exposure to idealised appearance-focused content can increase body dissatisfaction and the desire to change one鈥檚 body. However, research from the 黑料社 suggests that not all social media content affects people in the same way.
Our work specifically focused on images that challenge unrealistic body ideals that often emphasise thinness and fitness. One well-known example is 鈥渂ody positive鈥 content, which promotes body diversity and authenticity. Research comparing idealised Instagram images with body-positive content found that users exposed to such posts reported greater body satisfaction and lower body image concerns. These positive effects are not limited to women. Exposure to images depicting male body diversity also led men to feel more satisfied with their bodies and less concerned about their weight. This matters in a social media culture increasingly dominated by hyper-muscular male ideals. Influencers such as have built large audiences by challenging the idea that confidence and masculinity depend on having the 鈥減erfect鈥 body, and positive social media content can contribute to spreading this message.
But what if the solution is not only positivity, but humour too?
Some readers may already be familiar with , who became famous for recreating celebrity and influencer photos in deliberately unglamorous and exaggerated ways. Barber鈥檚 content highlights just how unrealistic many social media beauty standards can be. Studies examining this type of humorous parody image found that parody posts can reduce body dissatisfaction and lower concerns around weight. After all, when impossible beauty standards become laughable, do they also become less powerful? Research suggests they do. Similar to body-positive posts, humour appears to encourage users to critically reflect on unrealistic ideals rather than aspire to them.
The effects of this type of content go beyond improving how people feel about their own bodies. We found that exposure to body-positive and humorous parody posts elicited feelings of gratitude toward the women who shared such content. In turn, this gratitude motivated women to engage in online collective action aimed at challenging beauty standards and promoting body diversity. This is important because it suggests that online communities can come together not only through self-compassion, but also through shared resistance to unrealistic appearance ideals.
Importantly, these findings have practical implications beyond social media itself. In educational settings, media literacy programmes could use body-positive and humorous parody content to help young people critically evaluate unrealistic appearance ideals online. There may also be applications in clinical and therapeutic contexts. For instance, because humour can reduce defensiveness and challenge harmful appearance norms indirectly, it may provide a particularly accessible tool for younger social media users.
Social media is unlikely to disappear from young people鈥檚 lives. The challenge, therefore, is not simply reducing time spent online, but understanding what kinds of content help people thrive rather than compare, criticise, and conform.
References
Guizzo, F., Canale, N., & Fasoli, F. (2021). Instagram Sexualization: When posts make you feel dissatisfied and wanting to change your body. Body image, 39, 62-67.
Fasoli, F., Ogden, J., & Johnson, S. (2022). The relationship between humor and women鈥檚 body image concerns and eating behaviors. Humor, 35(4), 531-552.
Fasoli, F., Ogden, J., & Johnson, S. (2023). Body positivity or humorous parody? The impact of Instagram imagery on body image concerns. The Journal of Psychology, 157(5), 273-296.
Di Michele, D., Guizzo, F., Canale, N., Fasoli, F., Carotta, F., Pollini, A., & Cadinu, M. (2023). # SexyBodyPositive: When sexualization does not undermine young women鈥檚 body image. International journal of environmental research and public Health, 20(2), 991.
Fasoli, F., & Constantinou, D. (2024). Does body positivity work for men as it does for women? The impact of idealized body and body positive imagery on body satisfaction, drive for thinness, and drive for muscularity. Acta Psychologica, 243, 104126.
Fasoli, F., Hopkins-Doyle, A., & Guizzo, F. (2025). Thank you for sharing: Body-positive and humour parody images increase women鈥檚 body satisfaction and predict collective action intentions via gratitude. Sex Roles, 91(7), 48.
Body Image Resilience in Guidance, Health, and Teaching (BRIGHT)