Pastel pink and soft vignette filters, images featuring skinny girls with long eyelashes, good grades and skin care products. These are all manifestations of the world of “Wonyoung-ism.” This is a wellness trend that is rapidly growing online among her K-pop fans in a milky atmosphere. Images of bows and strawberries have come under fire for promoting eating disorders.
The term Wonyoung-ism itself comes from Jang Wonyoung, a K-pop idol and member of the girl group IVE. Chan, 19, boasts more than 11 million followers on Instagram and has become something of a platonic ideal for his online fans. According to those who follow her, Wonyoung is confident, smart, beautiful, and sophisticated. As such, she has evolved beyond the typical example of her celebrity idolatry into a theology of her own. Online evangelical fans use phrases like “Wonyoung Effect” and “Wonyoung Motivation” to promote messages of self-improvement centered around the singer, who can improve their appearance and improve their appearance by making specific lifestyle changes. Importantly, they tell each other that they look and feel the same as Wonyoung. Confident like Chan.
The trend’s first boom occurred last year after an audio clip of Chan’s interview went viral. “I don’t care. You are you, I am me,” she says. This message is a reminder to never forget her two key tenets of lifestyle: confidence and hard work. Inspired by this clip, the hashtag #wonyoungism quickly spread among fans. There are currently more than 292,300 posts of hers on TikTok, with many users sharing how following the singer’s maxims and the methods fans have developed to embody them have changed their lives. I’m posting a comment about it.
One comment reads, “No, the brilliance that all ‘Wonyoung-ism’ girls had needs to be studied.” “That’s true, ever since I found Wonyoung Gism, my life has gotten better with SM. Why has SM become more cute??” another person replied.
The goals of Wonyoungism are primarily centered around appearance, whether it’s physical beauty standards (with Jang as the benchmark), organizational and productivity levels, outward confidence, or waking up at 5 a.m. with fluorescent lights. Things like making sure it looks perfect under the lights. Looks easy.
Aesthetics is also a component of Wonyoungism. Everything is frilly, saccharine, and pink, no different from the coquette trends and “that girl” routines that continue to dominate social media. Motivational video with images of thin pale fingers with long manicured nails, pouty lips, thin woman doing Pilates, shiny products, shiny sheets of long black hair and perfect score on exam and subliminal occupies the screen.
Wonyoungism TikToker Anastasia, 22, who goes by her first name online for security reasons, first encountered Wonyoungism a year ago when Jang’s audio first started going viral, she told The Daily Beast. told. “I was very inspired by it. [her] It depends not only on clothing style, skin care and make-up, but also on lifestyle,” said Anastasia. “Of course, it makes sense.”
Although not all accounts of Wonyoungism place as much emphasis on the existence of food and diet, there is an overarching obsession with exercise. Many of the posts feature only thin women and promote specific recommendations for weight loss, which can seem like red flags for unhealthy behavior masquerading as health. Although Chan himself does not practice or endorse any specific habits of Wonyoung-ism, he specifically discouraged underage fans from dieting during a 2021 live broadcast, calling it “bad for the body.” However, her YouTube video blogs that show glimpses of her eating and exercise routine have quickly gained attention. She inspired many copycat videos.
However, many followers of Wonyoungism still set goals related to their own appearance. Some of his TikToks with the hashtag #wonyoungism show pictures of empty plates and chewing gum. In the manifesto-style video, which has garnered millions of views, followers wrote in the comments section, as if tossing the proverbial coin into a cosmic fountain: “Good skin, long hair, beautiful nose, etc. I smell good, I get good grades, I have a perfect body, I’m good at every sport, and the person I like likes me,” one person wrote. “All I want are good grades and medals and certificates 💚 I don’t have beauty so I’m going with my brains,” said another.
Most believers simply classify any negative effects as not being part of their lifestyle. One user said in a comment, “I went to the hospital because of Wonyoung.” Another person replied, “At that time, it wasn’t Wonyoungism.” Creator run2wony recently disappeared from TikTok following backlash over his “Harsh Motivation” video, where he was criticized by other members of the community for being mean, but when he revealed his face, many people said, “I “You’re better than that,” he said, belittling the creator.
Yeshia Otero, 14, runs a Wonyoung fan account @wonwonysii_, where she posts content about her results and recommendations for following Wonyoungism. Otero is a fan of several of her K-Pop girl groups, including New Jeans, Blackpink, and of course she IVE. She told The Daily Beast that she first learned about the trend when it was posted on her personal For You page, and that she started trying out the lifestyle component after watching a few videos. Ta. “It’s a little tough at first, but without motivation and discipline, you’ll never get through it,” she said. “It’s easy for me, but sometimes I get lost.”
Some of those habits include working out, following a skin care routine, and finding hobbies in your spare time. “I [lost] I lost some weight, my grades improved, and I looked different,” Otero said. She has also become “healthier.” “I rarely get sick and my metabolism is faster,” she explained.
Like Otero, many users of Wonyoung spaces on TikTok and Reddit identify themselves as minors, some as young as 13 years old. Academic success is also a frequently shared goal among those pursuing this lifestyle, but worryingly, younger users often cite weight loss as one of their goals. Motivation to follow trends.
In Wonyoungism, perfection is the name of the game, regardless of age. It includes the ideals recognized through the K-Pop industry’s rabbit hole of content (often curated and manufactured for display rather than faithful depictions of their real lives). You have to assume your lifestyle. The industry emphasizes unrealistic beauty standards and lacks transparency about the realities of being an idol, especially through online video content that quickly inspires fan theories about what goes on behind the scenes. It has long faced backlash for doing so. As a result, some of the discussion among Wonyoung believers leans toward obsessive-compulsive manifestations of disordered eating and behavior.
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Otero and Anastasia do not consider their results to be part of an eating disorder. Weight loss, faster metabolism, and “changes” in body and facial structure are the terms they use, perhaps seen as by-products of improved health.
But, says marriage and family therapist Jennifer Wang: daily beast Not only can eating disorders begin early in childhood, but eating disorders are often not recognized as dangerous to children. Symptoms are often accompanied by euphemisms such as an obsession with having to exercise every day or stress over food intake.
“In my experience, I saw it when I was 10 or 11 years old. [they’re] “It’s more prevalent among high school girls,” she said. “My clients in college are more open about this, but a lot of people don’t see it as an eating disorder when they’re overexercising. I’ve never heard anyone say that outright, but more like, ‘I think I have a problem with food.’
Hwang said social media plays a huge role in influencing young people’s self-perceptions, and that he often sees a link between the rise in eating disorders and the moments when people use social media. Stated. “I often hear things like, ‘I like to work out a lot, so they like to work out every day,'” she says. “We ask if you’re eating enough, if you’re drinking enough water, and they limit that.”
Many of the things Mr. Hwang describes are similar to the practices encouraged or demonstrated by Wonyoungism. Of course, this isn’t the first time that eating disorder-promoting ideas have infiltrated lifestyle trends spread through social media. Trends like intermittent fasting, Tumblr-popularized anorexia, and celebrity diets like the IU diet are also online wellness trends that have faced backlash for promoting disordered eating, leaving a reluctant audience. This can often lead to a slippery slope to a dangerous relationship. With diet and exercise.
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Otero and Anastasia also recognize that the development of eating disorders is becoming an issue among the wider community of people who tag their videos as Wonyoung, but they also acknowledge that they do not encourage eating disorders states that it is not part of their account’s mission. “I think Wonyoung accounts that promote eating disorders are shameless,” Otero said. “They’re promoting something that could be harmful to someone’s life, and certainly the whole thing is dangerous and disgusting.”
Anastasia said this has less to do with the beliefs of the lifestyle as a whole and more to do with a few villains taking the whole thing too far. “I’m sure Wonyoung herself doesn’t want her name to be associated with unhealthy behavior,” she said. “We should take care of our bodies and minds. That is the main message of this movement.”
Cynthia LaForte, a New York-based psychotherapist, says New York-based psychotherapist Cynthia LaForte believes that when it comes to wellness and other types of content, you first ask yourself whether or not it’s trustworthy advice. He explained that the presence of these “bad guys” is strengthened by the fact that they often spread from one person to another without anyone checking on them. beast.
“Everyone with a smartphone has a platform that can lead to misinformation and poor eating habits disguised as health advice,” she said. “There’s a big difference between a dietitian who has a graduate degree and is licensed by a state, and a dietitian who doesn’t require any certification or licensure in most states.”
In an attempt to break free from the pressure to adhere to a perfect lifestyle, some Wonyoung followers posted content praising body positivity and diverse foods. Although Chan himself has not specifically mentioned the Wonyoung movement, he has warned his fans, especially minors, not to go on a diet.
Some accounts of Wonyoungism are also beginning to reveal the movement’s harsher realities. Otero posted on her TikTok account last month revealing some of her fears. “Here are 5 things I’m embarrassed to admit as a Wonyoung-ism account,” she captioned the slideshow. She confesses that she is “not 100% confident” and is “not very productive” at times, and that she has been hurt by negative comments.
Other users were also kind. “It’s okay, you guys aren’t perfect, but as a Wonyoung-ism account, you’re so brave to share all of that. Most people won’t, but I believe [in] you! ! ” one user wrote below the video.
“We often try to achieve a standard of beauty based on how we feel emotionally, rather than how our bodies look,” LaForte said of the common causes of eating disorders. “We look at people with so-called perfect bodies and project everything we want to feel onto them. And if we look like that, we feel that way. “People will love me more.” “I will be happier.” In reality, the path to achieving this is often fraught with difficulties. Avoid overexercising, counting calories, and refraining from eating or celebrating with loved ones. ”
She instead encourages viewers of Wonyoung-ism to consider learning to listen and pay attention to their bodies, which isn’t always an easy task. “In many ways, it’s easy to set eating rules, count calories, and follow extreme training regimes, just as it’s easy to do the exact opposite. That’s why people end up in a vicious cycle. The challenge is balancing everything between what feels good from a nutritional standpoint and from a fun standpoint, and when to exercise and when to rest.”
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