Gone are the days when ‘it’ celebrities or parents were role models - teenage girls are now looking to fitness bloggers on Instagram and Facebook for motivation. A study by Flinders University into what motivates or discourages girls aged 13 to 17 to do physical activity found their main role models were women with fitness inspiration pages.
I thought they would say people like Sally Pearson or their parents, but for the majority it came out that it was these online fitness models on Instagram and Facebook,” Flinders University associate professor Claire Drummond told Daily Mail.
While fitspo posts can deliver positive outcomes like getting girls to do more exercise, it is also causing some to feel inadequate that they are not measuring up.
I asked them to explain what they like about them and they said the fact they have magnificent, awesome bodies or great abs. But they also said things like ‘seeing how perfect they are made me feel really bad about my body,’” says Drummond.
Some of them have degrees but the majority are doing it because they're genetically-blessed and really good at fitness. A very small percentage can spend all day long working on their bodies; it's just an unrealistic perception that some girls are taking away.”
To help combat this, Instagrammers aware about portraying a balanced attitude through their posts. @Strongisthenewskinny94 Instagrammer Rebecca Lomas reveals, I know a lot of young girls are following and they're very impressionable, so I do take that into account.”
I try to post every aspect of the health and fitness world, like when it comes to days when I don't feel like working out, because obviously everyone's human and everyone has days like that. I'm careful when I post things about workouts to say, ‘this is what works for me, it might not work for everyone.’”
