“girl dinner”: sending our young into disordered eating

remember when tumblr used to be the big villain in the conversation about eating disorders? for older gen z and millennials, it was the go-to place for "thinspo" and other harmful content. now, it seems like tiktok has taken over that role for younger gen z and gen alpha, and it's honestly scary. it all started with "girl dinner" about a year ago, and while it might’ve seemed harmless at first—sharing cute, minimalist meals—it set off a snowball effect. what began as a quirky trend has spiralled into something more toxic. the “girl dinner” craze paved the way for an influx of eating disorder-related content on our fyp’s. now, we’re seeing younger and younger users engaging with posts that glorify undereating or compare body types, and it's honestly frightening.

what’s even more unsettling is seeing really young girls, as young as 9 or 10, post about how their legs aren’t 'legging legs.', posting their "what i eat in a day" for the entire platform to comment on, and other trends that progress into eating disorder territory. tiktok might have replaced tumblr, but the underlying issue remains: there’s always going to be a platform pushing these toxic trends, and for those who are vulnerable it’s a nightmare to navigate.

social learning theory can explain a lot of this. young users are influenced by the content they consume, and when they see their peers showing off their tiny meals, they start imitating it. it normalises these behaviours, making them seem like the new cool thing to do, and as a preteen, the desire to be popular means everything. and with the competitive nature of anorexia, it’s like a chain reaction: someone posts their small dinner, and suddenly, others feel like they have to eat even less to “keep up.” this kind of environment creates a breeding ground for disordered eating. monkey see, monkey do—except this monkey ends up standing in front of a mirror calling itself obese.

i know this because i’ve been there. as an ex-rexie myself in some twisted way, it feels like a competitive sport, the calorie counting, setting goal weights to meet by certain times, fasting competitions, binging & purging... what starts as limiting calories in an attempt to fit in with peers, turns into "just five more kilo's and i'll be perfect", but once you reach that goal, you set a new one and the cycle repeats.

tiktok’s algorithm is a huge part of the problem when it comes to these eating disorder trends. once you like or even just spend a few extra seconds watching videos, tiktok starts throwing more and more of the same stuff at you. it’s all about engagement and if the algorithm sees you’re interested, it’ll make sure you keep seeing similar content. before you know it, your fyp is filled with nothing but extreme diets, calorie counting, and people promoting unhealthy habits. this is why we need to start looking at how these platforms operate and ask if they’re doing enough to protect users from this kind of harmful content.

here are some sobering stats: a recent study done by The Independent, found that 52% of girls and 45% of boys in a group of nearly 1,000 adolescents had disordered eating habits. tiktok, with 60% of its users aged between 16 and 24, is amplifying these issues. hospital admissions for eating disorders in australia have also surged, rising over 40% between 2010 and 2020. by 2020-2021 more than 20,000 admissions.

it’s frightening to think that something as simple as “girl dinner” can fuel such serious problems, but here we are. this generation deserves a healthier relationship with food than what social media is offering right now.

if you or someone you know might be dealing with disordered eating, please reach out. you deserve to eat.

contact the butterfly organisation: 1800 33 4673

chat online: https://butterfly.org.au/get-support/chat-online/