health

Dear Instagram users. Stop pretending you ate that.

“Speaking the truth in this mixed up world of too many macarons and ice cream cones. Because really… #youdidnoteatthat”.

 

 

 

So… there’s this new Instagram out there which has managed to gain a ridiculous amount of followers in just two months. Nearly 50,000, to be exact.

It’s called You Did Not Eat That and the tagline is, “Speaking the truth in this mixed up world of too many macarons and ice cream cones. Because really… #youdidnoteatthat”.

It’s endless photos of super-skinny models, fashion bloggers and general celebrities posing with unhealthy food. Cheeseburgers from fast-food joints, giant macaroons and ice cream cones, doughnuts (there are a lot of doughnuts), iced coffees and cookies and chocolate and bread rolls and pasta.

And every single Instagram pic is accompanied with the hashtag #youdidnoteatthat.

It’s supposed to be a giant middle-finger to the entire world of all-too-perfect people who live fake Instagram lives. The ones who post pictures of unhealthy food, claiming that they can happily eat a cheeseburger and still maintain their size-zero, thigh-gapped body.

The founder of You Did Not Eat That has chosen to remain anonymous. In an interview with The Cut, she revealed that she has worked in media for 10 years. And she explained that she just wants everyone to “get real”:

A month ago, I saw dozens of bloggers swarming a dessert table, taking pictures and spending five minutes merchandizing the sunglasses next to the macarons. Then they walked away and nothing was eaten. It was so contrived! When you see something so often and you know that there’s a group of people who are kind of rolling their eyes about it, it’s just — it’s time to say something. Frankly, I was shocked when I went onto Instagram and the name was available. It’s just gotten so silly and formulaic.

In the interview, she further added that she’s not trying to skinny-bash, or even make any kind of social commentary on people’s shapes and sizes – she’s just trying to get people to see beyond the fake and into reality:

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Let’s lift the curtain here on Oz. If you’re a size zero and you’re frolicking in a tiny bikini on the beach, you probably did not eat the doughnuts that you posed with the sunglasses. It’s just presenting this curated life that’s beautiful and perfect and totally unrealistic. More power to you for rocking that! You look awesome! Don’t lie about how you got there! It’s fine.

This image was posted with the caption: “LOOK AT THE FEAR IN HER EYES AT THIS OUTRAGEOUS COOKIE MERELY TOUCHING HER LIPS!!”

Unsurprisingly, some bloggers are getting kinda annoyed about being featured on the Instagram. Emily Schuman from the blog ‘Cupcakes and Cashmere’ blocked the Instagram account after it teased her for holding up a cupcake and labelling it an “after-breakfast snack”. Julie Sariñana from ‘Sincerely Jules’ also blocked the account.

Others are defending themselves. Leandra Medine from ‘Man Repeller’ actually sent in a video of her eating a cupcake, while other style bloggers – such as ‘PS I Made This’ and ‘Paris in Four Months’ – are commenting and standing by their cupcake-eating ways.

“I want people to know that it’s fun and done in good spirit. It’s not meant to be mean and hurtful,” the anonymous Instagrammer tells The Cut.

But to me, there is something nasty lurking beneath the humourous veneer that this Instagram is trying to hide behind. And it’s making me uncomfortable.

With every photo posted, this Instagram is passing judgment on the model or the fashion blogger or the celebrity featured in the photo. It’s saying, “No, you’re skinny, so you can’t possibly ever eat any junk food, because then you wouldn’t be skinny.”

It’s failing to acknowledge that bodies come in all different shapes and sizes. That some women simply have naturally tiny bodies – bodies that are slim and lithe and don’t necessarily change if a cupcake is consumed a few times a week.

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It’s failing to acknowledge the women who have fast metabolisms. Who have problems with putting on weight. Who exercise every day so that they can eat a daily treat without putting on weight.

“It’s mocking those who do try to keep it real. Who really do eat cupcakes and macaroons. Who enjoy a magnum at the end of the day.”

It’s mocking those who do try to keep it real. Who really do eat cupcakes and macaroons. Who enjoy a magnum at the end of the day.

Imagine if the situation was a little bit reversed. If it was an Instagram called, “You Definitely Did Eat That”. And it was pictures of larger women eating cakes, dougnuts and fast food.

There would be outraged people everywhere riling up at the judgment. At the fat-shaming. And yet somehow this Instagram is okay – just because it features skinny women.

Of course, I completely acknowledge that there are models and bloggers and women out there who starve themselves to maintain their perfect figures and that what people post on social media can often be completely unrealistic.

But I think that we can pull people up on their fake lives without being nasty about it. And this Instagram leaves a bad taste in my mouth (no pun intended).

What do you think of this Instagram page?