'iPhone 6 legs' criticised for promoting unhealthy body image
New social media trend sees Chinese women using smartphones to display the width of their knees
First it was pieces of A4 paper to obscure their tiny waists, now Chinese women are using their iPhones to highlight the slenderness of their knees.
The "iPhone 6 legs" trend on the Chinese social media site Weibo shows hundreds of photos of women using their mobile phone to cover their knees.
These so-called "beauty tests" have been widely criticised, with many saying they promote unhealthy body images.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"These everyday trends bore me," the website What's on Weibo quotes one user as saying. "Your standard of beauty is not healthy."
Similar "challenges" that have gone viral on Chinese social media include women competing to hold the most coins on their collarbone as well as attempting to reach around their waist to touch their belly button with the back of their hand.
The effect on their social media behaviour is noticeable, says iRead, a popular media source on Weibo. "One no longer has the courage to post to their friends if one does not have the right body lines," it says.
"It is unclear whether the challenge calls for an iPhone 6 or the bigger iPhone 6 Plus," says Alicia Tan on Mashable. "However, the growing popularity of yet another beauty meme is concerning for the unhealthy body image it encourages in women."
Tan also suggests the arrival of the even smaller iPhone SE could spark more worrying "beauty tests" in the future.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
The best new music of 2024 by genre
The Week Recommends Outstanding albums, from pop to electro and classical
By The Week UK Published
-
Nine best TV shows of 2024 to binge this Christmas
The Week Recommends From Baby Reindeer and Slow Horses to Rivals and Shogun, here are the critics' favourites
By The Week UK Published
-
Crossword: December 28, 2024
The Week's daily crossword puzzle
By The Week Staff Published
-
Why Assad fell so fast
The Explainer The newly liberated Syria is in an incredibly precarious position, but it's too soon to succumb to defeatist gloom
By The Week UK Published
-
Romania's election rerun
The Explainer Shock result of presidential election has been annulled following allegations of Russian interference
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Russia's shadow war in Europe
Talking Point Steering clear of open conflict, Moscow is slowly ratcheting up the pressure on Nato rivals to see what it can get away with.
By The Week UK Published
-
Cutting cables: the war being waged under the sea
In the Spotlight Two undersea cables were cut in the Baltic sea, sparking concern for the global network
By The Week UK Published
-
The nuclear threat: is Vladimir Putin bluffing?
Talking Point Kremlin's newest ballistic missile has some worried for Nato nations
By The Week UK Published
-
Russia vows retaliation for Ukrainian missile strikes
Speed Read Ukraine's forces have been using U.S.-supplied, long-range ATCMS missiles to hit Russia
By Arion McNicoll, The Week UK Published
-
Has the Taliban banned women from speaking?
Today's Big Question 'Rambling' message about 'bizarre' restriction joins series of recent decrees that amount to silencing of Afghanistan's women
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Cuba's energy crisis
The Explainer Already beset by a host of issues, the island nation is struggling with nationwide blackouts
By Rebekah Evans, The Week UK Published